A cable carrier built for robots that spin past 600 degrees

igus says its twisterchain manages cables through more than 600 degrees of rotation; no load, speed, price or test data was published.

igus has launched twisterchain, a self-supporting energy chain — a carrier that guides cables along a moving machine — designed for compact industrial robots that rotate through more than 600 degrees. It mounts with two connection points, opens along the inner radius so cables can be laid in, takes removable dividers, and has a pretension that can be tuned to cable weight. The company points it at screwing, gluing, assembly and pick-and-place work, and at the fifth axis of palletising robots.

Cable management sounds trivial until it is the thing that stops a robot arm from turning further, and unglamorous components like this are a real part of what makes automation cheaper to deploy. But the announcement carries no load rating, no speed rating, no price, no availability date and no independent testing, so there is nothing here to score. The detail sits with igus and the source is a product launch.

Source: The Robot Report