FANUC Robots for Material Removal

Material removal applications are critical to the overall quality of a product as they are often used to prepare and finish workpieces. Material removal covers a broad category of manufacturing processes include cutting, deburring, grinding, sanding, and milling among many others. These processes require great skill and accuracy which is why many manufacturers are automating these applications with FANUC robots. FANUC robots remove human involvement with the material removal process, preventing errors from occurring that could result in too little or too much material being removed. All FANUC robots feature robotic vision and force sensing capabilities, making it easy to integrate vision or force sensor system to enhance the accuracy of a FANUC material removal robot. Automating a material removal application with a FANUC robot will increase productivity, reduce waste, and improve product quality for an overall more efficient process. Below is a list of FANUC robots that can be used for material removal automation.

• Arc Mate Robots - You may have thought FANUC’s Arc Mate robots could only automate arc welding applications, but they can also be used for material removal applications such as plasma and laser cutting. Arc Mate robots can perform plasma or laser cutting tasks using the same tooling they use for plasma and laser welding. The FANUC Arcmate 120ic can prep workpieces for welding by cutting them first and then immediately switch to welding them.

• LR Mate Robots - The LR Mate robots may be small, but they are some of FANUC’s most versatile robots being able to automate multiple applications including material removal. The size of the FANUC Lr Mate 200id makes it ideal for operating in confined spaces and for automating light payload material removal processes.

• R-2000i Robots - FANUC’s R-2000i robots comprise their most successful robot series. With four generations of multipurpose industrial robots in the series, users can automate a variety of applications including those under the material removal category. The FANUC R-2000ib/165F is one of the most popular robots from the series and can automate cutting applications.

• R-1000iA Robots - The R-1000iA robots are similar to FANUC’s R-2000i robots, but feature lighter payloads making them ideal for medium payload material removal applications. The FANUC R-1000ia/80 and R-1000ia/120F-7B are two articulated robots from the series that can be deployed for material removal.

• M-20i Robots - FANUC’s M-20i series features several multipurpose robots for light payload applications. Some of the M-20i robots are able to automate material removal processes. The FANUC M-20ia is one of the six axis robots from the series capable of performing material removal tasks.

• M-710iC Robots - Robots from the FANUC M-710iC series feature light to medium payloads with multipurpose capabilities. The FANUC M-710ic20 from this series can automate extended reach material removal applications such as cutting and waterjet cutting.

• M-2000iA Robots - The FANUC M-2000iA series features some of FANUC’s heaviest payload robots. While these robots are often considered mainly for heavy lifting applications due to their payload capacities, they can be used to automate material removal processes as well.

• M-900iB Robots - The M-900iB robots are another high payload series from FANUC with the ability to automate a variety of applications. The FANUC M-900ib/280L can be used for material removal automation.