Mitsubishi Electric Automation Introduces LoadMate Plus Mobile Robot Cell for CNC Manufacturers

Mitsubishi Electric Automation has launched its LoadMate Plus engineered solution, a mobile robot cell.

The machinery is targeted towards manufacturers in CNC machine tool applications who find themselves facing a labor crunch, while needing to be more efficient and improve their production.

It creates a path to introduce automation to high-mix, low-volume facilities and is designed with mobility and flexibility in mind.

LoadMate Plus automates the task of loading and removing parts from a machine tool, and can be mounted next to one machine, between two machines, and otherwise moved around a facility as jobs require.

When paired with Mitsubishi Electric M8 Series CNC, operators can use the Direct Robot Control feature to control and program the robot with menus and G-code from the same screen used for the machine tool.

No robot programming experience or teach pendant is required, allowing manufacturers to use existing staff to automate and make adjustments on the fly.

Rob Brodecki, services product manager at Mitsubishi Electric Automation, says: “Most automation solutions for machine tending rely on either cobots for flexibility, or industrial robots for performance and larger parts.

“With LoadMate Plus, users don’t have to sacrifice one for the other. The cell is flexible, regardless of the robot, and a variety of robots can be used to match a shop’s needs.

“Plus, with an available three-year robot warranty, and Mitsubishi Electric technicians who can service both robot and CNC, users can ensure that their production will continue uninterrupted.”

LoadMate Plus can be used with a variety of machine tools, including mill, lathe, and drilling / tapping.