MalocherBot offers a new way of thinking about automation. MalocherBot is a modular turnkey unified automation solution for a wide variety of common (and uncommon) industrial processes. If you are sitting there wondering what that actually means in concrete terms, then this is the article for you.

Table of Contents

• What is MalocherBot?
• Why MalocherBot?
• Massively Modular
• Extreme Ease of Use with LUNA
• Available Now
• Conclusion

What is MalocherBot

Developed by Unchained Robotics, MalocherBot is a turnkey solution. That means that it is a completely prepared and prebuilt solution for an industrial process. That means that the system requires little to no setup (we would estimate an average installation occurs in well under a working day and sometimes just hours). But that's not all…
MalocherBot is a modular solution. That means that the system itself consists of various modules and units that can be mixed and matched to meet your needs. If you need to palletize then you would match the Base Unit with the Palletizer Module. If you need to grind or polish then you don’t need a Palletizing module but rather one for Grinding.
Both turnkey systems and modular systems offer several inherent advantages over the status quo in the automation industry. And we’ve combined them.


Why MalocherBot?

The traditional automation integration industry in Germany, Europe, and the world could be described as specialized engineering. When a company has a need, even if it is a relatively common one, the solution is usually special-built. The company receives a custom solution for a common problem. This is expensive and time-consuming.
In recent years a number of companies have begun offering “Turnkey Solutions.” That is to say, solutions that are prebuilt and preprogrammed. These can be quickly installed and adjusted to take into account the small differences found on every assembly line.
These solutions save money and time… however, they are extremely limiting. Reprogramming and redeploying the system is usually only possible to a small degree. If you need to make big changes then prepare to meet big problems.
With our ample experience developing custom and turnkey automation solutions, we were well aware of the pros and cons of turnkey solutions.
We knew people wanted the quick and easy installation of turnkey solutions as well as the well-developed GUI interface to the entire solution that is usually shipped with them. But how could we give the user much more flexibility without sacrificing the main benefits of a turnkey solution?
That’s where modularity comes in.


Modularity

MalocherBot takes the benefits of turnkey solutions illustrated above and combines them with modularity. We split the main elements of a turnkey solution into its parts and made them modular and interchangeable. Every automation solution needs a robot, controller, industrial pc, and user interface.
These fundamental parts form the MalocherBot Base Unit. All MalocherBot systems require this unit. And they require at least one further module. And it is all the other parts of a turnkey solution that have been packed into the various MalocherBot Modules.
As all the key elements of an automation solution are in the Base Unit, individual modules have been prepared with the required tools and space for specific tasks.
That means instead of one big turnkey palletizer, with MalocherBot Palletizer consists of a Base Unit and a Palletizer module. The advantage is that if a new process, say polishing, suddenly becomes a bottleneck or if you want to completely replan your production line, you can simply attach a new MalocherBot module to the system. And bam you have a completely new turnkey solution.
You maintain your robot and a user interface with which you are already familiar, but now it can handle a totally new task.
This is the power of modularity combined with a truly turnkey solution. You maintain all of the key benefits of a turnkey solution (proven tech, ease of use, rapid installation, etc.) without sacrificing flexibility. That’s MalocherBot.


The LUNA Automation Operating System

Modularity only works if it is easy and painless. Changing from one module to the next needs to be not only mechanically easy but the configuration and calibration need to be seamless and the user interface should change as little as possible (so that built-up knowledge among the operators is not lost or rendered useless).
With these things in mind, we developed the LUNA automation operating system for our MalocherBot System.
LUNA handles two things. The first is the setup, calibration, and coordination of the Base Unit and the MalocherBot cells. In this sense, it is truly an operating system.
Second, it offers an intuitive and feature-rich graphical user interface (GUI) through which operators can interact with the system. Everything from inputting new workpieces to changing pallet patterns can be done from within the LUNA system.
When modules are exchanged, LUNA automatically configures the new modules and displays the new options on the touch screen built into the Base Unit.


Other features

True quality is revealed in the details and it is there that the exceptionally high quality of the MalocherBot System comes to light.
For one thing, the entire system is made out of steel rather than the cheaper and much more common aluminum often used for automation projects. MalocherBot works hard and MalocherBot needs to last and there is little that is quite as durable as cold hard steel.
The Base Unit and the various MalocherBot modules are also forkliftable. Modularity means little if it is hard to move the cells around. This is why MalocherBot modules have all been designed to be easily transported with a forklift or similar device.


What is available now

There are a number of MalocherBot systems and modules already available. The Palletizing and Grinding modules can both handle a large array of tasks. Other modules that are coming into production now are dispensing, machine tending, and Assembly.


Conclusion

MalocherBot is our response to the needs that we identified after years of working with German and European SMEs. They need the quick setup that turnkey solutions offer but also the adaptability that modular solutions offer. They need an intuitive user interface that operators can quickly learn but which also offers true feature depth. They need a robust system that offers not only a rapid ROI but also a long product lifetime and low maintenance.
In short, SMEs need MalocherBot.
Learn more about MalocherBot and the available modules here!