Tiesse Robot (www.tiesserobot.it) of Visano (BS), an international leader in the robotic automation of industrial processes, offers on the European market, thanks to the historic partnership with Kawasaki Robotics, the new robots for use in the pharmaceutical-medical sector, type MC004 in the version plated, to be used in environments where resistance to VHP-hydrogen peroxide is required for decontamination from the surface of the robotic arm.
The new robot is extremely compact, has a working radius of about 500 mm and the characteristic of having extremely smooth surfaces with low roughness. There are no protruding or angular elements, in which bacteria could lurk, which would make their removal more complex. The robot also includes a whole series of devices, such as the passage of cables for the control of both pneumatic and electric grippers inside the robot arm and the coaxial connectors at the robot base, precisely to optimize assembly inside the drug preparation lines .
Five of these machines have recently been delivered to a prestigious Italian company operating in the pharmaceutical plant construction sector, which will test them in the new production lines that will be exhibited at the next Interpack international trade fair.
MC004 joins its "older" brother MS005, totally in stainless steel and with 7 axes, the only robot of this type in the world in the configuration snake, which can be used in particularly dangerous work areas for the preparation of thixotoxic drugs. With the two models mentioned, therefore, Kawasaki's technological proposal for the medical and pharmaceutical sectors can be considered complete.
Going further into the specifics, the new MC004 model will be connected to the new super-compact F60 controller, which will soon equip the range of Kawasaki robots with a capacity of 3 to 10 kg and which will become the new technological reference point on the market. F60 has the prerogative of being dimensionally smaller than all the other similar controllers available today, with a weight of only 12 kg 300 x 320 by 130 mm in height. The controller can support two additional external axes of 1.2 kilowatts each, equipped with all the communication buses used in the industrial sector and with internal and also external I/O units that can be mounted in control cabinets of the external line via communication serial. Using the two available USB ports, the robot can be equipped with a Bluetooth module which will activate the connection to smartphones and tablets for functional verification of the robot controller. Even if so small in size, the controller can be equipped with the Cubic S option for the safety monitoring of the work areas and will make it possible to achieve savings of over 10% in consumption compared to the current E70/E71 controllers.
In addition to the serial ports and USB ports, the presence of Ethernet ports and, as an option, PCI express cards, complete the technological equipment of this machine with exceptionally precise and reliable performances. The technologies described, and the possibility of efficiently using the new machines in situations and environments that require the highest levels of safety, provide further evidence of Tiesse Robot's commitment to developing increasingly cutting-edge solutions in the field of line robotization industrial, with a perspective that knows how to grasp every production requirement and an engineering-technological competence that is difficult to match in all existing product sectors.
