Creating an Adaptable Automation Test Bed with a Plug-and-Play Cobot Cell

The Technology Development Institute (TDI) at Kansas State University focuses on advancing technologies across numerous industries, from agricultural equipment and railroad locomotive refueling to food processing and recreational equipment. Increasingly, TDI’s clients are requesting quick-turn, user-friendly automated solutions to help address their labor shortages.

TDI needed a streamlined way to efficiently test new ideas for its diverse clientele. Traditional custom-built automation solutions offered limited flexibility, which inflated project timelines and budgets, ultimately adding costs for TDI customers.

TDI was also looking to highlight the flexibility of cobots with an easily adaptable automation test bed. Rather than creating a custom in-house test bed that would have required time-consuming effort and complex software integration, TDI sought an “out-of-the-box” platform to accelerate its efforts in solving clients’ manufacturing challenges.

TDI partnered with Vention to create a flexible testing environment for a diverse range of manufacturing projects.

The preassembled automation cell was easy to configure and order with Vention’s intuitive platform. A separate HMI control, expanded axis options, and diverse integrations made the solution highly versatile for the dynamic needs of TDI’s customers.

Vention’s professional design services simplified the system design process for TDI, easily accommodating necessary tweaks. Vention’s design experts then validated the final design to ensure it was error-free and deployment-ready.

The automation cell arrived pre-built within a few weeks of placing the order, eliminating integration challenges for TDI and ensuring a plug-and-play sandbox for innovation.

Vention’s automation platform provided TDI with a faster, more flexible approach to prototyping and validating automation solutions.

For example, TDI wanted to design a reliable way to decouple rigid heater chips for a client. The insufficient surface area of the chips made traditional methods, such as vacuum-based solutions, ineffective.

Using Vention’s cobot solution, TDI was able to quickly test different force thresholds and determine a reliable, repeatable process without damaging the components.

Beyond creating a sandbox to validate ideas, Vention’s solution also helped advance the cobot practice at Kansas State University, effectively showcasing the real-world benefits of robotics to visiting clients and the student body.