Independent at last: Automated workplace

The challenge

Working independently at last, despite severe paralysis: To fulfil Daniel Hillebrand's dream, the Wittekindshofer Werkstätten in Bad Oeynhausen have created an automated workstation. As the budget was limited, the challenge was to find a cost-effective collaborative robot. The solution also needed to be minimalist and easy to maintain.

The solution

Now the ReBeL from igus, a cobot made of high-performance plastic, supports Daniel's work process. igus can offer the cobot at this low price because it is largely made of robust and durable high-performance plastics, which are much cheaper than metal.
Daniel uses the machine to automatically sort out foreign objects. He uses a chin joystick to control a mouse pointer on a tablet. When Daniel Hillebrand starts the machine, a step conveyor transports a handful of edge elements, hundreds of which have been filled into a feed hopper, onto a 250-millimetre-wide conveyor belt. The ReBeL cobot grabs the components from the conveyor belt and throws them into a drop container. Screws and other foreign objects remain on the conveyor belt and fall into a waste container.