10 Things to Look for When Choosing a Robot

When choosing a robot, here are ten important things to look for:

1. Experience and reputation of the manufacturer: Look for a manufacturer who has established itself as an industry leader and whose robots have stood the test of time.
2. Documented MTBF: Robots, which are often required to operate two or three shifts per day, everyday of the year, must above all be reliable. Manufacturers who stand behind their robot’s reliability will be happy to furnish documentation of their Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF).
3. High maximum allowable moment of inertia: look for a robot with a high maximum allowable moment of inertia, measure of how much force it can exert.
4. Continuous duty cycle time: when comparing robot cycle times, be sure to ask whether the figures given are for continuous duty or only shorter bursts of an hour or less.
5. Compact, efficient robot design: a compact robot design with a small footprint makes integration easier and saves valuable factory floor space.
6. Robot controller features: Desirable features to look for in robot controllers include small size and weight, fast processing speed, etc.
7. Affordable offline programming software: Most packaging applications are not difficult to program.
8. Low energy consumption: Ask about the robot’s energy consumption.
9. Safety codes: To protect employees and limit your company’s liability, verify that robot meets or exceeds all current safety codes.
10. Short training: Ask about the length of required training.