Mr Asahi Robot Barman Solution from AA Robotics

 

Mr Asahi Plays Tennis	Mr Asahi meets Dizzee Rascal

About Mr Asahi:

Mr Asahi has been constructed using the latest technology from the fields of Robotics and Animatronics.  Mr Asahi’s movements involve some serious animatronics which have been developed with the use of compressed air that is controlled and regulated through various valves and electrical switching mechanisms via a PC.

Fully life-size, he will stand behind a specially constructed bar to serve customers ice cold Asahi Beer.

Eight engineers have taken a whopping 200 man hours to assemble him.

His arms have been built in Japan, the home of Asahi, and would rival any Gladiators in strength. The DENSO VP-6242 robots have 6 axis functionality enabling them to perform under extreme pressure at the bar where he can perform 60 repeatable functions per minute.

His bespoke hands were made for him in Aylesbury, UK.  These enable him to hold different shaped glasses and bottles.  His head has been specially constructed in Leicester as has his torso which would make even Arnold Schwarzenegger seem puny.

He weighs a quarter of a ton but never needs to be fed!

His head was specially commissioned to function in harmony with his robotic arms, allowing him to watch his own movements while he open bottles and pours half pints, he really concentrates on what he is doing – in some cases better than a human barman!

His facial features have been achieved using LED lights, which move and alternate from green to red as he strains to remove bottle tops!

Uniquely, Mr Asahi can reply politely to questions from his customers via an integrated vocal speaker system, which is operator controlled and has over 500 vocal effects.

With his colour changing heart chest light he is always ready for a party and is sure to grab some serious attention.

Mr Asahi Under Construction	Mr Asahi - Robot Barman

AA Robotics distributes DENSO robots in the UK and Ireland. Their range is from 3Kg up to 20Kg payload in 4-axis or 6-axis arm configurations with a reach from 400mm to 1300mm. Denso robots have a fast 0.3 seconds pick and place operation which is repeatable to 0.015mm.

Robotic Vision Inspection Solution.

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One of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, Boehringer Ingelheim, has been helped by Aylesbury Automation to speed up production and improve its quality control process by supplying six robotic vision inspection machines to assist in the manufacture of pharmaceutical products. 

Boehringer Ingelheim, which can trace is origins to 1885 when Albert Boehringer commenced making tartaric acid salts in Ingelheim, Germany, now employs the latest technology in the manufacture of pharmaceutical and healthcare products.

The process, for which AA Robotics has provided the technical solution, involves the inspection of compartments in packaging boxes.  The boxes are used to transport vials, containing liquid drugs, between production and packing.  Once the vials have been removed from the compartments the boxes are returned to the production process for refilling. Ensuring that the box compartments are empty requires a visual check. This visual check is now conducted by an automated robotic process.

The boxes pass beneath a Cognex Insight camera mounted on the Z axis  of an inverted DENSO  Scara robot arm. Each robot moves the camera around the compartments of the box, checking that all the vials have been removed. The inspection cycles take 20 seconds which is a significant improvement on the previous system rate. A major benefit of the inverted DENSO SCARA arm was that it was able to operate successfully in the tight confines of the existing  production line.

Ethernet communication operates between the robots and cameras. The  boxes are only released for the following process when they are authorised to do so by the system. Message protocol ensures that each message to release a box is unique and contains new data.  Each cycle of inspection is self-checked as the Cognex Insight camera records its position at the start and end of the cycle in order to verify that the images seen are correct.

The DENSO robots position the cameras to a tolerance of 0.015 mm and provide a stable camera platform which enables discernable vision images of the corners of the boxes to be repeatably produced – something not possible with the use of a fixed camera system. Only one set of parameters and lights are required to enable the complete inspection process.  When inspections are not taking place the camera is moved out of the area, thereby minimising the danger of disturbing the camera or its associated lighting.

“We have achieved a significant improvement in quality control and production pace as a result of this innovation,” said the Project Engineer at Boehringer Ingelheim.  “AA Robotics were very helpful.  Its engineers made sure that they analysed the issues and really understood our manufacturing processes before designing the solution.”

AA Robotics distributes DENSO robots in the UK and Ireland. Their range is from 3Kg up to 20Kg payload in 4-axis or 6-axis arm configurations with a reach from 400mm to 1300mm. Denso robots have a fast 0.3 seconds pick and place operation which is repeatable to 0.015mm.

Tray palletising

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A new robotic process at Stanley Tools has significantly reduced handling operations and improved productivity in knife blade dispenser packaging operations.  AA Robotics specified and simulated the robots for Aylesbury Automation, who designed and installed automated packaging technology using DENSO robots to maximise the benefits of "lean manufacturing", reduced stock holding and shortening delivery lead times of blade dispensers for Stanley Tools at Rotherham.

Stanley Tools manufactures and markets tools, hardware and speciality products worldwide for both the home improvement market and industrial and professional use.Founded by Frederick Trent Stanley in 1843 in Connecticut USA to manufacture door bolts and other wrought iron products, Stanley Tools is a global brand. Demand for replacement blades for the "Stanley Knife" is growing and it was this increased demand which led to the requirements for improved automation.

The current machine cycle, plus machine loading time, has been reduced by 75% with the new automated technology. This allows Stanley Tools to process and pack 4x more products per hour with a 100% quality check of component parts. Previously a semi automatic machine had been used for the assembly and packaging process which involved routine manual handling of components into the machine.

"The process we had was quite labour intensive,"said (Nick Vickers' Plant manager)of Stanley Tools. "With demand for replacement blades increasing and bearing in mind the health and safety aspects of increased manual handling, robotic automation was the obvious route to follow. AA Robotics was able to supply a solution which performs the task with the minimum of manual intervention. What's more, we have the flexibility to change the assembly and packaging process easily as products and demands change."

The new automated process uses DENSO robots to load and unload components. A storage hopper trickle feeds plastic cases on demand into a vibratory bowl feeder. After being sorted in the bowl, into one of two, orientations, the cases are delivered onto an infeed conveyor. Here the first DENSO robot picks up a case so that sensors can check its orientation and condition. Components failing a specification check are rejected. The robot then presents the case to the next stage of the assembly operation.

Dispensers are also fed from a vibratory storage hopper and bowl into correct orientation for insertion into the cases. The blades from the blade-grinding machine are delivered in trays and automatically fed by conveyor into an upload station where they are prepared for loading into the cases. At the same time a strip of steel feeds into a press where it is cut to form the spring which is inserted in the case behind the blades.

The case is then closed and checks are made to ensure the spring and blades are correctly inserted. A final DENSO robot palletises the cases, six layers deep with 28 cases to a layer, into a tote bin which is orientated correctly for final packaging.

"AA Robotics designers brought a great deal of experience in automated assembly and robotic packaging to the job, and they have succeeded in providing a solution which is extremely efficient and cost-effective," said (Howard Walker - Senior Engineer)

AA Robotics distributes DENSO robots in the UK and Ireland. Their range is from 3Kg up to 20Kg payload in 4-axis or 6-axis arm configurations with a reach from 400mm to 1300mm. Denso robots have a fast 0.3 seconds pick and place operation which is repeatable to 0.015mm.