December 22, 2017 – With the aim of creating a more intuitive way to control industrial robots, Comau releases PickAPP, an Android application to perform “Pick and Place” operations in a new way.
Until now, robot programmers were skilled technicians who used a teach pendant device (robot remote control) to interact with the robot. Comau reverses this scenario with this app.
PickAPP is an Android application for an 8-10-inch tablet, configured with graphical operations designed to improve the overall user experience. This application is designed for anyone familiar with smartphones, so they will be able to move a robot and create a pick and place process by preparing a list of waypoints, without having to learn robotic programming language. The user moves the robot manually by pulling and pushing robot joints, or using the interface in a similar way that is used for toy cars or drones. Additional configurations, like the type of movement and the actions related to a gripper, can be added.
The application has been developed by multiple users with a different approach than the one usually used for standard industrial processes. A sample group of testers, ranging from expert technicians to young people who play games on a tablet, were able to perform the programming required for a Pick and Place process in just a few minutes without prior training.
PickAPP is available for Comau low payload robots, such as Rebel-S (SCARA), Racer3 and Racer5 (3 to 5 kilogram payload), and will soon be implemented for the entire Comau robot family.
