OnRobot Aims to Automate Robotic Deployment With D:PLOY
Denmark-based OnRobot has announced the launch of D:PLOY, designed to break down automation barriers to bring the benefit of collaborative automation to businesses of all sizes. Now available worldwide, D:PLOY is an automated platform for building, running, monitoring and re-deploying collaborative applications.
OnRobot said that by automating the process of getting a robotic application up and running, D:PLOY allows complete applications to be deployed and redeployed directly on the manufacturing floor in a few simple steps, without any programming knowledge needed. Applications supported in the launch include palletizing, CNC machine tending, packaging and pick-and-place, with additional applications coming in the future.
“The D:PLOY platform and its ability to truly democratize automation has been OnRobot’s goal from the beginning, and we have been laying the groundwork for years,” said Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO of OnRobot. “Today we offer the industry’s broadest range of tools and application solutions for every leading robot brand – all based on our ‘One System, Zero Complexity’ philosophy. Now that the building blocks are in place, we can finally launch the first version of D:PLOY, which will be a market enabler across the industry.”
The D:PLOY platform aims to address the challenge of finding skilled robotics engineers and integrators who can help small, less-experienced manufacturers break through existing barriers to automation.
“D:PLOY simplifies the task of building and integrating a robotic cell with an innovative approach that doesn’t require any programming,” said Simon Potzkai, an OnRobot integrator and beta tester at Alexander Burkle. “With the current shortage of engineers, that’s a huge advantage for integrators. By making it easier and faster for us to deploy automation, we can serve more customers and help them more quickly realize the advantages of automation. That’s a win-win for everyone.”
D:PLOY automatically discovers most of the installed hardware, and generates the robot motion based on the obstacles and cell boundaries defined in the workspace. The program logic, signals exchange, event handling and robot movement are automatically created for the entire application, based on a few inputs such as workpiece attributes and pick position.
As an example, OnRobot said the initial deployment of a palletizing application drops from 40 hours to four hours, a 90% time savings. When production requirements change, D:PLOY lets users quickly re-deploy the application for new products or workpieces.
For more details on the platform, visit the OnRobot website here.
