The rise of the collaborative robots on display at Automate 2023 in Detroit

The Fabricator, July 24, 2023

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John Spruce, founder and CEO of Kane Robotics, has developed GRIT robotics to assist manufacturers with a process that’s getting harder to fill: manual grinding. Spruce thinks that collaborative robots armed with quick-change tooling can eliminate this human resource, challenging for high-mix, low-volume manufacturers.

Spruce, who came from the aerospace and defense manufacturing industry, said adapting cobots for these tedious sanding, grinding, and finishing jobs makes sense because people really don’t want to do the job for entire shifts. “It’s dull, dirty, dangerous, and debilitating,” he said, emphasizing the latter because extended handling of a power tool can certainly lead to injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome, which no small or medium-sized company wants to address.

Kane Robotics displayed its GRIT XL cell that had a UR cobot attached from an overhead beam, providing it with access to both sides of a mobile table. Armed with a buffing tool, the cobot simulated the polishing of a car hood.

Spruce said one of the first applications for the cobot finishing system was the sanding of a rocket wall made of composite material. The cobot was a good choice for the job because the exterior surface had to be “prepped” for the attachment of other components, but the composite material couldn’t be altered in any major way without sacrificing the integrity of the rocket body.

The GRIT system has not been limited to aerospace applications, however. Spruce said a maker of oil and gas components for drill sites uses the cell for removing weld beads.

“What if that part goes away? You just reconfigure the cobot,” Spruce said. “As an investment, it’s low risk.”

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