[Link]
p0010
Yamafuji, K.
Review:
Development of SCARA Robots
Kazuo Yamafuji
The University of Electro-Communications
1-5-1 Chofugaoka, Chofu, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan
E-mail: kazyama@[Link]
[Received November 20, 2018; accepted December 3, 2018]
The presentation on SIGMA robot for assembly by mation, and also carried out the diffusion and edification
A. d’Auria at the 7th International Symposium on In- to the outside by holding lecture meetings and publishing
dustrial Robots (ISIR) held in Tokyo in October 1977 technological materials.
made an immense impact on engineers studying as- When the development of the economy in Japan expe-
sembly automation in Japan. The 1970s witnessed the rienced a boom in the 70s and the national income in-
shift from the mass production of a few types to limited creased, the needs of consumers changed. In response to
production of a wide variety of products in Japan, and that, a shift from mass production of a few kinds of prod-
research started for a production system with a quick ucts to limited production of a wide variety of products
response to a given type of products and change in a occurred, and the shift to the limited production of a wide
quantity of production. Professor Hiroshi Makino of variety of products began for vehicles, electronics, and
Yamanashi University was stimulated by SIGMA and mechanical products.
got an idea for a robot with Selective Compliance As- When an oil shock occurred in 1973, a rise of wages
sembly Robot Arms (SCARA) and started working on by thirty percent or more per a year occurred. The shift
the design for prototype 1 two months after the pre- to a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) and the rise of
sentation. Further, he organized the SCARA Robot wages corresponding to the limited production of a wide
Consortium with Yamanashi University and thirteen variety of products accelerated the automation of the as-
domestic companies for three years, from April 1978 sembly process of products and production technologies
to March 1981, and had success in the development were variously developed.
and spread of the SCARA robot in the assembly work. In this case, a special-purpose machine for automatic
After the 1980s, the SCARA robot became one of the assembly was changed to flexible assembly to easily al-
de facto standards of industrial robots in the world. In low a change in its production target, it was important to
2019, it is estimated that the SCARA robots will com- exchange models for a short time, therefore general ma-
promise 30% or more of industrial robots working all chines for automatic assembly were developed and FMS
over the world. The author was one member of a re- to make tool changing or retooling free was put to practi-
search group as an associate professor, in Yamanashi cal use. However, it was thought to be unattainable in the
University, and believes that it is extremely effective to near future to realize general robots for assembly due to
discuss the needs for research and development of the high cost/performance.
SCARA robot and technological solutions thirty years Technological problems prohibited the attainment of
after the establishment of JRM. the speed and precision required for assembly work with
the robot technology at that time, and it was thought to
be difficult to replace even work capable of being oper-
Keywords: assembly automation, robot for assembly, ated by a human collaborating with a robot. Human be-
SCARA robots, consortium, application ings have excellent intelligence, sensors and dexterity, and
not only execute work given but also respond to defects
of parts or of assembly, abnormality of peripheral equip-
1. Needs and Problems of Robot for Assembly ment and can perform visible inspection and remake de-
fective products. It was thought that robots could only
In 1968, the Committee for Automatic Assembly correspond to works that were operated by human beings.
(CAA) of the Japan Society of Precision Engineering Developing a robot for assembly in a situation where
(JSPE) was established and began research and devel- industrial robots were used at that time was expen-
opment on assembly automation and started spreading sive in viewpoint of range of functions, costing at least
knowledge of the technology. The committee consisted of 50,000 USD. In the electrical, electronic, mechanical, and
about 180 members having interest in automatic assem- precision technology industries, a lot of assembly tasks
bly: engineers in companies, and researchers in univer- were machined by young employees, or part-timers in
sities and research institutes. The committee researched many cases. If their annual wages were assumed to be
and developed technical problems by exchanging infor- 10,000 USD and their work was done in 3 shifts, the in-
10 Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics Vol.31 No.1, 2019
© Fuji Technology Press Ltd. Creative Commons CC BY-ND: This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of
the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License ([Link]
Development of SCARA Robots
Fig. 1. SIGMA robot.
