Australia can boast a number of accomplishments in robotics, including the world’s first automated container terminal and a collection of pioneering mining applications. Building on them, the experts say, will require teamwork.
One recent achievement, bringing ANCA’s AR300 SCARA robot arm and control system to market, took collaboration between the company, its suppliers and customers, and university researchers. The project dates back to 2014, when the ANCA noticed an unmet need for flexible automation for tool loading. Developing a local solution, instead of importing robot hardware, might also have applicability in a variety of other industries.
“As a local contributor to advanced manufacturing, we’re continually looking for ways to grow,” explains Tom Nathan, New Products Development Manager at ANCA CNC Machines. Moreover Nathan adds that these opportunities can’t always be pursued, and there are times when the cost of engineering in Australia can cruel a business case.
Another difficulty is quite simply that “robotics is hard”. This well-known adage has been very much in evidence over the last few months, following the demise of promising US robotics businesses Jibo, Mayfield and Rethink Robotics. The challenge of creating a robot from scratch is a daunting one. Or as Nathan puts it: “Making a multi-axis robot is one of the pinnacles in advanced manufacturing.”
Mike Grogan, Director for Victoria, South Australia & Tasmania, at the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre (AMGC), concurs: “There’s no doubt the manufacture of a robot is the height of advanced manufacturing. They are extremely complex pieces of equipment.”
The AMGC contributed $325,000 in co-funding to a project to bring ANCA’s SCARA machine from technology readiness level (TRL) 6 to TRL 8. It linked ANCA Machine Tools with its sister company ANCA Motion, suppliers Total Precision and Harmonic Drive, customer and beta tester Sutton Tools, and Swinburne University, which contributed to design.
“The AMGC made us look to suppliers that we could use that are local, like Total Precision and ANCA Motion, but also at the way in which we collaborated with the local suppliers and customers and universities,” says Nathan.
Australia has pockets of excellence that can serve robotics development, but it lacks critical mass. Collaborating and clustering companies and researchers – as recommened in the recent Robotics Roadmap for Australia from the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision – is essential for success.
The first ten units of the AR300 are expected to be shipped by the end of December. The release continues ANCA’s efforts to serve “the whole Industry 4.0 chain” for its customers, including the digitalisation of blank materials, tool preparation, tool marking, machine monitoring and analytics, and more.
Demand for industrial robots, one facet of Industry 4.0, is booming, as manufacturers chase productivity gains, and the availability of effective, user-friendly options increases. According to the 2018 World Robotics Report, annual unit sales increased 30% in 2017 and have more than doubled over the last five years.
The completion of the project, enabled by teamwork, gives ANCA a globally relevant product to take to the fast-growing robotics market. The affordable price and its ability to be used in harsh industrial environments (dust, liquids, chemicals) make it appealing to the pharmaceutical & cosmetics, and food & beverage sectors, which increased robot purchases 24% and 19% respectively in 2017.
The AMGC supported the project as it encouraged “advanced characteristics”, identified from an analysis of 3,000 manufacturers. This includes increased R&D spending, patent portfolio size, and collaboration with other researchers and manufacturers. According to Grogan, the SCARA project “is an example of continuous advancement through R&D in order to stay in front”.
It has also allowed ANCA to continue diversifying from a traditional focus on CNC grinding. Paul Bochi, ANCA Motion General Manager believes believes that commercialising the robot, as well as its motion control technology, will present an array of broader opportunities.
“It also means we can sell more into the Australian market, which hasn’t been possible due to the niche nature of CNC grinding,” says Bochi. “For example, we are looking at the packaging, food & beverage industries, where we can provide high-tech robotic and motion solutions such as our LinX tubular linear motor. We will continue to invest in developing automation solutions for the market and are excited about our prospects locally which to now has not been possible.”
For ANCA, there are new markets and new challenges ahead. The AR300 also presents an “exportable, Australian-made robotics capability” for the country, enabled by teamwork.
“We’re fiercely Australian, and we’re fiercely proud that we do all our engineering in Australia, and we want to keep and promote advanced manufacturing in Australia,” says Nathan. “And I think the more the Government can do to help local industries, and also incentivise local industries, it will be better for industry in general.”