maxon provides motion controllers, and Balluff offers sensors for warehouse automation. Source: maxon motor

When looking to boost productivity and eliminate mundane manual tasks in the warehouse, adding robots is a good start, but it’s not enough. Speed, scalability, sustainability, and upskilling the workforce are also essential for long-term success. This strategy requires additional forms of automation that are optimized for digital transformation — from the controllers to the networks to the interfaces and the cloud. 

In this webinar, we explore the many technologies that come together to keep warehouse and fulfillment centers operating at peak performance.

Manufacturers, third-party logistics providers (3PLs), and distribution center operators need tools that enable greater visibility into their processes, offer tighter control of processes, and improve energy management. From sensing to vision systems, motion control, cables, connectors, and more, it’s advances in components and controllers that power the adoption of automation.

This free webinar on controllers and warehouse automation will be at 2:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, June 12, 2024. Register now, and ask questions during the live discussion. It will be accessible on demand after the initial broadcast.

About the speakers

John Santagate is the vice president of robotics at Körber Supply Chain Software, overseeing strategy for autonomous mobile and warehouse robotics, as well as its robotics partner network. He ensures these technologies drive customer success and integrate with Körber’s broader solutions.

With a career in supply chain focused on efficiency and profitability, Santagate previously consulted for Tata Consultancy Services and was a leading industry analyst at IDC.

Stephanie Neil is executive editor for robotics at WTWH Media. She is a seasoned business-to-business (B2B) journalist and Web content expert with over 25 years of experience covering the manufacturing industry.

Neil covers a wide range of topics, such as digital transformation, automation, artificial intelligence, analytics, the Internet of Things, cybersecurity, robotics, simulation, and workforce issues. She seeks to share the end-user perspective that reveals the business value of operational processes while exploring how technology affects the way we work.

This webinar is sponsored by motor provider maxon and software and sensors expert Balluff.

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Operators use OmniCore V400XT to control a large robot with Robot Studio. Source: ABB Robotics

Thanks to advances in cloud computing, perception technology, and artificial intelligence, industrial and other robots are becoming smarter and more capable. ABB Robotics today launched its next-generation OmniCore platform, which can now control most of its automation line.

“For our customers, automation is a strategic requirement as they seek greater flexibility, simplicity, and efficiency in response to the global megatrends of labor shortages, uncertainty, and the need to operate more sustainably,” said Sami Atiya, president of ABB’s Robotics & Discrete Automation Business Area. “Through our development of advanced mechatronics, AI, and vision systems, our robots are more accessible, more capable, more flexible, and more mobile than ever.”

“But increasingly, they must also work seamlessly together, with us, and each other to take on more tasks in more places,” he added. “This is why we are launching OmniCore, a new milestone in our 50-year history in robotics; a unique, single control architecture – one platform, and one language that integrates our complete range of leading hardware and software.”

Three out of four European companies struggle to find workers for jobs such as welding and fulfillment, noted Atiya. He added that more than 2.1 million U.S. manufacturing jobs will be unfilled by 2030, and businesses need supply chain resilience. In response, Atiya said, OmniCore will provide greater simplicity and flexibility to ABB’s customers.

ABB Robotics, which has offices in Zurich; Vasteras, Sweden; and Auburn Hills, Mich., noted that OmniCore is the product of more than $170 million in investment. The unit of ABB Group called it “a step change to a modular and futureproof control architecture that will enable the full integration of AI, sensor, cloud, and edge computing systems to create the most advanced and autonomous robotic applications.”

While ABB has offered OmniCore since 2018, its plan was always to make it its unified control platform, explained Marc Segura, division president of ABB Robotics. “Now we are in our pivotal moment where we are launching it to the cover almost our entire robotics portfolio,” he told The Robot Report.

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OmniCore offers speed and accuracy

ABB Robotics said OmniCore delivers robot path accuracy at a level of less than 0.6 mm, and it can control the motion of multiple robots running at speeds of up to 1,600 mm per second (3.5 mph). This builds on ABB’s experience with automotive manufacturing. It also opens opportunities for precision automation in areas such as arc welding, assembly of mobile phone displays, gluing, and laser cutting.

“Our automotive customers are extremely competent and helped push the boundaries of what is possible,” Segura said. “OmniCore also complies with and exceeds the most stringent cybersecurity standard and is future-proof for AI and digitalization.”

He claimed that the updated platform enables its robots to operate up to 25% faster and to consume up to 20% less energy compared with its previous controller. It is open to peripherals including sensors, as well as external devices such as dispensers or welding tools, for numerous processes. It also supports up to 100 safety configurations.

Platform covers hardware, software ecosystem

OmniCore is built on a scalable, modular control architecture that offers a wide array of functions, making it suitable for new industries embracing automation, such as biotechnology and construction, said ABB. It also includes more than 1,000 hardware and software features to help customers design, operate, maintain, and optimize operations.

