But the arm is one thing. On the one hand, DFFA includes things like the company's FlexFeeder 250 parts feeding system. Sal Brogna, Adept's director, Robot Systems, developed the FlexFeeder in 1993. We didn't want to have custom engineering for each new part that would be handled. Essentially, the FlexFeeder 250 consists of a two-tier conveyor setup.
Parts fall from the conveyor on the top to the one below.
The falling helps separate the parts. The pieces that don't get picked within the cycle time fall into a bin at the front of the unit and are recycled back for another pick cycle. He mentions that they tend to jam, but he lets that point go. It can take, he suggests, from six to nine months to get a bowl feeder engineered, so part changes can drive time and cost, and fill up physical space on the factory floor. With the FlexFeeder approach, it is mainly a matter of reprogramming to handle different parts.