Application of collaborative robots in washing machine production lines

China is the world's largest production base for white goods. With the increase in manufacturing costs and intensified market competition in the home appliance industry, improving the informatization, digitization, and automation level of home appliance process equipment and achieving lean production management has become a hot topic of concern in the industry.

A complete washing machine production line can have up to a hundred or more employees per shift. Among them, there are up to 9 processes involved in the assembly of the back plate of the washing machine and the attachment of screws. Due to the high workload, repetitive and monotonous work content, and narrow work space of this workstation, problems such as difficulty in recruitment, increasing labor costs, and frequent personnel turnover have emerged, resulting in an increasing production cost of the product and frequent occurrence of manual errors and omissions, making it difficult to ensure product quality.

In addition, in recent years, the upgrading and upgrading of household appliances have accelerated, and there is an increasing demand for small batches, personalization, and customization. This has led to a large number of product models and a short change cycle, with each line being produced in a mixed manner. The quality control of products is a huge challenge. In order to improve production efficiency and promote customers' transition from standardized production to flexible manufacturing, the use of Aobo collaborative robots to create efficient, flexible, and reliable flexible production lines has become a perfect solution.

Solution

On site, a collaborative robot equipped with an intelligent camera is used to guide the robotic arm to achieve precise positioning after taking photos and positioning, and carry out backplate installation and screw locking work. And before the product is packaged offline, a visual inspection system is installed using a collaborative robot to comprehensively inspect the surface quality and assembly quality of printed materials, achieving zero defect offline of the product. Collaborative robots can replace manual repetitive operations, reduce product failure rates, and help the home appliance industry improve its digital and intelligent level.

Human-computer collaboration to create higher value together

The collaborative robot supports 10 levels of collision detection and sensor safety detection, without the need for safety fences. It covers an area of less than 1 square meter and can become an intimate "companion" for employees, working side by side. The collaborative robot completes the backboard installation and screw locking work with strict process specifications, and manual assistance is provided to install and strengthen iron, plug and unplug water pipes, and manage wires, achieving true human-machine cooperation. The safe, reliable, compact and flexible characteristics of collaborative robots also save more ground space for factories, which can be quickly deployed on existing production lines, saving time and effort. After on-site deployment of the Aobo collaborative robot, it can produce continuously for 24 hours, reduce production line personnel by 50%, and increase production capacity by 30%.

Flexible and diverse to meet the needs of differentiated applications

There are various types of screws on the back plate of washing machines, and the requirements for torque and arm span vary among different workstations. The i-series collaborative robots have different load capacities of 3-20 kilograms, which can meet diverse applications. Multiple sets of i5 (with a load of 5kg and a working radius of 886.5mm) and i10 (with a load of 10kg and a working radius of 1350mm) collaborative robots were deployed on site, which can meet different types of screw tightening needs. In addition, the production efficiency requirements of the home appliance industry are very high, and the demand for rhythm is higher compared to other industries. The rhythm speed of the collaborative robot with a single workstation of 15S well meets the production requirements of customers on site.

Stable escort - technology improves product performance

The use of a visual camera equipped at the end of the Aobo collaborative robot can solve the position deviation caused by the installation of the washing machine back plate in the front, and can reposition the screw holes to achieve precise locking of screws. The repeated positioning accuracy of the Aobo collaborative robot can reach ± 0.02mm, ensuring continuous and stable completion of screw locking actions according to unified standards, ensuring product consistency, and the success rate of locking can reach 99.8%, solving the problem of manual missing and wrong tightening.

The robotics industry is a major breakthrough in intelligent manufacturing and a necessary path for the transformation and upgrading of the entire industry in the future. White home appliances are a highly competitive industry. Home appliance manufacturers generally pursue economies of scale and strive to reduce production costs by expanding their scale. Robots are the boosters that will drive the home appliance industry towards automation, labor-saving, unmanned, and efficient production. Utilizing robots for automated production can create higher output values and improve the overall competitiveness of the home appliance manufacturing industry.