OmniCore is the top level of a software stack that includes the RobotWare operating system and Robot Studio for simulation and design, said Segura. He cited software features such as OptiFact for managing data, Absolute Accuracy, and PickMaster Twin, as well as hardware options spanning from external axis and vision systems to fieldbuses.

“The OmniCore difference is its ability to manage motion, sensors, and application equipment in a single holistic unified system,” he said. “Our new, next-generation platform is more than a controller. It is the backbone of value creation, which includes a complete, integrated software ecosystem.”

“For example, OmniCore enables automotive manufacturers to increase production speed, offering tremendous competitive advantage, increasing press-tending production from 12 to 15 strokes per minute to produce 900 parts per hour,” Segura said. “Some of these applications are now available even as pre-integrated configurations, enabling our systems integrators to reduce commissioning times even further.”

“Software and AI are paramount for us at ABB,” Atiya said. “We have more than 100 projects ongoing to bring AI into our products and for our own productivity.”

He noted that AI enables inspection of welds 20 times faster than with humans, and up to 1,400 picks per hour with its robots. Atiya predicted that generative AI such as ChatGPT will broaden accessibility of robotics.

ABB says OmniCore offers seven benefits for robotics deployment and management. Source: ABB Robotics

ABB plans for compatibility across its robots

ABB said its history of robotics innovation began with “the world’s first microprocessor-controlled robot” in 1974. It launched the RobotStudio software in 1998 and acquired Sevensense in 2024 to bring industry-leading AI-based navigation technology to its autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) purchased with ASTI in 2021.

OmniCore replaces ABB Robotics’ IRC5 controller, which will be phased out in June 2026. The company plans to continue to support its customers with spare parts and services through the remaining lifetime of robots using it. Is new hardware needed to upgrade?

Existing users need only to make some minimal re-engineering for connectivity, wiring, and the customized user interface on the FlexPendant, replied Segura. No additional equipment or training is needed, but online and in-person training are available.

“We are still compliant with all the sensors used on IRC5 and have added more opportunities on the OmniCore platform,” Segura said. 

In addition to managing motion, sensors, and application equipment, OmniCore will be able to manage ABB’s collaborative robots, acknowledged Segura. “We also plan to run all our AMRs and mobile manipulators to run on OmniCore in the near future,” he said. 

After the “Fanta challenge” in 2009, which showed three robots working together, ABB demonstrated three robot arms moving around with champagne glasses to show off OmniCore’s precise motion control for production and safety purposes.

OmniCore is now available, and ABB is taking orders. The company is hosting a virtual conference for the new OmniCore platform at 10:00 CEST (4:00 a.m. EDT) on June 4, 2024. It will be available to those who register after the launch event.

The post ABB releases OmniCore platform for control across its robotics line appeared first on The Robot Report.

Realtime is working with Mitsubishi Electric to develop its motion planning software. Source: Realtime Robotics

Manufacturing can benefit from increasingly intelligent robots as much as any other industry. Realtime Robotics today announced that it has secured a strategic investment from Mitsubishi Electric Corp., leading its recently opened Series B round. The company said it plans to use the funding to refine and scale its robot workcell and runtime systems, which will help engineers reduce costs and increase productivity.

“For years, industrial robot programming has remained a rigid, costly and labor-intensive process,” stated Peter Howard, CEO of Realtime Robotics. “Realtime is helping manufacturers realize the next wave of efficiency improvements necessary to get the most out of their new and existing automation applications.”

“Our optimization and runtime technologies constitute a powerful artificial intelligence that operates much like the human brain’s motor cortex, efficiently managing multiple actions at the same time,” he added. “Think of several cooks in a crowded kitchen being able to seamlessly work around each other to produce meals without error or collision. That’s the power of our technology.”

“We’re planning on using the funds to further scale and refine our optimization and runtime solutions,” Howard told The Robot Report.

Realtime Robotics refines motion control

Realtime Robotics said it is a leader in automatic, collision-free motion planning for industrial robots. In iterative design stages, the optimization software rapidly generates and evaluates hundreds of thousands of possible solutions.

“Our technologies reduce costs and improve productivity across the lifecycle of robotic workcells for both design engineers and manufacturers,” Howard explained. “For example, at the design stage, our optimization solution quickly finds the lowest cycle time on highly complex multi-robot cells with tight space such as spot welding for automotive framing.”

The Boston-based company claimed that its systems expand the potential of automation, empowering multiple robots to work closely together in collaborative workspaces. It added that runtime control further simplifies deployment and production, enabling multiple robots to work closer together, while simultaneously reacting to dynamic changes.

“In runtime, our auto-homing and dynamic obstacle avoidance unleashes the power of multiple robots in high-mix, low-volume or unstructured applications like machine tending, depalletizing, bin picking, and container unloading,” said Howard.

When the workcell needs to be retooled, the complex robot control can be reprogrammed for optimal cycle time from the first iteration, said Realtime Robotics. The company said its interfaces with leading simulation software brands and industry-standard controllers help customers and partners access its systems through their preferred methods.