Fig. 2. SCARA robot drawn by Dr. Makino.
troduction of the robot could be worth 30,000 USD.
3. Concepts and Features of SCARA Robot
2. Impact of Sigma Robots and the Appearance
of SCARA Robots 3.1. Concepts of SCARA Robot
Any engineer in Japan was surprised to see the opera- The robot for assembly, as the main body of an assem-
tions of the assembly robot, SIGMA (Fig. 1), presented bly center should be operated accurately at high speed,
by d’Auria (Olivetti Inc., Italy) [1] at the 7th ISIR held in and the operational position should arbitrarily be changed
Tokyo in October 1977, and was shocked at how quickly by a software. Further, the price of the robot should range
it realized the goal for robots in assembly as mentioned from 20,000 to 30,000 USD per robot.
above. Dr. Makino described the time when the concepts of
However, Dr. Hiroshi Makino started to design a robot the SCARA robot were born as follows [3]. That is, he
for assembly on the basis of a unique idea two months said, “it could not be accurately mentioned when and how
after the presentation of SIGMA. Several years ago, one a new mechanism was formed in the head and it was
of the research themes presented by him was assembly thought to be right that the concepts of the new mech-
center (AC). This was assembly by applying an idea of anism were, perhaps, in the head first and were grad-
a machining center (MC) for complex processing as the ually fixed through various experiences. I knew there
latest technology in machine tools and using a plurality of were a polar-coordinate robot and a multi-articulate robot
parts that were automatically supplied with one machine. when making an LEGO machine. I have analyzed a robot
It was thought that it was effective for the limited pro- mechanism before and therefore really knew a work-
duction of a wide variety of products if it made it possible ing area was wider as the number of rotary joints was
to perform various complex assemblies with the same as- larger. However, I believed that a Cartesian-coordinate
sembly station using AC. He mentioned that it took about type as SIGMA had high rigidity and was advantageous
thirty seconds to assemble one part with the AC, and data for speed-up.”
proving the availability of the machine were obtained [2]. “Once actually making the robot, the rigidity of the
It was obvious in research that various types of parts Cartesian-coordinate type is not so high. A tool is over-
could be assembled just by changing the software, which hung from an XY -table and press fitting force is con-
making it possible to simultaneously have the versatility sequently applied and moment works, and the XY -table
and productivity with a fast robot. At the end of Decem- is to be broken. The rigidity in the X-direction or Y -
ber 1977, when the author went to Dr. Makino’s office, direction might exist, however, is not required, I think. It
he showed me a drawing of the basic idea of the SCARA might be better that there is compliance, or it might work
robot. The drawing indicated a three-axis robot with a rightly that low rigidity in the XY -direction might be bet-
folding screen structure having horizontal articulated dou- ter, though high rigidity in the Z-direction might be better.
ble jointed arms and a vertical axis: the Z-axis. As a result, an idea of the SCARA robot with a folding
The robot had the arms corresponding to the right arm screen structure is born.” Selective compliance that the
of a part-timer, as is typical. It had a simple structure with rigidity is low in the XY -direction and the motion in the
features to be easily moved in the horizontal direction but Z-direction is hard, is the biggest feature of the SCARA
be more difficult to move in the vertical direction. robot that will be widespread in the world in robots for
The horizontal two-joint-link mechanism with features assembly.
for a SCARA robot has been conventionally used for a
dental drilling machine, an automatic arc-welder, and a 3.2. Structure and Features of SCARA Robot [4]
jig borer. However, nobody thought that the mechanics Figure 2 shows a horizontal multi articulate-type robot
could be used for robots in assembly. for assembly designed by Dr. Makino. Arbitrary plainer
Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics Vol.31 No.1, 2019 11
Yamafuji, K.
