Automation with double claw

Hello everybody,

I'm just thinking about how to realize the following scenario:

I got a automation with a double claw. That means, the automation takes a raw part, moves it into the processor where the already (previous) finished part is waiting, takes the processed part and leaves the raw part in the machine and finally puts the processed part in a queue.

My first idea is to define treenodes with the objects involved and create a custom tasksequence. Basically I'd only need tasktype_travel, _frload an unload.

Any other ideas that might save me time?
My only concern is that I might waste a lot of time defining the treenodes manually, since I would need this routine on almost every processor in my model.

Thank you in advance!
Jens

I played around with this scenario and can't solve the following problem:

When my processor is finished and the finished part is waiting for pickup, the preceeding queue does not create another tasksequence, since the following processor is blocked.

A work around would be to use another queue after the machine as a place where the automation will pick up the finished part. I could "hide" that queue in the 3D model of the processor, then it would look like the autmation only moves to the processor once.

Any better idea how to do this properly?

Thank you very much.

We usually solve this by using a controller. A simple basicFR or queue or what ever and send a message to it when a new product arrives and send a message when the product is finished. If you have both messages then you can create a tasksequence that makes the right movements. In the messages you can include the pointers to the flowitems and the stations.

Thanks, I'm gonna play with this idea!

// I still can't figure out my whole problem:
The incoming material starts the tasksequence as soon as it ends the incoming conveyor.
Problem is that after the second box, there is no material already finished when the tasksequence gets created, so I have an invalid pointer.

I attached my model. See the conveyor triggers for the code.

Thanks,
Jens

If you drop one off at the same time as you pick one up, isn't the capacity of the robot one? It never carries two right? If so I think I'd try and get away with just basic Flexsim operation with a naughty kludge (you'll probably want to check it works okay for all your cases - its not standard operation). In the attached model I've removed all the task sequence and message creation and just added 'receiveitem' to the 'processfinish' - so hopefully the standard transport options cover it.

Here's another version which bypasses the travel offsets so you can see how it might look better. After this it's a matter of keeping the position of the item when it is loaded and changing the head so that it spans two items in the machine (if I understand your request).

Thank you very much. Both ways will work for me!

A better place for receiveitem is the transportdispatcher trigger, so that if the downstream conveyor is full you don't continue to receive items (and break capacity) without taking away the finished ones. Updated model (with temporary blocking to show it works) attached.

Here's an example of preserving item locations to make their transfer look better. The first item is used as calibration so the next ones are moved to the correct positions.