Heavy-duty cable robot

In the application presented here, the platform is equipped with a pallet gripper as an end effector for use in material handling. This makes it possible to move and position pallets in space in all six degrees of freedom.
Cable robots, such as those developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA over several years, are an innovative solution for automated handling and processing tasks and combine technologies from robotics and crane technology. They are particularly suitable for large workspaces or heavy loads. The IPAnema 3 has an installation space of 16 x 11 x 6 metres and a payload of up to 250 kilograms.

Company: Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA
Contact person: Mr Johannes Stoll
Country: Germany

The end effectors of a cable robot must be supplied with energy, data and media. In the case of the pallet gripper described above, this involves supplying it with power, EtherCAT and compressed air.
In another project (HINDCON3D project), on the other hand, an end effector for 3D printing was used. For the supply of concrete, this was only equipped with a tank for concrete on the platform and therefore had a limited printing volume. The use of an igus tri-spool would be a possible solution for a continuous supply of concrete to the 3D print head. This would enable volumetrically unlimited printing of concrete.
A cable robot application already received the igus vector award in 2014. However, this was a "standard" setup that used an energy chain and an e-spool. The cable robot mainly moved in two dimensions.
The current IPAnema 3, on the other hand, can move in six dimensions. The challenge here is carrying the supply cables, which have to follow in all spatial directions and orientations.

To overcome this challenge, the IPAnema 3 uses a combination of the multi-axis energy chain (triflex) to guide the data and supply cable in the room and an e-spool to roll and unroll the chain. This combination of triflex and e-spool is called tri-spool.
The e-spool was designed to fit the triflex, which is not usually the case. This tri-spool is a special prototype design. It has a drum diameter of approx. two metres and an extension length of approx. eleven metres. The triflex energy chain can be rolled up and unrolled at a maximum speed of one metre per second. It contains the following cables: one Ethernet/CAT7 cable, one pneumatic hose with an outer diameter of 10 millimetres and two control cables with 5 x 2.5mm² and 12 x 0.5mm².
To guide the energy chain, a trough system with a deflection unit was also designed. Thanks to the trough system, the e-spool can be easily assembled on the floor and does not have to be attached to the ceiling.