Thomson Industries Inc., a manufacturer of linear motion control systems, has released its Movotrak CTU 7th axis, which features collision detection functionality similar to a cobot joint. The company says this is “the first ever true collaborative extension for cobots.”
Also known as a range extender, the Movotrak CTU features a Kollmorgen servo motor and linear-unit-driven guide rails to move a cobot assembly from one task location to another. It can be mounted in a horizontal, inverted or wall-mounted configuration.
The collision detection system also monitors current continuously, detecting position errors in the motor to provide anti-collision capabilities along the entire 7th axis. The system also includes a small reverse-move feature that eliminates pinch points following a stop. Collision detection sensitivity settings can be adjusted on a control tablet during setup, with the Movotrak CTU motor drive and digital I/O managing the collision monitoring and shutdown.
According to Thomson Industries, the Movotrak CTU 7th axis integrates with many cobot sizes and brands, including Universal Robots (UR), which allows all programming to be done directly through a URCap interface on their UR Teach Pendant. All collision monitoring and safeguard logic runs in the Thomson drive, so that bandwidth competition with the UR controls is minimal.
Similar to the freedrive of cobot joints, the Movotrak CTU 7th axis freedrive functionality enables hand-driven setting of linear waypoints during programming. Users manually slide the cobot where they would like it to be in a sequence along the 7th axis and register that location with a push button. A use case example of this feature is an aircraft quality inspector who needs repeated images of the same area over time. Another might be a welder who wants to carry out welding sequences at multiple locations.
For users with a preferred servo/auxiliary axis motor and drive, Thomson Industries has also released a new industrial RTU (robot transfer unit), which allows users to equip their robotic applications with a 7th axis. With a Thomson RediMount motor mounting adapter kit included, Thomson Industries says users can integrate their motor in less than a minute and use their own robotic controller to take advantage of the RTU. Compatible with many robot brands and sizes, the industrial RTU features the same dual-linear-unit design and carriage-mounted mounting plate as the Movotrak CTU.