Realtime’s customers include automotive manufacturers BMW and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, as well as integrators Valiant TMS and Schaeffler Group. They have reported improved cycle times, reduced downtime, and increased throughput as a result of working with Realtime.

Mitsubishi Electric expects efficiencies from automation

Mitsubishi Electric, which also participated in Realtime Robotics’ Series A round, will be adding a senior representative to Realtime’s board of directors. The Tokyo-based company said that it plans to “further integrate integrate Realtime’s motion-planning technology into 3D simulators and other software to optimize manufacturing through the power of digital twins.”

Later, Mitsubishi Electric said it expects to incorporate Realtime’s technology into factory automation (FA) control system devices, such as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), servo motors, and computer numerical controllers (CNCs). The manufacturer said it expects to eliminate production interruptions by expanding automation capabilities, streamlining plant operations for improved efficiency, and quickly responding to unexpected events.

“We’re excited to continue working directly with Mitsubishi on ways that they can utilize our technology throughout various aspects of their operations,” said Howard. “This will further enable their transformation into a circular digital-engineering company.”

Mitsubishi Electric said it has more than 100 years of experience in manufacturing and selling electrical and electronic equipment for factory automation, information processing and communications, space development and satellite communications, consumer electronics, energy, transportation, and building equipment. The company recorded a revenue of 5,257.9 billion yen ($34.8 billion U.S.) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024.

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Realtime fundraising, AI development continue

While the companies didn’t specify the amount of the investment, Realtime Robotics said Mitsubishi Electric’s expertise will help guide its development of automation for manufacturing.

“Mitsubishi has been a valued partner since our Series A was first announced, and we’ve worked closely with them on various projects,” said Howard. “Our technology has of course benefited from what we’ve learned as a part of this partnership — and we’re really excited to take this further.”

Realtime Robotics is also communicating with other investors, which Howard said he hopes to announce in the coming months. Ongoing improvements in artificial intelligence will also help robot control, he said.

“One thing I’ve learned from years in this industry is that there’s always room for improvement,” said Howard. “As simulation improves and AI matures, there will be an opportunity to become even more efficient in the ways a manufacturer’s process is analyzed and optimized.”

“Digital twins will become more exact, and AI can make better decisions faster than humans, as long as the data remains accurate,” he said. “Right now, there are a great deal of ways our programming and optimization solutions can advance the industry, but we’re keeping our eyes on how to make them even stronger as technology advances.”

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Hirebotics says that thanks to the Miller Auto DeltaWeld, its Cobot Welder System is future-proof, easy to use, and ready to boost fabrication productivity immediately upon installation. | Source: Hirebotics

As robots increasingly make their way into the world, automation providers are focusing on making the end-user experience faster and easier than ever. Hirebotics LLC today said its Cobot Welder now includes support for Miller Auto DeltaWeld for an even more streamlined user experience. 

The Auto DeltaWeld System is a MIG/Flux-cored, pulsed-capable power source designed for collaborative robots, according to Miller Electric Mfg. Co. The Appleton, Wis.-based company said its system is intended for customers that want the benefits of automated welding without the cost and complexity of traditional power supplies. 

Hirebotics said that with the Miller Auto DeltaWeld integration, its Cobot Welder is a future-proof system. It includes remote software updating so that additional welding features and functions can be easily integrated with the system. 

“While the Auto DeltaWeld Basic is designed for simplicity, we at Miller still want to provide top-of-the-line waveforms,” stated Sam Nolan, product manager at ITW Miller Welding Automation. “As we update and expand our welder functionality, Hirebotics ability to provide online updates is a powerful tool to ensure their customers experience the latest in welding technology.” 

Matthew Bush and Rob Goldiez founded Nashville, Tenn.-based Hirebotics in 2015. The company offers welding and plasma-cutting cobot systems powered by its Beacon platform.

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Miller Auto DeltaWeld Power Source’s key features

The Miller Auto DeltaWeld provides high reliability and welding quality on carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminum, said Miller Welds. The company noted that it designed the system for sheet metal, structural steel, and heavy industrial manufacturing. 

“Cobots are designed to provide simple, safe automation,” said Nolan. “The Auto DeltaWeld Basic was built just for that. We strive to provide Hirebotics with the ability to provide the best software/hardware experience to keep the cobots easy to use and operate.”

Some of the system’s notable features include: 

• Pulsed MIG welding: This allows cobots to produce TIG-like welds with MIG productivity, claimed the companies. They said this ensures high weld quality, especially when paired with a cobot. 
• Miller’s Accu-Pulse: This feature provides a wider operating window, works in all positions, improves pulsed-MIG application, and increases deposition by 20% to 25%. 
• High-duty cycle: This feature is designed to ensure uninterrupted cobot welding for most applications. 

Hirebotics Beacon lets users control welding setups by app

With smartphone app Beacon, users can control the entire welding setup. Unlike other cobot systems, Cobot Welder lets the user control everything from one place with a simple interface, asserted Hirebotics.

