Epson C4

The C4 is the entry point to Epson's six-axis C series and the arm the company built to answer a specific objection: that a jointed robot is always slower than a SCARA. Epson announced it together with the longer C4L on 8 May 2014 as the successor to the C3, and put its 0.37-second standard cycle in the headline, because that figure sits inside the range normally quoted for four-axis machines. Horizontal reach is 600 mm to the wrist centre and 665 mm to the tool mounting face, with a rated payload of 1 kg and a maximum of 4 kg. Repeatability is +/-0.020 mm and the whole arm weighs 27 kg, which is what makes it practical to bolt onto a bench or hang from the ceiling of a small cell. Joint travel runs +/-170 degrees on the first axis, -160 to +65 on the second, -51 to +225 on the third, +/-200 on the fourth, +/-135 on the fifth and +/-360 on the sixth; all six axes have brakes. Motor ratings drop from 400 W on the two main axes to 50 W on each wrist axis. The slim body and compact wrist that Epson markets as the SlimLine design are the reason the arm reaches into tight fixtures, and the company's QMEMS quartz sensing damps the vibration that a light structure would otherwise ring with. The launch controller was the RC700, programmed from Epson RC+ 7.0, with vision guidance, force sensing, conveyor tracking and the usual fieldbuses as options. Standard, ESD and ISO Class 3 cleanroom builds are offered for tabletop or ceiling mounting; the arm is declared to CE, ANSI/RIA R15.06-1999, JIS B 8433 and EN ISO 13849-1. The same mechanism with a longer forearm is sold as the C4L, and a later C4B generation adds Epson's SafeSense safety functions.

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