Industrial robot Troubleshooting

Symptoms: Parts placed off-target, missed picks, quality rejects creeping in. Likely causes: Worn gearbox or encoder; Loose or worn tooling (EOAT); Thermal drift; Recovery after a collision. Fixes: Check repeatability test; service the affected joint; replace encoder if faulty. Re-tighten and inspect the end-of-arm tool; re-master if moved. Allow warm-up; enable thermal compensation if available. Re-master/calibrate the robot zero position. Prevention: Periodic repeatability checks, EOAT inspection, warm-up routine.

Symptoms: Robot e-stops with an axis/servo alarm, will not move. Likely causes: Mechanical overload or collision; Encoder or cable fault; Brake not releasing; Overheated servo / drive. Fixes: Clear the obstruction; check for damage; reset and re-master. Inspect dress-pack cabling for wear; replace damaged encoder cable. Check brake supply and wiring; test brake release. Check cooling and duty cycle; clear the thermal fault. Prevention: Dress-pack inspection, collision detection tuning, cooling checks.

Symptoms: Gripper drops or fails to pick parts, cycle interruptions. Likely causes: Vacuum loss / air leak; Worn or misadjusted gripper; Part presentation variation; Mis-taught pick point. Fixes: Check vacuum level, cups and lines; replace worn suction cups. Inspect fingers/jaws; reset grip force and position. Stabilise incoming part position; check feeder/fixture. Re-teach the pick/place positions. Prevention: Vacuum monitoring, gripper inspection, consistent part presentation.

Symptoms: Axis overload/overheat fault, slowdowns, stops mid-cycle. Likely causes: Payload or speed above limits; Mechanical binding or worn gearbox; Cooling or duty-cycle issue. Fixes: Verify payload/inertia and speeds; stay within rating. Check joints/gearboxes for binding and wear. Check fans/cooling; review duty cycle. Prevention: Payload/speed within spec, joint maintenance, cooling checks.