Traditionally, welders must go back and forth between the teach pendant and the power source to control the robot. Beacon is another tool that makes the cobot integration process easier and faster, the company said. 

Beacon is also entirely cloud-based, which means users can control their robots remotely and locally. With it, users can adjust settings such as switching processes between CV and MIG, wire feed speed (WFS), arc length, crater fill time, weave action, pre- and post-flow time, burnback settings, retract settings, hot start settings, and more. 

HIrebotics says its Cobot Welder is a straightforward, app-controlled, turnkey, off-the-shelf welding automation system. Beacon automatically recommends welding parameters using AI, saving end-users time and improving weld quality. Users can also use previously saved settings, or input welding parameters manually. 

Users don’t need any programming or robotics skills to operate Cobot Welder, said Hirebotics. Beacon only requires the settings that welding professionals are used to, like WFS and voltage. The company said that integration with Miller Auto DeltaWeld can ensure the highest level of welding quality on all commonly used materials. 

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Motion control has become critical to mobile robot design, says Applied Motion Products. Credit: Gorodenkoff, Adobe Stock

Automated guided vehicles and autonomous mobile robots, or AGVs and AMRs, respectively, are the result of numerous design decisions and tradeoffs. In this free webinar, Applied Motion Products will discuss key factors for mobile robot design, such as performance, safety, and power availability.

Miguel Larios, applications engineer at the company, will explain crucial environmental considerations including IP protection and wheel specifications. He will guide viewers through the essential AGV/AMR specification and feature questions that are critical to ask when selecting the most appropriate motors and gearing for a new system.

Motor selection is increasingly important to include during the design phase because developers, integrators, and users continue to push performance requirements to new levels, according to Larios. He will also explore auxiliary axes for materials handling and jacking axes.

Attendees can learn more about the following in this webinar:

• AGV/AMR performance requirements and the impact on motor selection
• Powering the motion control in your mobile robot
• Safety and environmental considerations around automated systems
• How to select wheels based on operational requirements
• Auxiliary axis types and motion control solutions

“Get Your AGV/AMR Moving! Motion Control in AGVs and AMRs” will be at 2:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. Register now, and ask questions during the live discussion. The webinar will be accessible on demand after the initial broadcast.

About the speakers, Applied Motion Products

Miguel Larios is an applications engineer at Applied Motion Products Inc. and has worked in industrial automation for five years. During that time, he has worked in both sales and engineering roles and has been exposed to many industries implementing automation. Most recently, Larios has started to work in a product management capacity, focusing on AGV/AMR users.

Founded in 1978, Applied Motion Products has been committed to innovation and advancement of motion-control systems, supplying components to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company sponsoring this webinar said it provides motors and drives for applications where precise control of position, speed, and torque is required. They include robotics, machine control, factory automation, semiconductor handling, packaging machines, and medical devices.

Morgan Hill, Calif.-based Applied Motion Products formed a joint venture in 2014 with Moons’ Shanghai to focus on developing cutting-edge technologies. The partners have research and development centers, as well as more than 200 patents for inventions, utility models, appearances, and software copyrights.

Eugene Demaitre is editorial director for robotics at WTWH Media, which produces The Robot Report, Mobile Robot Guide, RoboBusiness, and the Robotics Summit & Expo. He has extensive experience in business-to-business technology journalism and has participated in conferences worldwide, as well as spoken on many webcasts and podcasts. He is always interested in learning more about robotics. Demaitre has a master’s from the George Washington University and lives in the Boston area.

The post Webinar: Get your mobile robots moving with the right motion control appeared first on The Robot Report.

Researchers reported at ICRA that they can vectorize controllers to be available during training and deployment. | Source: NVIDIA

NVIDIA Corp. research teams presented their findings at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, or ICRA, last week in Yokohama, Japan. One group, in particular, presented research focusing on geometric fabrics, a popular topic at the event. 

In robotics, trained policies, like geometric fabrics, are approximate by nature. This means that while these policies usually do the right thing, sometimes they make a robot move too fast, collide with things, or jerk around. Generally, roboticists can not be certain of everything that might occur. 

To counteract this, these trained policies are always deployed with a layer of low-level controllers that intercept the commands from the policy. This is especially true when using reinforcement learning-trained policies on a physical robot, said the team at the NVIDIA Robotics Research Lab in Seattle. These controllers then translate the commands from the policy so they mitigate the limitations of the hardware. 

These controllers are run with reinforcement learning (RL) policies during the training phase. It was during this phase that the researchers found that a unique value could be supplied with the GPU-accelerated RL training tools. This value vectorizes those controllers so they’re available during training and deployment. 

Out in the real world, companies working on, say, humanoid robots can demonstrate with low-level controllers that balance the robot and keep it from running its arms into its own body.

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Researchers draw on past work for current project 

The research team built on two previous NVIDIA projects for this current paper. The first was “Geometric Fabrics: Generalizing Classical Mechanics to Capture the Physics of Behavior,” which won a best paper award at last year’s ICRA. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company‘s team used controllers produced in this project to vectorize. 