ℓ2 : 3ȧℓ2 : 4ȧℓ2
㸻 1 : 9.42 : 12.6
(a) The orthogonal coordinate (c) The multi-articulate type
(b) The polar coordonate
Fig. 3. Comparison of working area due to types of robot
with two joints. Fig. 4. SCARA robot prototype 1 (Fujitsu).
coordinates are given at an edge by rotational angles θ1 arranged around the robot and it is possible to struc-
and θ2 of two arms combined by a joint. The insertion ture a multi-robot system with a multi-station.
direction (Z-direction) is vertical to the plane. (4) The insertion force is large: the rigidity in the
To rotate the first arm, a motor for θ1 of 200 W is Z-direction (vertical direction) is large and large in-
mounted at the shoulder part. To rotate a second arm, sertion force can therefore be applied.
a motor for θ2 of 50 W is provided at the edge of the first
arm, i.e., an elbow joint. Harmonic reduction gears at a (5) The weight for transportation is large: payloads of
reduction ratio of 1/80 are built into both motors. up to 30 kgf are transportable by prototype 1.
A rotary encoder is attached to both motor shafts for (6) No consideration for gravitational balance: the mo-
position feedback. Further, a taco-generator is mounted tion direction of the arms is in the horizontal direc-
on the motor for the first shaft for velocity feedback. tion, and therefore is orthogonal to the direction of
When a plainer position is given to a tool point that is gravity. There is no influence from the load and
below the top end of the second arm with rotation of the gravitational force of the arm itself, unlike with other
first and second shafts, the direction of the tool is varied robots.
depending on the angle of the second arm. To prevent
the change, the rotational angle θ3 of the tool axis is con- (7) Not only wrist compliance [5] but the selective com-
trolled with a stepper motor. The up-and-down motion of pliance structure is formed as the whole arm. There-
the tool axis (Z-axis) represents on/off operation with a fore, the compliance features are not changed even
pneumatic cylinder. As mentioned above, prototype 1 is when changing a tool part.
a robot having three axes for rotation (θ1 , θ2 , and θ3 ) and
the Z-axis (for up-and-down motion). 3.4. Motion Control
In July 1978, SCARA robot prototype 1 (Fig. 4) was
3.3. Structural Features of SCARA Robots manufactured based on Fig. 2. Its motion is extremely
fast, with a maximal speed of 1 m/s and a maximal ac-
(1) Structure of the selective compliance: the SCARA is
celeration 1 m/s2 . On the other hand, another robot could
named after “Selective Compliance Assembly Robot
run slowly. The SCARA robot runs fast at the start as it is
Arm.” What is meant by selective compliance is that
driven from the start to the end of the motion of the arms
in the lateral direction, it has high flexibility and easy
by motion curves based on cam curves [6, 7].
deformation, while in the vertical direction, it has
The first and second arms are driven by software cam
high rigidity and difficult deformation. These fea-
curves called NC-2 velocity curves. The NC-2 velocity
tures make it possible for the arm, when fastening
curve was born as a best virtual cam curve from the re-
screws and inserting pegs into holes, for example, to
search of Dr. Makino, and later became a standard driven
carry out automatic assembly by pressing its vertical
curve of SCARA robots for a long time.
axis even when some discrepancy exists in a lateral
Figure 5 shows the NC-2 velocity curve. In Fig. 5, a
direction.
relationship is given between A (acceleration), V (veloc-
(2) The working area is wide: as shown in Fig. 3, ity), S (displacement), and T (time). The NC-2 curve is
a multi-articulate robot has a working area of excellent as a motion curve of the robots in point that de-
12.6 times that of a Cartesian-coordinate robot and celeration period is 2 while acceleration period is 1 and
1.34 times that of a polar coordinate robot. residual vibration is therefore small even if the speed is
high, and it is possible to correspond to small payload to
(3) The mounting area is narrow: a transfer conveyor is high one.
12 Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics Vol.31 No.1, 2019
Development of SCARA Robots
Activities of Committee for Assembly
Automation of JSPE since 1968
Needs for Flexible Machine for Assembly
Shock by Italian SIGMA Robot in Oct. 1977
Basic concept and design by Prof. H. Makino
at Yamanashi University in Dec. 1977
SCARA Robot Consortium by Yamanashi
University and 3 Corporates in May 1978
SCARA No.1 designed at University
and made by Fujitsu in July 1978
SCARA No.2 designed at University
and made by Nitto Seiko in May 1978
Fig. 5. NC-2 velocity curve. Marketing competition among SCARA members
(9 Corporates) and outsiders
Worldwide reputation and SCARA Robot’s
Manufacturing
Achieving over 30 % of world marketshare
Honored to the Hall of the Fame at
Carnegie Mellon University in 2006
Fig. 7. Flowchart of development of SCARA robot.
as major news items [8].
