Putting Cartesian Robots to Work for Your Manufacturing Needs

Cartesian robots are easily integrated into assembly operations, highly accurate, and have been used with dramatic results to boost throughput. They’re one of the five main categories of industrial robots so get to know them, read about their use in different industries, and decide how Cartesian robots can benefit your workplace.

Why Use Cartesians

Cartesian robots are both affordable and capable. Whether you need to move a few ounces or thousands of pounds, this type of robot working on three axis or two axis coordinates can reach every point within a work envelope at a budget-friendly price.

The rigid structure allows for repeatable actions that are highly accurate. Assembly needs, materials handling and packaging projects are some of the tasks that suit Cartesians.

Benefits

For companies that want pin-point assembly, a Cartesian robot can provide the solution. It can lay “down a bead of sealant with hair-splitting precision.”

A Cartesian robot is capable of reaching every single point within a work envelope at an extremely reasonable cost. Their footprint is typically smaller than SCARA or six-axes robots. There is a growing demand for medium to large Cartesian robots, noted in KISS Principles Work for Robots, Too on machinedesign.com, as factories use more automation in limited areas.

Durability is a major plus since Cartesians can last for decades. Collaborative robots have gotten a lot of attention recently and have important uses, but the founder and CEO of TM Robotics, Nigel Smith, said in an interview with Machine Design that “cobots can’t effectively address traditional manufacturing processes that demand high speeds and medium to high payloads.”

Industry Uses

Cartesian robots have long been a go-to solution in the plastics industry, where they’re known for “loading and unloading injection molding machines with deft speed.” 

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In the automotive industry, clusters of Cartesian robots are handling buttons for seats and mechanisms to regulate a driver’s force used on gas pedals.

In the solar industry, a panel manufacturer in Richmond, California, SMASHSolar, Inc., found that manual assembly of solar prototype modules was slow and wasteful. In a write-up in Assembly magazine, Cartesian Robot Doubles Output of Solar LGO Modules, inconsistent quality on the assembly line led to problems during installation on customer rooftops.

SMASHSolar found a solution with a two-axis Cartesian robot from TM Robotics, a BA-III. It was affordable and it was able to dispense adhesive to precise locations.

Learn More

Cartesian robots are widely used and for good reason. Yet, each type of industrial robot has an important function and reason for its use.

Work smart with robotics and all forms of automation using the many resources available through A3.