The in-hand manipulation tasks the researchers address in this year’s paper also come from a well-known line of research on DeXtreme. In this new work, the researchers merged those two lines of research to train DeXtreme policies over the top of vectorized geometric fabric controllers.

NVIDIA’s team said this keeps the robot safer, guides policy learning through the nominal fabric behavior, and systematizes simulation-to-reality (sim2real) training and deployment to get one step closer to using RL tooling in production settings. 

From this, the researchers formed a foundational infrastructure that enabled them to quickly iterate to get the domain randomization right during training. This sets them up for successful sim2real deployment. 

For example, by iterating quickly between training and deployment, the team reported that it could adjust the fabric structure and add substantial random perturbation forces during training to achieve a higher level or robustness than in previous work. 

In prior DeXtreme work, the real-world experiments were extremely hard on the physical robot. It wore down the motors and sensors while changing the behavior of underlying control through the course of experimentation.

At one point, the robot even broke down and started smoking. With geometric fabric controllers underlying the policy and protecting the robot, the researchers found they could be much more liberal in deploying and testing policies without worrying about the robot destroying itself. 

NVIDIA presents more research at ICRA

NVIDIA highlighted four other papers its researchers submitted to ICRA this year. They are: 

• SynH2R: The researchers behind this paper proposed a framework to generate realistic human grasping motions that can be used for training a robot. With the method, the team could generate synthetic training and testing data with 100 times more objects than previous work. The team said its method is competitive with state-of-the-art methods that rely on real human motion data both in simulation and on a real system.
• Out of Sight, Still in Mind: In this paper, NVIDIA’s researchers tested a robotic arm’s reaction to things it had previously seen but were then occluded. With the team’s approaches, robots can perform multiple challenging tasks, including reasoning with occluded objects, novel objects in appearance, and object reappearance. The company claimed that these approaches outperformed implicit memory baselines. 
• Point Cloud World Models: The researchers set up a novel point cloud world model and point cloud-based control policies that were able to improve performance, reduce learning time, and increase robustness for robotic learners. 
• SKT-Hang: This team looked at the problem of how to use a robot to hang up a wide variety of objects on different supporting structures. This is a deceptively tricky problem, as there are countless variations in both the shape of objects and the supporting structure poses.

Surgical simulation uses Omniverse

NVIDIA also presented ORBIT-Surgical, a physics-based surgical robot simulation framework with photorealistic rendering powered by NVIDIA Isaac Sim on the NVIDIA Omniverse platform. It uses GPU parallelization to facilitate the study of robot learning to augment human surgical skills.

The framework also enables realistic synthetic data generation for active perception tasks. The researchers demonstrated ORBIT-Surgical sim2real transfer of learned policies onto a physical dVRK robot. They plan to release the underlying simulation application as a free, open-source package upon publication. 

In addition, the DefGoalNet paper focuses on shape servoing, a robotic task dedicated to controlling objects to create a specific goal shape.

Partners present their developments at ICRA

NVIDIA partners also showed their latest developments at ICRA. ANYbotics presented a complete software package to grant users access to low-level controls down to the Robot Operating System (ROS).

Franka Robotics highlighted its work with NVIDIA Isaac Manipulator, an NVIDIA Jetson-based AI companion to power robot control and the Franka toolbox for Matlab. Enchanted Tools exhibited its Jetson-powered Mirokaï robots.

NVIDIA recently participated in the Robotics Summit & Expo in Boston and the opening of Teradyne Robotics’ new headquarters in Odense, Denmark.

NVIDIA partner Enchanted Tools showed Mirokai at CES and ICRA. Source: Enhanted Tools

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Syslogic adds RTK capability to AI computers. | Credit: Syslogic

Syslogic leverages the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) technology of u-blox to add RTK to the solution. The AI Rugged Computer RS A4NA can now be configured with up to two integrated u-blox receivers. This allows RTK functionality to be implemented without additional hardware. As a further highlight, Syslogic has integrated a heading function. This allows not only the position, but also the rotation angle of a vehicle or machine to be precisely determined.  

The Rugged Computer uses u-blox ZED-F9P and -F9H interconnected modules. The F9P is an accurate GNSS receiver that receives positioning data from satellites. In combination with the ZED-F9H and u-blox’s own PointPerfect correction data service, it is possible to determine the angle of rotation and position with an accuracy of up to three centimeters.

The post Syslogic adds RTK capability to AI computer for localization appeared first on The Robot Report.

UR cobots are can now use SRCI, a standard interface between PLCs and robots. | Source: Universal Robots

Collaborative robots are designed to be easy to use, but they also need to work with other systems. Universal Robots A/S announced that it has integrated the Standard Robot Command Interface, or SRCI, into its software. The Odense, Denmark-based company claimed that it is among the first cobot vendors to offer this functionality.

