Vention started five years ago with a mission to create an industrial automation company that was intuitive and accessible to all manufacturing professionals. Last year at Demo Day, we introduced Vention’s manufacturing automation platform (MAP) and its four core steps: Design, Automate, Order, Deploy.
The products we’ve built along the MAP workflow have not only become more powerful, but are now also simpler to use. Never before has a single platform been able to achieve so much.
This article will cover all the major announcements from Vention’s Demo Day 2021 and showcase just how far we’ve come in the last year.
Summary of Key Announcements
- Major partnership announcements with FANUC, OnRobot and Doosan
- Redesign of MachineBuilder’s UI and the addition of new, smart tools
- MachineLogic has new enhancements, which makes it even easier to program and simulate automation
- New robot programming functionality that simplifies cloud-to-factory floor deployment
- Launch of Vention’s new extrusions that deliver even greater performance
- New enclosed ball screw actuators that allow you to further customize your robotic applications
- Increased breadth of certified applications, such as machine tending, cobot palletizers and heavy-duty conveyors, that allow you to build a complete factory floor on one platform
DESIGN
PARTNERSHIPS
Vention announced three major additions to the partner network to help us in our mission to democratize industrial automation. The new partner companies and associated parts are:
- FANUC (CRX cobot)
- OnRobot (Range of End-of-Arm tools)
- Doosan (H-series)
All of these parts can now be integrated in a robot cell design within MachineBuilder and ordered directly through Vention. See all of the parts associated with our new partnerships here: FANUC, Doosan Robotics and OnRobot
MachineBuilder REIMAGINED
MachineBuilder is the easiest way to design and order industrial equipment online. Today, tens of thousands of users leverage this simplified way of machine design for their robot cells, automated equipment, jigs and fixtures and many more custom solutions needed on the manufacturing floor.
At Demo Day 2021, Vention announced a brand new user interface for MachineBuilder that further simplifies machine design, while reducing the time it takes to become a power user from hours to minutes.
Some of the key features of the new interface are:
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Smart Design Tools: an example being multi-extrusion resizing, which gives you the option to rapidly customize equipment to your required dimensions
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Workflow Improvements: move seamlessly from MachineScope (where you can review requirements), to MachineBuilder (where you can design your equipment) and then to MachineLogic (where you can automate and simulate your equipment). This digital integration significantly reduces the time to scope, design and automate manufacturing equipment without having to import/export data from one software to the next
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Directly Manage Add-Ons: within the MachineBuilder interface, you can now add a variety of tools or components (e.g. tapes, handles, plates washers, cable extensions etc.) directly to your design Bill Of Material (BOM), without cluttering your design space. Further, you can also now add a MachineApp, or similar software to operate your equipment, directly to your BOM
AUTOMATE
MachineLogic FUNCTIONALITY UPGRADES
MachineLogic was built to ensure that what you simulated in the cloud, translated directly to real-life behaviour. All that functionality is bundled into a single user interface that can be mastered by any manufacturing professional.
MachineLogic capabilities are rapidly evolving into something significantly more powerful than a code-free cloud and edge platform for industrial automation programming. Here are the latest updates from Demo Day 2021:
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Redesigned, Smart Configuration: real-life representation of machine configuration that can also now scan your 3D design and automatically populate all the configuration fields for each actuator
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Tree View: easier navigation of your entire program structure
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Drag and Drop Commands: easily edit and structure your program and then visualize which command is being executed in real-time
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Teach Mode: retrieve actuator positions directly from the design, without having to manually input them
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Push button Integration: as you run your MachineLogic simulation, you can interact with the push buttons exactly as you would on your factory floor
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Environmental simulation: see your different sensors in action, and monitor how they change state, as an object passes within their sensing range
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UI Builder: anyone can now design and implement their own custom operator interface without typing a single line of code
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MachineApp Templates: availability of complete example code allowing you to program your own application by using Python backend for the state machine and Javascript frontend for your operator interface
ROBOT PATH PROGRAMMING
Today offline and online robot programming is extremely complex, preventing the mass adoption of robot arms on factory floors. You need offline programming to evaluate the feasibility of a given robot cell before committing to it’s investment, and online programming to make it easy for any manufacturing professional to deploy robotic arms. The transition from the offline to the online world is cumbersome, and still requires numerous in-field adjustments.
To help solve this problem, our team unveiled Vention’s new cloud-to-factory floor robot path planning tool, MachineApp, which is natively embedded within MachineLogic.
MachineApp gives you step by step guidance to configure your own machine application. If you are creating a custom program, Vention also released a portfolio of intuitive programming tools that help you to teach your waypoints, create arrays, define reference frames, and much more.
Vention announced another tool to assist in converting your program from the cloud into reality, whilst accommodating for inevitable assembly tolerances, and environmental differences. Vention’s new digital reference tool enables you to define local coordinate systems in the virtual world that are easily translated into the real world. If your mechanical structure is not identical to your digital model, the digital reference tool will automatically update your robot program, which means no manual adjustments are required once the calibration tool is set up.
