When you need a versatile, long-term solution to your operation’s material handling needs, there’s no substitute for a good pneumatic manipulator. Engineered with flexibility in mind, they can adapt to the evolving needs of your operation and, in most cases, be repurposed to perform a wide range of tasks. Unlike robots, they don’t require programmed instructions. They aren’t code-locked into a single, specific purpose. Instead, they take their direction from operators. Refocusing your manipulator doesn’t devolve into a time-consuming process that requires recalibration and reprogramming. Rather, it simply involves retraining your operators, which takes a fraction of the time and achieves the desired results at a fraction of the cost.
Let’s say that you need to lift, pitch, and place one of your products into a loading bay. Certainly, a robot can be engineered to accomplish the task. But, what if the height of your loading bay changes? Or what if the weight of your product increases? Or what if you want to lift an entirely different product, in an entirely different space, and place it in a storage area? In any of these cases, your robot is going to struggle. It’s designed to lift one product with a consistent weight and move it along the same trajectory to the same endpoint. Any adjustments to that routine are, most likely, going to require reprogramming.
But, when you install a pneumatic manipulator, you’re afforded much more versatility. As they aren’t guided by rigid, unchanging instruction sets or programming, manipulators can easily adapt. You can load different products, pitch them, yaw them, move them in three-dimensional space, and much, much more. Since they are guided by operator input, they deliver a level of flexibility that robots – and other fully-automated solutions – can’t compete with. As a result, an investment in a manipulator reduces costs, saves time, and increases your capabilities.
At TDA Buddy, we take pride in offering our customers the absolute best industrial manipulators on the market. We know that today’s manufacturing and assembly facilities require versatility and, to that end, we design all of our equipment to allow for maximum adaptation. Whether you’re a small, local assembly plant or a massive, global manufacturer, you can rest assured that we’ll work with you to understand your needs, identify opportunities, and deliver the products you need to keep your lines moving.
