System for handling workpieces in a press line

A system for handling workpieces in a press line, comprising

• at least two separate industrial robots, each having a robot base, a wrist and an auxiliary arm, said robots being articulated robots with at least four rotational axes mounted in series one after another from the robot base to the robot wrist, each of said four rotational axes being independently programmable;
• each robot auxiliary arm having a distal end and a proximal end, the proximal end being connected to the wrist, and
• a control unit for joint control of said robots, each of the four rotational axes being individually and separately controlled by the control unit such that the sum of the rotations of the four rotational axes determines the movement of the wrist and auxiliary arm,
• a crossbar connected at one end thereof to the auxiliary arm of one robot, and at another end thereof to the auxiliary arm of another robot,
• the crossbar comprising at least two crossbar portions, each attached to the distal end of the auxiliary arm of one robot and each arranged to carry a tool for picking workpieces, and
• the crossbar portions being linked to each other through a shifting arrangement to be displaceable one with respect to the other in their longitudinal direction.