This is our FUNAC R-2000iB 210F Robotic Arm, otherwise known as The Robot. Although it sounds slightly ominous, Round House have big plans for our robotic arm and we are hoping it is going to one day revolutionise our business and the way we operate.

The Robot is currently the product of the blood, sweat and tears of one of our Software Engineers, Ben Warner. Ben graduated from the University of East Anglia this year with a first-class honour in Computer Science. Ben specialises in software engineering; in his third year of university, he developed an android app that he hopes is going to be published onto Google Play later this year by the Yarmouth Local History and Archaeological Society.

Round House’s, as well as Ben’s aim for The Robot is for it to be placed in our Timberwolf department. We currently have a production line system in place within our Timberwolf area, where funnels travel from bays 1 to 4 and end up as completed products. Our vision is that our skilled team of welder-fabricators will tack the funnel into place, it will then be attached to The Robot where it and an accompanying welding plant will fully weld the funnel up. Our team can then take the funnel off, and complete any finishing touches, whilst The Robot fully welds the next funnel. In theory, this will reduce the completion time for 1 whole funnel, meaning that our overall capacity will increase, we should also see a decrease in non-conformances, as we remove a partial amount of the human element and therefore the potential for a human error.

When Ben first arrived at Round House in the middle of September, The Robot was completely non-operational and unable to move. Ben has had to learn how to use The Robot that uses Karel-code (apparently) from scratch. His current task is to continue to develop an electrical circuit that controls the inputs and outputs from The Robot, this allows the robotic arm to understand whether it is currently welding or if it has the capabilities to do so.

Ben inputs different programmes daily to test for functionality and consistency within The Robot and the Timberwolf parts that it will be working on.

Although Ben specialises in Software Engineering, he has taken to this electrical engineering/robotic programming role like a duck to water. When asked about his project ben said, “This time last year I did not see myself programming a welding robot, but this is an opportunity I may not have again in a long while and I am thoroughly enjoying the experience”.

Ben is hopeful that The Robot is going to be fully operational at the beginning of 2022, however he is wary that there is still a long way to go. Nevertheless, we all have full faith in Ben and his ability to get The Robot up and running… despite him only being a Robotics Engineer for 6 weeks.

If you would like to work on this Robot or at Round House click here!

To learn more about FANUC and their products click here!

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