A conventional industrial robot is a programmable, relatively flexible tool that – if equipped with special grasping components – allows the handling of parts out of virtually any position. The complete system of an industrial robot with its multi-axes kinematics and necessary control unit is basically seen as a handling device by design engineers.

Modular robots are a new approach to designing robot systems. The complete manipulator with its linked design is no longer the individual module but the actual joints. This way of thinking is the basis for the definition of the notion of “Modular Robotics.”

The fundamental idea of Modular Robotics is based on joints as main components of a robot. Instead of traditional linked design, joint modules are combined into a motion system. A module is defined as the smallest autonomously working unit of a robot. These units are not necessarily only joint modules but can also be other functional units like force-torque-sensors or visual sensors. These modules can be configured in to any robot system because they have common interfaces.

Advantages of SCHUNK Modular Robot technology

• The manipulator has a direct interface to PC control allowing to access all robot data in real time with high accuracy
• The manipulator provides a very high repeated positioning accuracy of 0.1 mm
• The robotic joints are equipped with precision gear boxes providing high torque at no backlash
• The robot is able to handle high loads
• SCHUNK provides a modular robotic design allowing the customer to reconfigure the robot and reuse it for further applications
• The manipulator works with 24V DC power and can therefore be used in mobile battery powered applications