Pick and Place

Pick and place is the reference short-cycle move: a part goes from a defined pick point to a defined place point as fast as the arm can manage, then the cell does it again a few thousand times per shift. The application shows up in packaging, kitting, assembly, and inspection cells, wherever parts have to hop between fixtures.

The deciding factor is usually cycle time, not lifting capacity. With a payload under two kilograms, most of the sizing conversation is about how many moves per minute the arm can hold, which is why delta and SCARA platforms dominate the class.

Vision guidance handles unpredictable part presentation. A camera tracks the conveyor as parts arrive at random position and orientation, and the controller updates the pick pose on the fly. That works out cheaper than mechanically indexing every part in front of the gripper.

Tooling is where cells win or lose time. A gripper that seats a part in one motion beats a heavier one that needs a settling pause, and inertia at the wrist eats acceleration budget directly. Any tool over the rated wrist mass shortens acceleration and lengthens cycle regardless of what the program looks like.

Common problems: vision drift after a lighting change, vacuum leaks that drop parts silently, and place-point offsets when a downstream fixture shifts. The last one hides in cycles that mostly work and produces a slow drip of misplaced parts that only add up over a shift.

Pick and place isn't the answer when parts arrive at 500 per minute in a repeatable orientation, because a fixed-cam mechanism runs faster and cheaper for that duty. It also struggles with limp or tangled parts, where the pick becomes uncertain and cycle time goes up chasing retries.

On the floor: the FANUC DR-3iB and ABB IRB 390 cover fast overhead picks from moving belts, while the EPSON SCARA T6 and FANUC SR-6iA run flat pick-place cells at the table. Related: packaging, assembly, kitting.