PRESS INFORMATION
December 1996
New Industrial Robot Conquers the World

Shorter processing times, increased precision in assembly and reduced production costs.
Using these arguments, a Swedish inventor has succeeded in persuading several of the world’s leading car and airplane manufactures to invest in a new type of industrial robot.

When the company Neos Robotics started up in Stockholm four years ago, NC-machines, (i.e. numerically controlled machines), were mainly used for processing aluminum and plastic in manufacturing industry.
The new Tricept robot, which was developed by the company’s MD and founder, Karl-Erik Neumann, can be controlled via off-line programming. The difference with other robots is that Tricept does not need manual fine-tuning after reprogramming.
- Thanks to this, valuable time can be saved, explains Karl-Erik Neumann.
At the same time, the robot’s processing times are 3-4 times faster than current NC-machines and have a pressure power of up to 1,500 kilos.
- An instrument panel for a car can be processed in 70 seconds instead of 220, as is the case today. This means that three NC-machines are required to achieve the same processing time as one Tricept, continues Karl-Erik Neumann.
Thanks to the pressure power of 1,5 tons, the robot can also assemble bearings and other components which normally require a separate hydraulic press.
In the car industry and other mass-producing high technology businesses, small changes in design can often result in expensive conversions of production lines.
- By instead using manufacturing equipment which can easily be reprogrammed, greater production flexibility and lower costs can be achieved, according to Karl-Erik Neumann.
His arguments appear to be hitting home. Leading manufacturers such as Volvo, Scania, Volkswagen, GM, Opel, Boeing, British Aerospace, plus the world’s biggest aluminum producer, Alcoa in the US, use the new robot today./ins

For further information, contact:
Karl-Erik Neumann, MD
NEOS Robotics AB
Ritarslingan 22A
187 66 Arninge
Sweden
Tel: + 46 8 630 03 75
Fax: + 46 8 630 03 79

Captions:
1) The Swedish industrial robot Tricept is used chiefly for the assembly and processing of aluminum and plastic in manufacturing industries. The robot’s high precision and pressure power allows for flexible, cost-effective production, according to manufacturers Neos Robotics AB.

2) The Swedish Tricept robot is constructed for precision, cost-effective production solutions in manufacturing industry. The robot is a servo-controlled framework construction with a high processing capacity and a pressure power of up to 1.5 tons.

Technical information:

The Tricept robot consists of a framework construction with three ball-scews and a conventional robot hand-joint at the intersection.

The construction allows for press operations of 15 000 N vertically and 3 500 N horizontally.

Handling capacity is 70 kg.

Repeating accuracy is 0.02 mm.

The control system in standard format can manage six axles, plus two interpolating axles and, as an option, up to 32 axles.

The system is built for multitasking of up to 225 programs and is controlled by the program package PDL2, which was developed by Comau Robotics.













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