Fig. 6. SCARA robot prototype 2 (Nitto Seiko). The consortium was terminated in March 1981. In
1982, IBM announced that it would obtain from Sankyo
Seiki a robot named “Sankyo Skilam” on an OEM basis
and put it on the market as IBM 7535. This was the first
4. R&D Consortium of SCARA Robots international recognition of the SCARA robot, and trig-
gered a new leap forward.
A proposal for joint industry-academia research on a In 1982, John Hartley wrote, “More startling, perhaps,
multi-client basis was offered based on some conceptual was the announcement that the IBM was to sell Sankyo
drawings to a dozen or so companies of CAA of JSPE. Skilam robot in the USA as the IBM 7535. Most of
A R&D consortium for SCARA robots was launched Japanese robots were based on overseas designs. The
by Yamanashi University (professor H. Makino and as- exception, of course, is the SCARA robot. The Skilam
sociate professor K. Yamafuji (the author)) and thirteen is one of the SCARA group of robots developed at Ya-
Japanese companies (Fujitsu, Nitto-Seiko, NEC, Pentel, manashi University by professor Hiroshi Makino for as-
Sankyo Mfg. (now, NIDEC), Telmec (now, Tokyo Elec- sembly [9].”
tron), CKD, Yamaha Motors, Pioneer, Tenryu Seiki, Ul- Figure 8 shows a model of the Sankyo Skilam and
trasonic Industry, Hitech Seiko, and NAIS) in March 1978 its working area, respectively. A. J. McKillop of IBM
for an intended period of three years from April 1978 to (United Kingdom) presented an application of IBM 7353
March 1981. featuring the insertion of a typewriter key into a car-
SCARA robot prototype 1 shown in Fig. 4 was made by rier [10].
Fujitsu in July 1978. Fig. 6 shows SCARA robot proto- In 2008, Mr. Kazuyoshi Yasukawa, president of Nidec
type 2 fabricated by Nitto-Seiko, which is more improved Sankyo Inc., who had designed the Sankyo Skilam as
than prototype 1. an engineer in his middle twenties, said “IBM’s objec-
Figure 7 shows a flowchart of development of the tive was to equip the robot with the industrial computer
SCARA robot with the consortium. From 1980 to 1981, produced by IBM and sale the complete product. Over
various types of the SCARA robot were put on the market 100 robots have been exported monthly for 6 years, and
one after another, and the mass media talked about them over 7,000 robots in all.”
Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics Vol.31 No.1, 2019 13
Yamafuji, K.
Fig. 9. Pickmat SCARA for screw fastening (Nitto Seiko).
Fig. 8. Sankyo Skilam model SR-2.
5. SCARA Robot Families
Four examples of SCARA robot manufactured by the
consortium members are shown as follows.
(1) Fujitsu fabricated FAROT (Fujitsu Automatic Robot)
that is based on SCARA robot prototype 1. This is ap-
plied to assembly work or a flexible production sys- Fig. 10. PUHA-1 (PENTEL).
tem (FPS), and limited production of a wide variety
of products that has not been automated so far is pos-
sible. The repeatable positioning accuracy (RPA) is
±0.1 mm or less. allows an edge portion of a mechanical pen to per-
form work for inserting a non-spring back rubber
(2) Nitto Seiko manufactured Pickmat SCARA shown in ring. Over the course of one year since November
Fig. 9 based on SCARA robot prototype 2. From 1980, the operation had worked for twentyfour hours
the starting time, it was realized that the RPA is at a cycle time of 2 s.
±0.05 mm and the compound velocity of the arm was
1,200 mm/s. The robot is highly estimated for screw There are also a lot of companies that produce and sell
fastening by users in the current day. the SCARA robot at present in Japan and overseas, though
the companies are non-consortium members.