“By having our robots connect seamlessly to a global industry leader like Siemens, we can now offer our partners and customers, both existing and prospective, faster integration and higher ease of use,“ stated Daniel Friedman, global director of strategic partnerships at Universal Robots. “We strive to make cobot automation as simple as possible for our customers, and this is yet another step in our commitment to provide automation for anyone, anywhere.”

Universal Robots said SRCI is available for its e-Series family of cobots and the next-generation UR20 and UR30. It can be installed and activated with PolyScope Version 5.15 or higher using the URcap software add-on. 

SRCI offers a universal interface for robot makers

Siemens said SRCI is a new standard for robot manufacturers that aims to create a single interface between programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and robots. It aims to reduce service and maintenance complexity through a single robot library and enhanced connectivity. 

Universal Robots added that the uniform cross-platform data interface of the SRCI will make robot implementation interoperable. It also standardizes definitions and robot commands between UR collaborative robots and Siemens PLCs.

“This allows for easier and quicker setup and simplifies the deployment of UR robots into existing and new Siemens ecosystem-based production lines,” the company said. Earlier this month, Siemens, Universal Robots, and 3D camera vendor Zivid said they have joined forces to help automate intralogistics fulfillment.

Siemens asserted that it “is the first — and currently only — PLC vendor supporting SRCI in the automation market.” 

“We are encouraged that cobots from Universal Robots can now be controlled via the SRCI and can be programmed by Simatic users,” said Rolf Heinsohn, senior vice president of factory automation segment control at Siemens.

“We want to accelerate factory automation and scale the use of robots in industry by making them simple and available to all our customers` employees,” he added. “It is a great advantage for our customers to be able to easily integrate and use UR’s robots together with the Siemens PLCs in their production.”

Catch up with Teradyne at the Robotics Summit

Universal Robots is a subsidiary of Teradyne Inc. Ujjwal Kumar, group president of Teradyne Robotics, will be giving a keynote presentation at the Robotics Summit & Expo next week. In it, he will share some lessons he has learned and how they can be applied to accelerate the transformation of industry with robotics.

An RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award Winner, Universal Robots will be among the organizations honored at the inaugural RBR50 Gala.

Registration is now open for the Robotics Summit & Expo, which will be on May 1 and 2 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The event will include more than 200 exhibitors, various networking opportunities, a Women in Robotics breakfast, a career fair, an engineering theater, a startup showcase, and more.

The post Universal Robots integrates cobots with Siemens PLCs appeared first on The Robot Report.

Chinese and U.S. companies led March 2024 robotics investments. Credit: Eacon Mining, Dan Kara

Thirty-seven robotics firms received funding in March 2024, pulling in a total monthly investment of $642 million. March’s investment figure was significantly less than February’s mark of approximately $2 billion, but it was in keeping with other monthly investments in 2023 and early 2024 (see Figure 1, below).

California companies secure investment

As described in Table 1 below, the two largest robotics investments in March were secured by software suppliers. Applied Intuition, a provider of software infrastructure to deploy autonomous vehicles at scale, received a $250 million Series E round, while Physical Intelligence, a developer of foundation models and other software for robots and actuated devices, attracted $70 million in a seed round. Both firms are located in California.

Other California firms receiving substantial rounds included Bear Robotics, a manufacturer of self-driving indoor robots that raised a $60 million Series C round, and unmanned aerial system (UAS) developer Firestorm, whose seed funding was $20 million. For a PDF version of Table 1, click here.

March 2024 robotics investments

Drones get fuel for takeoff in March 2024

Providers of drones, drone technologies, and drone services also attracted substantial individual investments in March 2024. Examples included Firestorm and Gather AI, a developer of inventory monitoring drones whose Series A was $17 million.

In addition, drone services provider Preneu obtained $11 million in Series B funding, and DRONAMICS, a developer of drone technology for cargo transportation and logistics operations, got a grant worth $10.8 million.

Companies in U.S. and China received the majority of the March 2024 funding, at $451 million and $100 million, respectively (see Figure 2, below).

Companies based in Japan and the U.K. were also well represented among the March 2024 investment totals. Four companies in Japan secured a total of $34.7 million, while an equal number of firms in the U.K. attracted $13.5 million in funding.

Nearly 40% of March’s robotics investments came from a single Series E round — that of Applied Intuition. The remaining funding classes were all represented in March 2024 (Figure 3, below).

Editor’s notes

What defines robotics investments? The answer to this simple question is central in any attempt to quantify them with some degree of rigor. To make investment analyses consistent, repeatable, and valuable, it is critical to wring out as much subjectivity as possible during the evaluation process. This begins with a definition of terms and a description of assumptions.

Investors and investing

Investment should come from venture capital firms, corporate investment groups, angel investors, and other sources. Friends-and-family investments, government/non-governmental agency grants, and crowd-sourced funding are excluded.