It goes without saying that this product will allow you to program and deploy robot programs in a fraction of the time compared to traditional methods. Experience the possibility of Vention’s robot programming with these three pubic designs:
- Fixed cobot palletizer
- Machine tending
- UR5e bin picking
FULL FACTORY AUTOMATION
CORE FACTORY APPLICATIONS
Vention provides users with the flexibility to build custom solutions on a single platform. However, we see that some use cases are universal (or at least similar) from one factory to the next. It’s for this reason that Vention invested in developing a full portfolio of certified manufacturing automation applications.
Following Demo Day 2021, new part kits that are developed from a combination of Vention and partner parts, but that have been designed to perform a specific use case, will be available. If further customization is required, users can do so by utilizing Vention’s modular part library.
All applications receive extensive field testing in our application lab and they come with characterized performance features. Their own code-free MachineApp also allows you to deploy and operate equipment at a fraction of the time.
Automating a factory has never been easier or more accessible now with 20 applications available on the Vention platform. See below the latest hardware and applications that were showcased at Demo Day 2021.
1. Machine Tending
One of the key application announcements made by Vention was our very own machine tending application. Built around the FANUC CRX cobot and leveraging MachineLogic’s code-free programming software, users can now fully develop their own machine tending sequence online and within 15 minutes, all before committing to any investment.
The application supports both tray-based or drawer-based machine tending stations, both of which are specially designed for the FANUC CRX cobot. Tray designs, drawer capacity or the number of drawers can be easily customized through MachineBuilder.
Furthermore, if you’re looking to develop in-house robotic expertise, you can opt for Vention’s new remote deployment bundle. This bundle includes robot programing and deployment assistance as you install your machine tending cell on your factory floor.
You can read more about Vention’s machine tending application here: Vention Robotic Tending
2. Jigs & Fixtures
Jigs and fixtures have been part of Vention’s ecosystem since day one. We know as well as anyone that repeatable and accurate fixtures are dependent on a rigid base frame. Vention’s patented extrusion system already provides the greatest moment of inertia per gram of aluminum, but at Demo Day, Vention announced that they have made them even better.
Vention’s second generation extrusion system, Extrusions V2, remain completely modular and come ready to be assembled using a single 5-mm T-Handle Hex Key; no cutting or drilling required.
Explore Vention’s second generation extrusions here: Extrusions V2 DataSheet
3. Cobot Palletizing
Last year, Vention introduced a cobot palletizing system for payloads up to 10 kilogram, and at Demo Day 2021 we upped the ante by introducing the next evolution of our product line with 20 and 25 kilogram versions.
Leveraging Doosan H-series cobots, Vention’s large cobot palletizers are available in a fixed height or a vertical gantry, adjustable height configuration. The plug-and-play integration of light curtains, area scanners and guarding helps make Vention palletizers extremely safe too.
Vention also introduced brand new enclosed ball-screw actuators; a rigid, high-force actuator for the toughest applications. With a zero-pinch-point design, externally accessible grease port, and a lift capacity of up to 300 kg, the new enclosed ball screw actuators are the perfect components to customize your cobot palletizer.
Finally, Vention’s upgraded palletizer MachineApp is now compatible with Doosan robots. The application can be used to create new pallet stacks in under 15 minutes and also has an equally-intuitive web-based simulation tool directly available in MachineBuilder
Learn more about Vention’s palletizing solutions here: Cobot Palletizing
4. Heavy Duty Conveyors
Vention’s new heavy-duty roller conveyors are used to move larger and heavier loads. This new system that was unveiled at Demo Day has a maximum capacity of 250 kilograms, a maximum transfer speed of 150 mm/s, and comes in two different widths to better serve your applications.
As with all Vention hardware, these belt-driven conveyors are extremely modular and can be installed end-to-end depending on the length required. Turntable sections can also be used to redirect the flow of pallets in a multi-conveyor configuration. A 90-degree rotation can be performed in under 5 seconds, and the turntable is indexable over a 270 degree range. It’s the ideal solution for heavy-duty conveying operations requiring alternate path directing.
Dive into the details of our new heavy-duty conveyor here: Vention’s conveyor solutions
See the full list of applications on the Vention website at vention.io/applications. This extensive range of out-of-the-box applications makes it easier than ever to design, automate, order and deploy your custom factory floor.
COLLABORATE
This Demo Day, Vention remained committed to making industrial automation easier and more accessible for all manufacturers. Over the last year, the InVention community has grown to 2,700 users, spanning 20 different industries. With a community portal, revamped public design library, user forum, and more personalized user profiles, InVention is an opportunity to join a community of industrial automation practitioners spanning a multitude of industries and use cases.
InVention is a “manufacturing automation hub,” and its purpose is to inspire and empower users with design ideas, technical resources, problem-solving support, and much more. Vention wants to empower users by providing tools to make a project successful today, along with education to ensure they acquire the skills needed to succeed in the future.
We believe that Vention’s community is the strongest when it’s in the hands of our users, so sign up today and let your voice be heard.
Stay up to date
That’s a wrap for Demo Day 2021. It’s important to keep up to date with Vention, as so many new products and updates are being released on an ongoing basis. The Vention blog covers content that dives deeper into our biggest launches, but you can also stay informed by visiting the Vention community forum.