Selecting the right modular components is pivotal when you develop turnkey robotic solutions. But how do you choose the right components?
If you want to develop a reliable, lucrative solution that customers can purchase with confidence… you need reliable components.
This is even more important with turnkey solutions than with bespoke integration projects because the effect of your choice is multiplied. Choose the right component and your life is becomes many times easier. Choose an unreliable component and your life becomes many times harder.
Here are 10 tips for selecting the right modular component when you are developing a turnkey robot solution…
1. Evaluate Reliability Based on Past Experience
You probably already have a list of your preferred robot components and suppliers. When developing a new turnkey solution, it makes sense to use those components that you are already familiar with.
Measure the reliability of components based on your experience integrating them into client applications. For example, if a particular robot camera brand always requires extensive reconfiguring and debugging, you would be better to choose one that can you can set up easily.
2. Ensure Modular Compatibility of Components
Select components that are easy to integrate with each other and will play nicely together over the entire lifetime of the solution. This may mean choosing components that adhere to interface standards.
Remember to consider factors like back compatibility and the impact of software updates. You don’t want a firmware update in one component to break the entire robot cell. Consider how you will take such updates into account in the maintenance of the cell.
3. Shorten Lead Times as Much as Possible
Manufacturing lead times are important for any integration project, but they have a multiplicative effect for turnkey solutions.
When your solution relies on components from external suppliers, remember that the longest lead time will determine the lead time of your entire robotic solution. Critically evaluate the lead time of all your components, then look for ways that you can reduce the overall lead time.
4. Use The Right Robot Simulation Software
Robot programming software is at the core of any turnkey solution. It is perhaps the most important component choice you will make.
RoboDK is a popular solution for providers of turnkey robotic solutions. It offers a feature rich offline programming and simulation environment with a dedicated user base of integrators and other robot users.
Choosing the right software ensures that your integration process runs as smoothly as possible. It also influences how easy it is for your customers to use the solution and how many support requests you have to deal with.
5. Prioritize Flexibility in Design
A core benefit of robotic solutions is that they are flexible for many situations and applications. Just because you are creating a pre-engineered solution doesn’t mean you should lose that inherent flexibility.
When you are selecting components, think about how easy it will be for them to adapt to changes. This will future proof your solution and make sure that it applies to many settings.
6. Optimize for Performance
Developing a turnkey solution that you can sell many times allows you to iteratively optimize the solution. During the development stage and throughout early sales, you can see great leaps in performance if you focus on this performance optimization.
Choose components that help you optimize the performance of the entire robot cell. For example, if you can tell that a particular component will become a bottleneck to the overall performance, consider how you can mitigate this or choose an alternative component.
7. Standardize Programming Interfaces
Remember that your robot solution will probably not work in isolation. Your customers may need to integrate it with their existing software workflow and other processes.
Choose software components with interfaces that will fit seamlessly into existing workflows. For example, RoboDK includes a range of features that facilitate a seamless robot programming workflow. It offers native integration with many leading CAD/CAM packages, extensive customization through Add-ins and Plugins, and you can adapt it to suit the exact needs of your turnkey solution.
8. Simplify Troubleshooting and Maintenance
With turnkey solutions, it’s important to reduce the need for troubleshooting and maintenance to a minimum.
Consider this… if you provide a custom solution to a single client who requires troubleshooting support 5 times, you only address one client’s issues. However, if you sell that same solution to 10 clients, each needing the same troubleshooting support, you end up with 50 troubleshooting incidents.
Choose components that help you simplify troubleshooting and maintenance. If a component consistently creates extra troubleshooting work, consider changing it.
9. Plan for Scalability
Select components that support scalability of the robotic solution. This may include allowing customers to expand the solution by adding extra modular components.
An example of this is to prioritize “copy and paste” deployments of your turnkey solution. This is when your customer can scale their production simply by purchasing multiples of the entire solution.
10. Balance Cost and Performance
Customers are often drawn to turnkey solutions because they are more affordable than custom integration projects. This means that cost is a key factor during purchasing.
When choosing the modular components of your solution, balance cost and performance of the components. Consider the lifecycle cost, including maintenance costs, in your selection process.
When you choose the right modular components, you can ensure that the turnkey solution will serve both you and your customers.
If you are using (or considering using) RoboDK as a component in your turnkey application… let us know and we might feature you on this blog!
What factors do you consider when choosing robot components? Tell us in the comments below or join the discussion on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or in the RoboDK Forum.. Also, check out our extensive video collection and subscribe to the RoboDK YouTube Channel
