5 Robot Applications That Work Well as Pre-Engineered Solutions

Pre-engineered robotic solutions are rapidly transforming the manufacturing landscape. By creating a catalog of off-the-shelf, turnkey solutions for common applications, you can bring in more customers and help them deploy their robots faster.

Turnkey solutions are those that you integrate once and sell many times. By focusing on standardized, modular systems, you create solutions you can quickly integrate into a wide variety of settings.

What applications are most suitable as turnkey solutions?

Are some applications better as custom, one-off integrations?

Where should you invest your company’s product development resources?

In this article, we look at 5 robot applications that have already been shown to work well as off-the-shelf solutions.

How to Identify Applications for Creating a Pre-Engineered Solution

If there is a market for a particular turnkey solution… develop that solution! Right?

Demand is certainly an important factor when you are trying to decide whether to create a standard pre-engineered solution for a particular robotic application.

If you consistently receive many calls requesting you to integrate the same application from different clients, it can be a good sign that developing a turnkey solution could be beneficial.

However, not all robotic applications make good turnkey solutions.

A few factors to consider when evaluating potential applications include:

  • Consistency of Task and Customization — Robot applications that involve a very repetitive integration process with minimal variability are ideal candidates. If clients usually require the same types of customization, consider creating a turnkey solution.
  • Clearly Defined Inputs and Outputs — The best applications for turnkey solutions are those that work with a clearly defined set of inputs and outputs. For example, a palletizing process for equally sized boxes is easier to standardize than one that for unknown, varied objects.
  • Standardized Procedures and Requirements— Certain industries or settings may have processes that are highly consistent across businesses. For example, automotive painting processes are often similar between manufacturers. Such processes can be a suitable candidate for developing a turnkey solution.

If you want to maximize your turnkey solution’s appeal in the market, choose applications that are more likely to meet such criteria.

5 Great Robot Applications for Pre-Engineered Robotics Solutions

Many applications could be suitable for developing a pre-engineered robotic solution. Some are already well tested in the market, with various integration companies offering them to their customers.

RoboDK is a popular choice of robot programming software for providers of turnkey solutions, offering high flexibility and reliability.

Here are 5 great applications for turnkey solutions:

1. Material Removal and Deburring

Material removal tasks, like deburring, can be perfect candidates for pre-engineered solutions.

DIY Robotics offers a range of modular pre-engineered solutions with RoboDK as the programming environment. Their robotic deburring cell offers the flexibility of robots in an easy-to-deploy solution and comes with a range of customizations.

2. Robotic Machining

Robot machining is fast becoming a rival technology to CNC machining for some applications. It offers high flexibility at an affordable cost.

Sunrob Robotics created a pipe milling turnkey solution that uses RoboDK as its programming software. The entire system fits within a single shipping container and speeds up the milling process by an impressive 20%.

3. Welding

Robotic welding is already a mainstay in industries like automotive and aerospace manufacturing. The process involves repetitive, well-defined motions that are highly suited to robotic automation.

RoboDK offers features that support many types of robot welding including spot welding and plasma welding.

4. Palletizing

Palletizing is an end-of-line process that often involves very repetitive actions. It is becoming a popular robotic application in both large and small businesses.

RoboDK is well-suited to turnkey palletizing solutions. The software includes a dedicated palletizing plugin that works with any brand of robot and supports many models of palletizing robots from various manufacturers.

Robot Palletizing Plugin

5. Assembly

Assembly tasks often involve repetitive actions and can be easily standardized for particular industries or task types. For example, you might create a pre-engineered solution that specializes in screwdriving, pin insertion, or adhesive application.

RoboDK excels at assembly tasks and can be used in industries like electronics manufacturing to streamline the programming process.

How RoboDK Supports These Applications with Its Comprehensive Toolset

How can using RoboDK help you develop a pre-engineered solution that your customers will love?

RoboDK offers a powerful and versatile toolset designed to support a wide range of automation applications. It supports hundreds of robot models from dozens of brands, making it easy to standardize your programming processes no matter what application you are integrating.

Your choice of robot programming software is important both for you and for the users of your pre-engineered solution.

By choosing RoboDK, you can offer your customers an intuitive, customized programming interface that allows them to operate their own robot without requiring you to do everything for them.

We also offer an extensive collection of free training resources that your customers can use to learn how to program your turnkey robotic solution.

What Will Be Your Next Turnkey Robotic Solution?

Now is a great time to create pre-engineered solutions to sell to your customers.

Some applications are better candidates as turnkey solutions than others. But, if you follow our advice and prioritize applications that are consistent, standardizable, and in high demand, you can create a catalog of pre-engineered solutions that will benefit 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 robot applications are in most demand from our customers? 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

About Alex Owen-Hill

Alex Owen-Hill is a freelance writer and public speaker who blogs about a large range of topics, including science, presentation skills at CreateClarifyArticulate.com, storytelling and (of course) robotics. He completed a PhD in Telerobotics from Universidad Politecnica de Madrid as part of the PURESAFE project, in collaboration with CERN. As a recovering academic, he maintains a firm foot in the robotics world by blogging about industrial robotics.

View all posts by Alex Owen-Hill