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Piab’s 35 lb capacity piCOBOT L. | Source: Piab

Piab has continued to evolve its piCOBOT program by adding a larger version. Developed with the needs of customers in mind who work with small industrial robots and cobots, its high payload combined with a low building height enables maximum capacity usage.

With its lifting capacity of up to 35 lb, Piab’s new piCOBOT L is particularly attractive for e-commerce, logistics and warehouse applications as well as for assisting with lifting heavier items in production. It builds on the same technology platform as the original version, meaning it consists of a vacuum pump unit and an optional gripper unit.

The vacuum pump unit is scalable and can be equipped with a varying number of the newest powerful COAX cartridge. Offering a significantly higher vacuum performance, it enables fast movement when lifting heavier items for high productivity in packaging and palletizing, part assembly or machine tending.

Its high vacuum flow further facilitates the deployment of large Kenos foam grippers that can lift a broad variety of objects, from single large and heavy ones to a multitude of small ones simultaneously. The piCOBOT L is also an excellent platform for customized end effectors – either developed by Piab’s Custom Line specialists or by the customer or system integrator themselves. Thanks to the vacuum connection at the bottom of the pump no extra cabling is required when attaching a different gripper unit.

While the piCOBOT L allows manual gripper changes and dissembling the tool from the pump unit, the requirement to speed up tool changes when needed, called for an automated process to ensure continuous operations, provide flexibility for deployment of one solution for many different tasks at lowest possible cost. Hence, the most important addition is its optional automatic tool changer combined with a docking station for further end-effectors. The automatic tool changer is equipped with a lever to lock or unlock the adapter plate of the end-effector. The lever can be opened and closed automatically by the docking station to remove a gripping unit from the cobot and pick-up and connect a different one without human interference being necessary. Alternatively, the gripper switch at the tool changer can also take place manually.

The piCOBOT L was developed with easy access to parts that may require cleaning in mind. Accordingly, the ejector cartridges can be extracted in portions and the vacuum stages cleaned where needed. The integration of dust protection filters further maximizes machine uptimes. Thanks to its IP65 compliant robust pump body long operation times are also realized in harsh environments.

• Enables high-speed applications thanks to utilizing the newest powerful COAX vacuum cartridges
• Lifts more with less due to its high payload of 35 lb and low building height of just under 5 inches
• Safe for direct human-robot collaboration owing to its rounded edges
• High uptime even in harsh environments thanks to easy serviceability and IP65 compliant robust body