(3) Sankyo Mfg. (now, NIDEC) started to sell the Sankyo
Skilan in 1981. At that time, in the company, the
Sankyo Skilam was used for the assembly of a mag- 6. Conclusions
netic head for floppy discs, a small motor, and a music
box, and is currently used for handling liquid crystal The SCARA robot is used not only in assembly but
panels and electronics devices by many users in Japan many other fields, including the mechanical, electronic,
and overseas. food, medical, agriculture, and engineering construction
in Japan and overseas. Data suggest that after 1985, 50%
(4) Pentel is well known for producing ball point pens, or more of newly produced industrial robots are SCARA
felt pens, colors, etc. around the world. Most ma- robots.
chines that manufacture their products are produced Late professor Ichiro Kato of Waseda University, a pi-
by Pentel itself. Fig. 10 shows the PUHA-1 SCARA oneer of robotic research in Japan, evaluated the SCARA
robot that is developed and sold by Pentel. The robot robot “with a unique idea, a function without excess and
14 Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics Vol.31 No.1, 2019
Development of SCARA Robots
deficiency, and complete practicality.”
It is no doubt that the SCARA robot can be one of the
industrial robots contributing to human beings in the fu-
ture for utility as a tool for production automation and
large technological impacts.
In 2006, the SCARA robot was honored as the one of
the first Japanese robots together with ASIMO Humanoid
by HONDA (2004) and AIBO by SONY (2006) dedicated
to the Hall of the Fame at Carnegie Mellon University,
US [11].
References:
[1] A. d’Auria, “SIGMA Assembly Robot Application,” Proc. of 7th
Int. Symp. on Industrial Robots, pp. 317-322, 1977.
[2] H. Makino, “NC assembly centre,” J. of Japan Society of Precision
Engineering, Vol.41, No.3, pp. 250-255, 1975 (in Japanese).
[3] H. Makino, “Assembly process,” Automation, Vol.24, No.1, pp. 18-
22, 1979 (in Japanese).
[4] H. Makino, M. Murata, N. Furuya et al., “Research and Develop-
ment of SCARA Robot,” Preprint of 47th Meeting of Special Com-
mittee for Automatic Assembly of Japan Society of Precision Engi-
neering, p. 12, 1980 (in Japanese).
[5] J. L. Nevins and D. E. Whitney, “What is remote center compliance
and what it can do?,” Proc. of 9th Int. Symp. on Industrial Robots,
1979.
[6] H. Makino, “Kinetics of Automated Machines,” Nikkan Kogyo
Shinbunsha, 1976 (in Japanese).
[7] H. Makino, “Universal Cam Curve and its Application,” Bulletin of
Yamanashi University, Vol.28, pp. 48-58, 1977 (in Japanese).
[8] Staff writer, NIKKEI Mechanical, p. 44, May 25, 1981 (in
Japanese).
[9] J. Hartley, “The Japanese Scene: Applications diversify,” Industrial
Robot: An Int. J., Vol.9, Issue 1, pp. 56-61, 1982.
[10] A. J. McKillop, Int. Conf. on Assembly Automation, p. 267, 1985.
[11] H. Makino, “Development of the SCARA,” J. Robot. Mechatron.,
Vol.26, No.1, pp. 5-8, 2014.
Name:
Kazuo Yamafuji
Affiliation:
Professor Emeritus, The University of Electro-
Communications
Address:
1-5-1 Chofugaoka, Chofu, Tokyo 182-8585, Japan
Brief Biographical History:
1967 Graduated from Yokohama National University
1973 Graduated from Graduate School of Engineering, The University of
Tokyo (Ph.D.)
1973 Lecturer, Yamanashi University
1974 Associate Professor, Yamanashi University
1988-2001 Professor, The University of Electro-Communications
Main Works:
• “Useful Robots and Hopeful Robots,” Fuji Technology Press Ltd., 2010.
The basis of this paper is Chapter 8 of K. Yamafuji, “Useful Robots and
Hopeful Robots,” Fuji Technology Press Ltd., 2010.
Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics Vol.31 No.1, 2019 15
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