Air gauges are a century-old technology that remains the standard for making fast part measurements with micro-inch precision. Air gauge measurements require part insertion and removal on tool with about 0.001 inch clearance. Today nearly all air gauge measurements require manual part handling because of the dexterity required.
New Scale Robotics has demonstrated that a Q-Span Workstation, using a collaborative robot (cobot) from Universal Robots, can automatically insert and remove parts on an air gauge from Western Gage Corporation. This milestone was achieved using a cobot and precision robotic gripper/caliper that precisely and reliably inserts a cylindrical part on an air gauge tool.
The measurement is digitally recorded and the part is automatically removed and placed in the appropriate pass, fail or sorted location.