Multitool Robot For Caster Operations to Improve Safety at Gerdau's Araçariguama Steel Plant

Digital Transformation is reaching its peak, impacting not only industry but also society and the relationships between humans. Robotics systems can introduce considerable advantages in areas where innovation has not been considered until now. The integration of the latest technologies in robotics, vision systems, and artificial intelligence helps in designing new systems, further enhancing operator safety and productivity in the harshest areas of the steel production process.

Steelworks are being integrated with new and smart production technologies that promote easy collaboration among all the components of the production chain. In many areas of today’s steel works, the implementation of human-robot cooperation is more difficult compared to other industrial sectors, due to adverse environmental conditions. High temperatures, dust, emissions of hot off-gases and steam, very variable light conditions, the presence of toxic and/or aggressive substances, and huge dimensions of machinery and workpieces represent obstacles for the application of traditional robotic cells.

How can we upgrade existing plants? How can we invest in the operator’s safety? How can we prevent accidents? The answer to these questions is human-robot collaboration.

Marking a significant milestone in an eight-year strategic alliance, Gerdau’s Araçariguama Unit has chosen Polytec for the prestigious task of installing a multitool robot for caster operations.

This collaboration between Gerdau and Polytec is founded on a shared vision for digital transformation and robotics, blending Gerdau’s expertise in engineering, process, and operations with Polytec’s mastery in machine vision, AI, robotics, and advanced automation. This partnership has already borne fruit in several groundbreaking automation and robotics initiatives.

The dynamic and forward-thinking collaboration between Polytec and Gerdau has transformed their supplier-customer relationship into a strategic synergy, fostering a hotbed of innovation. Together, they have developed systems and solutions that significantly enhance safety, production efficiency, and quality.

In a bold move aligned with this collaborative spirit of collaboration, the successful installation of the state-of-the-art PolyCAST multitool robot for caster operations at Gerdau’s Araçariguama Unit represents a significant advancement in the meltshop to enhance caster operations, contributing to improved productivity and safety standards. The successful implementation of this technology marks a significant milestone for this Brazilian steel plant, demonstrating its strong commitment to innovation and operational excellence.

Fábio Rocha, Robotics Technical Manager, Gerdau: “Safety in the workplace is a fundamental value that we must cultivate daily. It is the basis for ensuring that each of us can perform our roles with confidence and peace of mind. Automation in critical activities such as continuous casting plays an increasingly important role in improving workplace safety. We remain firm in executing our robotics roadmap in our company’s steel processes.”

Diego Soares, CEO Polytec South America: “This was an ambitious and challenging project that required the collaboration of all team members. Although we already have references of this robot installed in other plants, the implementation of such a complex robotic island in a critical environment such as continuous casting, with limited space and hostile environment, is complex, time-consuming, and requires understanding. Polytec’s strength is to complete the project and deliver to the customer not only a working machine but an extra technological tool to improve operators’ work and productivity. We extend our heartfelt thanks to the dedicated teams who made this installation possible, from our engineering and operations departments to our partners”.

The PolyCAST robot’s capabilities are nothing short of extraordinary. From precision-controlled operations like opening the slide gate with an oxygen lance to seamlessly placing the ladle shroud, the robot handles critical tasks with unparalleled accuracy. Moreover, its ability to automate temperature readings and sampling in the tundish and to distribute flux powder showcases the seamless integration of advanced technology into traditional processes.

Key Benefits of the PolyCAST Multitool Robot:

Enhanced efficiency: the robot’s advanced automation capabilities streamline caster operations, reducing cycle times and increasing throughput.

Improved safety: by automating hazardous tasks, PolyCAST minimizes risks to our employees, fostering a safer working environment.

Precision and consistency: the robot’s precision engineering ensures consistent and high-quality output, meeting the stringent standards of our production processes.

The dedication and expertise of Polytec and Gerdau teams have set a new benchmark for innovation in the industry, paving the way for safer, more efficient, and higher-quality steel production.

Polytec, now firmly established in Latin America, Mexico, North America, and South Korea, boasts a robust team of over 200 professionals spanning engineering, project management, administration, and sales. The technical advice is aimed at guiding the customer in choosing the best solutions for integrating new systems on existing machines. The dynamic team serves the steel industry market with cutting-edge technologies, electrical revamping and automation services on existing systems, including those over 20 years old as well as retrofitting both analog and digital legacy systems with modern devices, often blending the existing and the newer technologies to reduce commissioning time, risks and overall project costs.

Polytec’s approach to the integration of technologies into processes begins with a comprehensive feasibility study. Utilizing 3D spatial data acquisition, the company thoroughly evaluates production processes to make informed, suitable choices tailored to the customers’ specific needs. All environmental conditions and plant operations are then recreated inside Polytec’s workshop, and this detailed simulation allows the engineering and assembly of all solutions beforehand, to ensure optimal fine-tuning of the systems.

Polytec’s constant research for peak performance always leads to new technologies that can increase safety and traceability and reduce the risks of mistakes in the production phases, all while minimizing the manpower needed in dangerous areas.

The thorough knowledge of the steel production processes, and the multidisciplinary know-how, enable Polytec to play a key role towards Steel Industry 5.0. Robotics is already being applied in the steel industry to replace human operators in cumbersome or repetitive operations, and the latest evolution of robotics aims at establishing more active human-robot cooperation to combine the abilities of both operators and robots by overcoming their limitations. Within the paradigm of “human-robot collaboration”, human operators are mostly devoted to tasks requiring sensitivity, advanced sensing, and reasoning capabilities to react to unplanned situations, while robots exploit their ability to face harsher or potentially harmful tasks with no risks and high precision. Such a paradigm requires that robots and operators safely share the same workplaces, tools, and fixtures. This is the only way to redefine the role of the worker: robots can carry out heavy and repetitive tasks that could be a waste of potential for the worker, and the operators can use their reasoning capabilities to become supervisors. Polytec aims exactly at making this paradigm the future of steelmaking.

Polytec is a part of BM Group, an Italian industrial group that currently has over 350 direct employees across various locations in Italy and abroad. The group specializes in three main areas: industrial automation, plant engineering, and renewable energy.