CNC-Integrated Cobots Support High-Mix Production
In short
In less than five years, Go Fast Campers (GFC) in Bozeman, Montana has grown from initial concept to an innovative manufacturing operation with 65 employees – and a starting minimum wage of $52,500 a year plus benefits. Cobot automation has been GFC’s strategy for success since day one. A line of fully integrated UR5 machine-tending cobots uses a single robot program to produce any part, in any machine cell. This allows the company to manufacture high-quality components just-in-time, offering significant competitive advantage, while also being able to quickly incorporate customer feedback.
The business transformation
At Go Fast Campers, a line of four UR5 cobots are fully integrated with Haas CNC machines, offering 22 hours of productivity per day, including 6 hours of unmanned, lights-out manufacturing. The robots all use the same robot program, so that any cell can run any of the company’s parts in any volume to meet each day’s assembly requirements.
The UR5 cobots’ flexibility and ease of integration and programming mean GFC can run 20 to 25 jobs across four machining centers each day, with changeovers taking only 10 to 15 minutes. The machine cells produce just the quantities needed for that day—whether that’s 15 or 500 pieces.
Having experienced the advantages of robotic automation for a small business, GFC has started down the path of turning its cobot machining cell setup into a product that can be sold to other small manufacturers to help them start with automation and run their businesses effectively.
“These automation tools, you usually only see them in these giant businesses, and I think they actually have the most power for small businesses,” says GFC CEO and co-founder, Wiley Davis. “If a small company doesn’t have access to these tools, there’s no way they can compete. Automation is a really powerful tool to allow for a much bigger diversity of products and perspectives.”
Go Fast Campers
How they did it
Go Fast Campers manufactures 174 unique parts for its customized pop-up truck campers. from bolts to connectors to hinges,
All of the parts start as raw pieces of aerospace-grade aluminum billet material that is cut into seven different standard stock sizes and loaded on trays at the four cobot-manned machining cells. Each robot uses the same program, with minimal input from an operator to define which part is being manufactured. The robot then picks a piece, sets it in a re-grip station so it can find the part’s center, and loads it into the machine. The machine mills the first operation, the robot flips the part to machine the second operation, the part is ejected out of the vise, and a retractor arm pulls the parts into a wash bin, ready for subsequent processes.
The UR cobot’s built-in I/Os allow GFC to control all of the auxiliary systems through the robot program. Stephan Morris, COO, says, “This has been incredibly useful for us, as we actuate the vise, the ejector mechanism, the extractor mechanism, the door cylinder that opens and closes the door—all those things are made possible by the UR’s easy programming language, and the easy opportunity to just plug in different pins to different pneumatic systems.”
The other key component is the force-feedback capabilities of the UR5e cobot, and a UR+ certified Robotiq gripper. That allowed Davis to build a reliable, safe system without having to invest in additional sensors and other systems that the team would have to learn, and which would also bring additional reliability issues. The team has also used UR applications engineering support, which provided valuable insight into communications protocols to help guide new projects.
Using the UR cobot’s scripting capabilities and Autodesk’s UR+ certified Fusion 360 application, Davis and his engineering team developed an innovative programming approach that allows any cell to make any part within a maximum cell volume using any standard stock size. The GFC engineering team used Fusion’s ability to program x-y-z axes using a CAD model for the parts and an origin point: the machine’s vice center plus the size of the stock. With minimal input on the size, height, and weight of the stock, the software guides the robot’s movements.
Wiley Davis, CEO and co-founder, Go Fast CampersHad we not built the entire company around the concept of automation, our 65 employees wouldn’t have those jobs at all. And the products we make—if we were able to form a company around it—would only be affordable to a very tiny portion of people.
Easy programming
The UR cobot’s built-in I/Os allow GFC to control all of the auxiliary systems through the robot program.
Stephan Morris, COO, says, “This has been incredibly useful for us, as we actuate the vise, the ejector mechanism, the extractor mechanism, the door cylinder that opens and closes the door—all those things are made possible by the UR’s easy programming language, and the easy opportunity to just plug in different pins to different pneumatic systems.”
Versatile
With their experience in replicating successful, reliable, and fully integrated cobot-CNC machine cells, GFC is developing a new business to help other entrepreneurial companies start out of their garage with automation.
Special projects team engineer Ian Sparkman says, “We’re trying to make the robot be a more sophisticated tool. Even though it is extremely easy to program, this means that the end user doesn’t have to do any programming. The parameters for a part no longer just contain the stock sizes and the part program number, but they also contain what sort of sequence of robot motions you need to make that particular part.”
Four machine cells with a single operator
GFC’s line of CNC-integrated UR cobots lets the company run four machine cells with a single operator. The company achieves about 22 hours per day of machine time, 6 hours of that unmanned with the cobot cells running lights-out.
Robotiq gripper
For each part machined, the cobot, equipped with the UR+ certified force-feedback gripper from Robotiq, picks a piece of aluminum stock from a tray, sets it in a re-grip station to find the part’s center, and loads it into the machine.
Multiple operations
Once the machine mills the first operation, the robot opens the door and flips the part to machine the second operation.
Fast flow
At the same time, the robot controller ejects the part out of the vise, and sends a retractor arm to pull the parts into a wash bin, ready for subsequent processes.
Automation challenges solved:
Single robot program can produce any part in any machine cell Single operator manages four machine cells, offering savings and greater worker autonomy Employees take on higher-value roles and earn higher wages Internal success led to new business venture helping other entrepreneurial manufacturers get started with cobot automation
Key value drivers:
174 different parts produced with 10- to 15-minute changeovers 20 to 25 jobs across four machining centers each day Lights-out production for increased competitiveness Increased machine cell reliability
Tasks solved by collaborative robots:
Fully integrated CNC machine tending Any part can be manufactured on any machine cell Cobot-powered machine cell product for prototyping to production
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