Robotics and intelligent systems companies

Robotics companies must generate or expect to generate revenue from the production of robotics products (that sense, analyze, and act in the physical world), hardware or software subsystems and enabling technologies for robots, or services supporting robotics devices. For this analysis, autonomous vehicles (including technologies that support autonomous driving) and drones are considered robots, while 3D printers, CNC systems, and various types of “hard” automation are not.

Companies that are “robotic” in name only, or use the term “robot” to describe products and services that do not enable or support devices acting in the physical world, are excluded. For example, this includes “software robots” and robotic process automation. Many firms have multiple locations in different countries. Company locations given in the analysis are based on the publicly listed headquarters in legal documents, press releases, etc.

Verification

Funding information is collected from several public and private sources. These include press releases from corporations and investment groups, corporate briefings, market research firms, and association and industry publications. In addition, information comes from sessions at conferences and seminars, as well as during private interviews with industry representatives, investors, and others. Unverifiable investments are excluded and estimates are made where investment amounts are not provided or are unclear.

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Delta exhibited its data center and other technologies at NVIDIA GTC 2024. Source: Delta Electronics

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Artificial intelligence and robotics both devour power, but simulation, next-generation processors, and good product design can mitigate the draw. At NVIDIA Corp.’s GTC event last week, Delta Electronics Inc. demonstrated how its digital twin platform, developed on NVIDIA Omniverse, can help enhance smart manufacturing capabilities.

“We’ve partnered with NVIDIA on energy-efficient designs to support AI,” Franziskus Gehle, general manager of the Power Solutions business unit at Delta, told The Robot Report. “We’ve co-developed 5.5 kW designs for 98% efficiency.”

The Taipei, Taiwan-based company explained how its technologies can benefit industrial automation and warehouse operations. Delta also showed its ORV3 AI server infrastructure product and DC converters and other technologies designed to support graphics processing unit (GPU) operations.

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Delta designs simulation to manage automation

Founded in 1971, Delta Electronics said it is a global leader in switching power supplies and thermal management products. The company’s portfolio includes systems for industrial automation, building automation, telecommunications power, data center infrastructure, electric vehicle charging, renewable energy, and energy storage and display.

Delta added that its energy-efficient products can support sustainable development. The company has sales offices, research and development centers, and factories at nearly 200 locations around the world. It provides articulated robot arms, SCARA robots, and robot controllers with integrated servo drives.

“Since 1995, Delta has supplied automation components, and it now offers a full product line,” said Claire Ou, senior principal for strategic marketing in the Power and System business group at Delta. “We’ve used NVIDIA simulation for our customers and ourselves, for machine tools and semiconductors.”

“Because Delta has a lot of factories around the world, it’s best to do test runs to fine-tune our hardware and software before implementation,” she told The Robot Report. “Our solutions can monitor and manage warehouses and factories for maximum productivity.”

In addition, Delta has developed its own standalone simulation software in addition to NVIDIA Omniverse, and it can integrate data from both. In the past, automation designers, manufacturers, and users worked with different tools, but customers are now optimistic about easier collaboration, said Ou.

“In 2012, Industry 4.0 was about digitalizing manufacturing,” she noted. “Since then, our management and monitoring systems have been integrated into global factories. We’re also working with data for construction and smart buildings.”

NVIDIA partners for digital twins to manage power

“We are honored to be the only power and thermal management solutions provider at NVIDIA GTC 2024, where we will showcase the NVIDIA Omniverse-powered digital twin we have developed, which underscores our superior expertise in next-generation electronics manufacturing,” stated Mark Ko, vice chairman of Delta Electronics. “We look forward to helping transcend the boundaries of energy efficiency in the AI realm using the latest technologies.”

Delta has deployed its power management technology to leading cloud solution providers (CSPs) and AI developers such as Meta (parent of Facebook), Microsoft, and Amazon Web Services, noted Gehle.

“Our customers have doubled their power requirements in the past six months rather than in years,” he said. “All of their road maps anticipate a significant increase in power demand, so they need management in place for next-generation GPUs and power-hungry generative AI.”

“We used digital twins and Omniverse to design and pre-qualify our products worldwide,” Gehle explained. “It’s important that our data center plans are aligned with those of our customers.”

At GTC, Delta presented an integrated Open Rack Version 3 (ORV3) system for AI server infrastructure with server power supplies boasting energy efficiency as high as 97.5%. It also included SD-WAN, Common Redundant Power Supply Units (CRPS) with 54Vdc output, ORV3 18kW/33kW HPR Power Shelves, a Battery Backup Unit (BBU), a Mini UPS, and a liquid cooling system.

In addition, the company showed its portfolio of DC/DC converters, power chokes, and 3D Vapor Chambers for GPU operations.

“The new era of AI-powered manufacturing is marked by digital twins and synthetic data, which can enhance efficiency and productivity before actual production begins,” said Rev Lebaredian, vice president of Omniverse and simulation technology at NVIDIA, in a release.

