Which injection robot is best?

Injection Robot

2024/03/27 By Topstar

Which is best, Cartesian, Articulated, or Collaborative, and what type of injection robot is best for my injection molding application? This is the question many plastic manufacturers most frequently ask us. This guide will combine our experience to analyze and help manufacturers choose the best robot that suits them.

Articulated injection robot

The articulated injection robot has multiple joints and degrees of freedom and can rotate 90 degrees to match different product removals. Through the control system, it can bypass obstacles, enter the injection molding machine, and accurately grab parts. In addition, they usually use lightweight aluminum alloy arms to make the overall operation more flexible. They can perform tasks such as parts grabbing and sprue picking up nimbly and quickly. This flexibility and agility make it ideal for various injection molding applications, including multi-cavity molds, insert molding, and more.

Articulated injection robot

Descartes injection robot

Cartesian injection robots differ from articulated injection molding robots in moving along a linear axis through Cartesian coordinate robots, providing fast and accurate end effector positioning. It provides linear motion along each axis to move quickly and smoothly between different positions within the injection molding workspace. Suitable for 100-ton to 220-ton horizontal injection molding machines, used for complex applications such as finished products and demoulding or high-demand in-mold inlays. At the same time, they also add a softening function for each axis, which can prevent changes in the mold opening distance from causing the product to be unavailable or damaged.

Descartes injection robot

Collaborative injection robot

Collaborative injection robots are equipped with advanced safety features such as force sensing, collision detection, and power-limiting technology to work with operators safely. They can be used with various clamps and jigs according to the different requirements of the product to achieve rapid descent to take out the product and slow descent into the mold to achieve stable and perfect product removal. The modular structure allows the disassembled parts to be packaged individually to facilitate on-site replacement by operators.

Collaborative injection robot

Injection molding robot end-of-arm tool

Whether articulated, Cartesian, or collaborative robots, they all have end-of-arm tools (EOAT). EOAT refers to the end effector attached to the injection molding robot arm and is responsible for grabbing, manipulating, and handling molded parts, gates, runners, and other components during the injection molding process. Tailoring EOAT to the molded part’s specific shape, size, and material properties ensures reliable and consistent processing without causing damage. They also help shorten cycle times and reduce scrap rates while increasing the overall productivity of injection molding operations. Equipped with sensors, cameras, and other functions, it can enhance the versatility and adaptability of parts handling and operation.

Choose according to your situation!

Topstar’s injection molding robot series includes articulated, Cartesian, and collaborative types, so we need you to choose them based on your situation. The clamping force of the injection molding machine, whether your production environment supports programmed, synchronized, and monitored injection molding robots, and factors such as part shape, complexity, etc. to determine the part clamping configuration. The operation requires an arm tool (EOAT). These factors are all factors you need to consider and weigh.

In general

We hope you can refer to the three types of injection molding robots mentioned in the article and choose the most suitable and best injection robot based on your situation. Users have different ideas; only you know your situation and choices best.

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Which injection robot is best?