Cobot System Developed to Handle Labor-intensive Material Removal

Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing, June 13, 2023, By Bruce Geiselman

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Kane Robotics’ GRIT™ systems tackle sanding, grinding, deburring and polishing tasks.

Kane Robotics’ new Grit™ cobot is designed to work alongside humans to perform a variety of labor-intensive tasks including sanding, grinding, deburring and polishing in industries ranging from aerospace to construction.

The cobots work with materials including plastics, composites, wood, aluminum and steel, said Alan Hiken, company COO.

Kane Robotics isn’t a manufacturer of components, but it integrates end-of-arm tooling from companies including Applied Automation, ATI Industrial Automation and FerRobotics. The robot arms are manufactured by Universal Robots or Fanuc, depending on a customer’s preferences.

“There are many manufacturers of cobot arms, many manufacturers of end-of-arm tools, and we’d like to think we pick the best ones out there for our customers and put those into a turnkey finished solution,” Kane Robotics CEO John Spruce said.

“The Grit family of systems are pre-engineered. They’re prefabricated. When a customer orders a system from us, we can deliver them in a few short weeks. We’re up and running typically in a day or maybe two. We’re able to do that because we have standard designs and the customization that is necessary is limited.”

Kane demonstrated its collaborative robot system at Automate 2023, May 22-25, in Detroit, in conjunction with its end-of-arm tooling partners.

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