Strong but flexible arm: Design & Engineering

A big six-axis robot capable of lifting very heavy products in automated production lines also offers enough freedom of movement to meet the needs of a wide variety of handling applications.

That’s the pitch from Fanuc America Corp. in Rochester Hills, Michigan, for its M-1000iA industrial robot, which offers a 1,000 kg maximum payload capacity at the wrist with full articulation.

“When you get to these really large payloads, loading and handling parts this size can be dangerous and really hard work for people,” said Richard Varner, senior engineer for the general industry and automotive segment. For operators and technicians, “allowing a large robot like this to handle repetitive tasks like loading and unloading is safer and also frees up time for other value-add tasks.”

He said the high strength of the M-1000iA can be attributed to the electric servomotors on its J2 (lower arm) axis and J3 (upper arm) axis.

“We use our own servomotors that are optimized for robotic applications,” Varner said.

Also featuring a 3,253 mm horizontal reach and a 4,297 mm vertical reach, the M-1000iA is Fanuc’s largest robot arm with serially connected arm segments, or links, rather than the parallel links typical of heavy-payload robots. Serial links give the M-1000iA a wider range of motion in both vertical and longitudinal directions. For example, they allow the arm to stand upright and rotate backward, which is impossible for parallel-link robots, according to Fanuc America.

Capable of handling 1,000 kg items, the six-axis M-1000iA industrial robot also features a design that allows a wider range of motion than other heavy-payload robot arms. Image courtesy of Fanuc America

“On some of the higher-payload robots, you’ll see two vertical arms in the J2 area to provide extra rigidity,” Varner said. “Serial links give you more flexibility, which has more value in certain applications.”