The Complete Guide To Robotic Parts

As industrial robots have continued to evolve in complexity and functionality over the years, the extraordinary range of capabilities and roles they’ve become highly adept at performing has grown exponentially.

At the same time, even as the technology continued to advance throughout the course of the past decade, the manufacturing costs of many key components in robot design and construction - especially sensors - started to fall dramatically. The result, in industrial terms, has been a rapid expansion in the availability and affordability of robots and robotic parts across a very wide range of industries.

Robots and robotic elements of traditionally manual production processes are now far more commonly encountered - even in smaller-scale operations - than they once were, because they’re no longer so prohibitively expensive as to be viable only for businesses outputting at exceptionally high volumes and turnovers.

Regardless of whether they’re incredibly complex or relatively simple machines, all robots fundamentally consist of a few key parts that are common to any type. In short, in any programmable industrial robot there will always be:

• A controller acting as the ‘brain’ of the machine
• A series of mechanical parts and attachments designed to carry out the pre-programmed articulations
• Some assembly of sensors to help the robot fine-tune its performance in response to external stimulus

The ‘response to external stimulus’ mentioned in the last bullet point above is an important factor in defining robotics and robotic parts from other high-tech components. Interestingly, there isn’t really a very standardised consensus yet on what exactly constitutes a robot per se, as opposed to merely a machine capable of carrying out repetitive tasks to a consistent standard.

A key factor in identifying what we broadly consider ‘robotics’ is the ability of the machine to autonomously perceive and react to certain facets of its environment. It goes without saying, for example, that we wouldn’t typically consider a kettle to be a robot, even though it performs a repeatable task to a consistent standard with minimal input from us (beyond an initial instruction).

Many types of ‘smart’ technology now blur the lines between simple machinery and true robotics, thanks to their abilities to monitor and respond to changing parameters in their immediate environments. Again, this is due in part to the much more widespread and affordable manufacturing of sensor technologies today than was possible ten years ago.

Robotic arms are machines that are programmed to execute a specific task or job quickly, efficiently, and extremely accurately. Generally motor-driven, they’re most often used for the rapid, consistent performance of especially heavy/delicate and highly repetitive procedures over extended periods of time. They’re especially valued in the industrial production, manufacturing, machining and assembly sectors.

Most robotic arms used for industrial production, assembly, or pick and place applications have 4-6 articulating joints designed to mimic the basic functionality of the human arm and hand. Common types of industrial, programmable robot arms include Cartesian, polar, cylindrical and SCARA arms, each of which operates within a differently shaped and coordinated ‘envelope’ of physical space in order to perform its main tasks - you can read more about each of these robot types at the end of this guide.

To explore this subject in greater detail, see our robotic arms guide.

Robotic controllers can take many forms, but in modern workplace uses they almost always involve a combination of hardware and software that together forms the digital computer system through which the robot is instructed and monitored.

As noted above, the closest human analogy here would be the brain - signals created and sent by the controller directly manage the movements of all other robotic parts, including joints, manipulators and any end effector attachments.

In essence, it is the robotic controller that makes a suitably equipped machine a robot, especially when working in combination with sensors that enable it to adjust automatically to external events and conditions.

Grippers for robots are just one of many types of manipulator that can be fitted to the end effector (the ‘hand’) part of a robot or robotic arm, in order to provide it with certain key functions and abilities. Robotic grippers provide the machine with a means of achieving reliable purchase on a wide range of objects and components, which is essential for most production line, assembly and pick and place applications.

They’re usually designed either to be electrically operated, pneumatic, or based on vacuum principles - as with most robotic parts, the best solution for a given application will depend on the precise nature of the task and the specifics of the environment the robot is being put to work in.

In terms of comparison to human abilities, robots can quite easily be fitted with a range of sensors, lenses and other add-ons that provide them access to many of the same basic senses we have - sight, hearing, touch, and so on. The trickier problem is teaching the robot how to understand and make sense of that data as it receives it.

The wide array of robotic sensors on sale can be broken down into various key categories, which might include:

• Contact sensors
  • Push buttons and contact switches
  • Pressure pads and sensors
• Distance sensors and gauges
  • Ultrasonic range finders
  • Infrared sensors
  • Laser measurement devices and sensors
  • Stretch and bend sensors
• Positioning sensors
  • Room navigation (indoor localisation) sensors
  • GPS and other live tracking devices
• Rotation sensors
  • Potentiometers
  • Gyroscopic devices
• Environmental sensors
  • Photoelectric or light sensors
  • Sound sensors
  • Thermal sensors and thermal imaging cameras
  • Humidity and moisture sensors
  • Pressure sensors
  • Gas sensors

Cartesian robots are so-called because they operate based on the Cartesian coordinate system - in other words, their movement is plotted and controlled along the familiar X, Y and Z axes that we’re used to seeing on most graphs and 3D charts. They’re commonly found performing tasks such as machine tooling or picking and placement.

The joints and motors of Cartesian or gantry robots are therefore programmed using X. Y and Z coordinates to enable linear movement in these three dimensions, sometimes with the benefit of an additional rotating wrist joint for further flexibility. A series of linear actuators allows the Cartesian robot to position a tool or attachment accurately in three-dimensional space, and manipulate it through a series of linear movements to switch between positions.