TEKS helps pioneer cost-cutting robots

A HIGH-tech Rotherham firm is researching robots which could cut manufacturing machine tool costs by nearly a third.

TEKS, based at Catcliffe’s Advanced Manufacturing Park, is part of the £7 million COMET project aiming to improve the effectiveness of industrial robotics.

The project could provide an average of 30 per cent cost efficiency savings in comparison to machine tools.

Its second objective is to increase the accuracy of robots “well beyond” the current standard.

TEKS research and development manager Roland Krain said: “The challenge is to overcome the current issues with robots around reduced stiffness and dynamic accuracy, but TEKS and its consortium partners are well on the way to achieve this.”

The project is testing the view that industrial robot technology could provide an excellent base for machining being both flexible and cost efficient.

COMET is taken from “components and methods for adaptive control of industrial robots.” The project involves 14 technical partners from eight countries across Europe.