WITTMANN R9 WLAN TeachBox: the new freedom of movement

07.11.2019

At the K 2019 in Düsseldorf, WITTMANN presented another innovative option for the WITTMANN R9 robot control system.

Especially in view of the way we operate appliances, the influence of the large consumer market on the industrial environment is becoming stronger and stronger. To cater to this new trend, WITTMANN now offers both the capacitive touch and the multitouch functionality for the standard version of the WITTMANN R9 TeachBox.

When setting up robots, being as close as possible to the action is absolutely vital for precise adjustment of the desired position. To make this possible in every case, the operating terminals must have a functionality which enables the operator to start the movements directly. This makes it necessary to equip the terminals with safety features such as emergency shut-off and confirmation facilities.

For all of these reasons, the WITTMANN TeachBox has come for decades as a separate operating terminal with a cable connection to the control system. This concept offers both operating safety and freedom. (If those terminals were pure visualization units, their tasks could certainly be performed by standard tablets.) With the cable connection, the operator’s maximum range is of course limited by the length of the cable – a definite handicap especially when working on large machines and/or large automation systems. The longer cables required there interfere with the traffic on travel paths, are more easily damaged or become trip hazards. The R9 WLAN TeachBox, a safe industrial operating terminal without cable has been designed to solve precisely this type of problem.

Safe data transmission is effected via redundant radio transmission, combined with an active link to the corresponding base station. As soon as the link has been established, the safety functions such as emergency shut-off, confirmation switch and key switch are activated, which becomes visible to the operator through the actively illuminated emergency shut-off switch. For safety data transmission, “Black Channel” communication technology is used.

Thanks to the use of a TÜV-certified safety concept, the WITTMANN R9 WLAN TeachBox is ready for industrial use.