The first manipulator was developed by the United States Control Company in 1858. Its structure is: a rotating long arm is installed on the body, and the top is equipped with a workpiece grasping and releasing mechanism of electromagnetic block. The control system is in the form of teaching.
In 1962, the United Control Company in the United States in the above scheme on the basis of the trial production of a NUMERICAL control teaching reproduction manipulator.It's called Unimate (universal automatic).The motion system is modeled on the turret of a tank. The arms can be rotated, pitched, telescopic, and hydraulically driven.The control system USES a magnetic drum as a storage device.Many universal manipulator with spherical coordinates is developed on this basis.In the same year, the company merged with Pruemann to form Universal Automation, specializing in industrial manipulators.
In 1962, the American Machinery Manufacturing Company also experimented successfully with a manipulator called Vewrsatran.The central column of the manipulator can be rotary, lifting and using hydraulic drive control system is also teaching reproduction type.Although these two manipulators appeared in the early 1960s, they are the basis for the development of industrial manipulators abroad.
In 1978, Unimate Corporation, Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology jointly developed a unimate-VICarm industrial manipulator, equipped with a small electronic computer for control, used in assembly operations, positioning error less than ±1 mm.The Federal German machinery manufacturing industry began to use manipulator in 1970, mainly used for lifting transportation, welding and equipment loading and unloading operations.
KnKa of the Federal Republic of Germany also produces a spot welding manipulator with joint structure and program control.
Japan is the country with the fastest development and most application of industrial manipulator.Since the introduction of two manipulators from the United States in 1969, he has devoted himself to the research of manipulators.
The former Soviet Union began to develop applied manipulator in the 1960s, and by the end of 1977, half of them were domestic and half were imported.
At present, most industrial manipulator belongs to the first generation, which mainly relies on workers to control;The main direction of improvement is to reduce the cost and improve the accuracy.
In the past 20 years, the application field of pneumatic technology has been rapidly expanded, especially in a variety of automatic production lines are widely used.The combination of electrical programmable control technology and pneumatic technology makes the whole system more automatic, more flexible and more reliable in performance.With the rapid development of pneumatic manipulator and flexible automatic production line, more and higher requirements are put forward for pneumatic technology.The introduction of microelectronics technology promotes the development of electrical proportional servo technology, and the development of modern control theory makes pneumatic technology from switch control into closed-loop proportional servo control, and the control accuracy is constantly improved.Due to its simple structure, strong anti-pollution ability and low cost, the technology of wide-width air artery modulation is being developed at home and abroad.
From the industry statistics of various countries, over the past 30 years, the pneumatic industry has developed rapidly.In the 1970s, the output value ratio of hydraulic and pneumatic components was about 9:1, but today, more than 30 years later, in Europe, America, Japan and other countries with developed industrial technology, the ratio has reached 6:4, even close to 5:5.China's pneumatic industry started late, but the development is fast.Since the mid-1980s, the annual increase rate of output value of pneumatic components has reached more than 20%, higher than the average annual increase rate of output value of China's machinery industry.With the development and application of microelectronics technology, PLC technology, computer technology, sensing technology and modern control technology, pneumatic technology has become one of the key technologies to realize modern transmission and control.
Pneumatic manipulator as a manipulator, it has the advantages of simple structure, light weight, rapid action, stable, reliable, energy saving and no pollution of the environment and is widely used.
Because the pneumatic drive system is safe and reliable, it can work in high temperature, vibration, inflammable, explosive, dusty, strong magnetic, radiation and other harsh environments.And pneumatic manipulator as a manipulator, it has the advantages of simple structure, light weight, rapid action, stable, reliable, energy saving and no pollution of the environment, easy to achieve stepless speed regulation, easy to achieve overload protection, easy to achieve complex action.Therefore, pneumatic manipulator is widely used in automobile manufacturing industry, semiconductor and home appliance industry, fertilizer and chemical industry, food and drug packaging, precision instruments and military industry.
Pneumatic manipulator used for the food industry powder, granular, block materials of automatic measurement packaging;Used in many processes such as automatic cigarette rolling and automatic packaging in the tobacco industry.Such as wine, paint filling pneumatic manipulator;Automatic stamping, installation and tightening pneumatic manipulator, milk carton packing pneumatic manipulator, etc.