Patti Engineering is excited to commission a robotic cell that will enhance hands-on engineering education for Kettering University in late summer 2024. The project was completed largely through reduced-cost donations from Patti Engineering, Mitsubishi Electric, and Keyence Corporation. The two-station cell includes an industrial and a collaborative robot performing pick-and-place operations and inspection.

Overview

Kettering University, located in Flint, Michigan, is known for its academic strengths in engineering, technology, and applied sciences. The university offers a cooperative educational model where students alternate between academic terms and professional work experiences, providing applied learning that combines classroom theory with real-world application. 

The project was initiated when Mitsubishi Electric approached Patti Engineering, aiming to provide students at Kettering University with a learning tool for programming and debugging robots, PLCs, HMIs, and vision systems. Mitsubishi recognized Patti Engineering’s strong portfolio of robotics and control systems integration projects, as well as the strong relationship between Patti Engineering and Kettering University. Patti Engineering’s CEO Sam Hoff and Vice President of Engineering Dave Foster are both alumni of Kettering University, along with electrical engineers Brad Grabow and Abby Engle. In addition, Patti Engineering employs two current Kettering co-op students, Scott Grunwald and Nathan Kramar.

The project received a substantial donation from BorgWarner, while Patti Engineering donated initial system concepts and engineering time, and Mitsubishi provided the robots and PLC at a discounted rate.

“The primary goal of the project was to provide Kettering students with an interactive learning tool,” said Terrance Brinkley, Director of Michigan Operations at Patti Engineering. “We designed the robotic cell to function as a lab for student experimentation, allowing them to modify and rewrite parts of the program.”

Figure 1: The highlighted purple bin is filled with various medallions. In coordination with the overhead vision system, the industrial robot (left) picks a medallion from the bin, placing it on the roller conveyor (light purple). The cobot (right) picks up each medallion off the conveyor for inspection, then places it on the power conveyor, returning the medallions to the original bin.

Student Interaction

Patti Engineering designed and implemented a complete software solution for the two-station cell, including programming the robots and the controls system.  A blank test bed was developed for students to insert their own program settings for testing. 

While students can modify existing code, add new functionalities, and troubleshoot issues, they do not have access to nor the ability to modify the controller and code for safety features. This design ensures that safety protocols remain intact, helping to prevent injury during operation. 

Additionally, the cell is designed to accommodate future integration of new components and can be expanded in the future.

Challenges

The project was not without its challenges, particularly in the mechanical design phase. The initial suction-based gripper did not work effectively for picking the medallions out of the bin, as the ridges on the medallion interfered, as shown in Figure 2. “Our associates at Cole’s Machine suggested we use a three-point gripper to solve this issue,” said Brinkley. “It was a great idea and it worked right out of the box.”

Figure 2: Medallions