FANUC unveils educational cell based on collaborative robot technology

By Niraj M Wanikar, Chief Editor, CNCTimes.com, 2021-10-05 13:14:00

Designed with students in mind, the robot engineering professionals of tomorrow will benefit from this new take on plug-and-play educational cells

With demand for collaborative robot (‘cobot’) solutions continuing to rise, FANUC is taking this exciting technology to the education market with the release of its CRX Educational Cell. The cell features a FANUC CRX-10iA collaborative robot and all the functions and features required to teach core programming skills in a dedicated package. Enabling young people to gain first-hand experience of programming and operating cutting-edge robots, this plug-and-play solution is ready to use straight from the box.

FANUC’s existing Educational Cell, featuring a standard FANUC ER-4iA industrial robot, continues to prove highly popular. Adding a new option to this offer, the FANUC CRX Educational Cell with a collaborative robot will allow schools, colleges, universities, training centres and OEM training facilities to offer learners a choice of automation concepts.

Robot-human collaboration

A major visual difference with the CRX Educational Cell is the absence of guarding. As the name suggests, collaborative robots can work safely alongside humans, coming to a safe and immediate stop in event of a contact. In addition, optional safety scanners are available that set out safety zones for those wishing to run the robot at high speeds. Anyone entering these zones will cause the collaborative robot to operate at a slower ‘safe’ speed.

The focal point of the CRX Educational Cell is its CRX-10iA collaborative robot with 1249 mm reach and 10 kg maximum payload. Easy to use and convenient, the robot is trolley-mounted for rapid transfer between classrooms and only requires a standard 240 V single-phase power supply.

Importantly, FANUC’s Teach Pendant tablet facilitates intuitive ‘drag and drop’ programming, allowing users to create a robot path in a matter of minutes. The Teach Pendant tablet also features fully integrated tutorials as standard.

As a point of note, it is possible to program the CRX-10iA using the standard industrial programming method with Teach Pendant code. As a result, there is no limitation in programming technique - students entering industry and encountering a FANUC industrial robot will be programming in the same language used by the CRX-10iA.

The CRX-10iA also offers plug-in software to support the installation of interfaces for peripheral equipment. In addition, the solution is fully Industry 4.0/IoT ready, offering Ethernet ports and Ethernet software support as standard.

Create the optimum solution

Among the available options is a fully integrated electric gripper and ready-to-run ‘solitaire’ application that helps students learn best-practice programming techniques. 

A further option is the fully integrated FANUC iRVision robot-mounted camera that provides smooth image cover without any sharp edges. The camera offers full compatibility with the electric gripper and solitaire application. Customers can also opt for a fully integrated electric vacuum gripper.

As standard, the CRX Educational Cell comes with 20 FANUC ROBOGUIDE simulation software licences for PC use. A university, for example, can therefore have 20 students in a classroom simultaneously learning robot programming in a virtual world, before downloading the program to the robot for real-world application. 

Supporting skills development

The package content offered by FANUC is highly relevant for modern factory applications and contains everything instructors require to help the next generation of robotics specialists realise their career ambitions. Indeed, the release of the CRX Educational Cell further supports FANUC’s ongoing commitment to skills development and learning. The company is a Global Partner of WorldSkills, which organises the world championships of vocational skills every two years, thus helping young people from all over the world to prepare for a career in the robotics industry.

This year FANUC manufactured its 750,000th robot, providing a key indicator of robot population growth and the ongoing need for new industry talent. The FANUC CRX Educational Cell provides an ideal way to provide hands-on learning and develop robot programming skills.

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