“By developing its digital platform on NVIDIA Omniverse, Delta can virtually link specific production lines and aggregate data from a diverse range of equipment and systems to create a digital twin of its operations,” he said. “And with NVIDIA Isaac Sim, it can generate synthetic data to train its computer models to achieve 90% accuracy.”

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RIOS works with NVIDIA Isaac Sim and serves the wood-products industry. Source: RIOS Intelligent Machines

RIOS Intelligent Machines Inc. this week announced that it has raised $13 million in Series B funding, co-led by Yamaha Motor Corp. and IAG Capital Partners. The company said it plans to use the investment to develop and offer artificial intelligence and vision-driven robotics, starting with a product for the lumber and plywood-handling sector.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based RIOS said its systems can enhance production efficiency and control. The company focuses on three industrial segments: wood products, beverage distribution, and packaged food products.

RIOS works with NVIDIA Omniverse on factory simulations. It has also launched its Mission Control Center, which uses machine vision and AI to help manufacturers improve quality and efficiency.

RIOS offers visibility to manufacturers

“Customers in manufacturing want a better way to introspect their production — ‘Why did this part of the line go down?'” said Clinton Smith, co-founder and CEO of RIOS. “But incumbent tools have not been getting glowing reviews. Our standoff vision system eliminates a lot of that because our vision and AI are more robust.”

The mission-control product started as an internal tool and is now being rolled out to select customers, Smith told The Robot Report. “We’ve observed that customers want fine-grained control of processes, but there are a lot of inefficiencies, even at larger factories in the U.S.”

Manufacturers that already work with tight tolerances, such as in aerospace or electronics, already have well-defined processes, he noted. But companies with high SKU turnover volumes, such as with seasonal variations, often find it difficult to rely on a third party’s AI, added Smith.

“Mission Control is a centralized platform that provides a visual way to visualize processes and to start to interact with our robotics,” he explained. ‘We want operators to identify what to work on and what metrics to count for throughput and ROI [return on investment], but if there’s an error on the data side, it can be a pain to go back to the database.”

Smith shared the example of a bottlecap tracker. In typical machine learning, this requires a lot of data to be annotated before training models and then looking at the results.

With RIOS Mission Control, operators can monitor a process and select a counting zone. They can simply draw a box around a feature to be annotated, and the system will automatically detect and draw comparisons, he said.

“You place a system over the conveyor, pick an item, and you’re done,” said Smith. “It’s not just counting objects. For example, our wood products customers want to know where there are knots in boards to cut around. It could also be used in kitting applications.”

RIOS is releasing the feature in phases and is working on object manipulation. Smith said the company is also integrating the new feature with its tooling. In addition, RIOS is in discussions with customers, which can use its own or their existing cameras for Mission Control.

Investors express confidence in automation approach

Yamaha has been an investor in RIOS Intelligent Machines since 2020. The vehicle maker said it has more than doubled its investment in RIOS, demonstrating its confidence in the company’s automation technologies and business strategy.

IAG Capital Partners is a private investment group in Charleston, S.C. The firm invests in early-stage companies and partners with innovators to build manufacturing companies. Dennis Sacha, partner at IAG, will be joining the RIOS board of directors.

“RIOS’s full production vision — from automation to quality assurance to process improvement to digital twinning — and deep understanding of production needs positions them well in the world of manufacturing,” said Sacha, who led jet engine and P-3 production for six years during his career in the U.S. Navy.

In addition, RIOS announced nearly full participation from its existing investors, including Series A lead investor, Main Sequence, which doubled its pro-rata investment. RIOS will be participating in MODEX, GTC, and Automate.

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Ruland Manufacturing has chosen Flexxbotics FlexxCORE technology for its robotic machine tending needs. | Source: Flexxbotics

Flexxbotics, which delivers workcell digitalization for robot-driven manufacturing, today announced that Ruland Manufacturing Co. has selected it to deliver autonomous process control in its FANUC RoboDrill workcells. The companies said the project’s goal is to achieve “lights out” operations. 

The machine-tending system from Flexxbotics enables Ruland’s collaborative robots from Universal Robots to communicate directly with its FANUC RoboDrill machinery and Renishaw inspection probes. The cobots connect to these probes to inspect the part after machining so it can make changes to account for tool wear and other factors, said Flexxbotics.

With the FlexxCORE system, Ruland can achieve continuous operation and higher utilization, claimed the Boston-based company. Flexxbotics added that it provides the ability to dynamically change jobs in workcells, reducing the changeover time from over an hour to just one minute. 

“One of the challenges we’ve had with previous automation projects has been the complexity of the robot-to-machine interfacing, which Flexxbotics solves,” said Dustin Vinci, engineering manager at Ruland Manufacturing, in a release. “What’s great about the Flexxbotics solution is the complete coordination of our robots with our CNC machines and inspection equipment for direct feedback and autonomous adjustments, enabling 24/7 production.”

Why Ruland chose Flexxbotics

Founded in 1937, Ruland is a precision manufacturer of high-performance shaft collars, rigid couplings, and motion control couplings. These can be used for applications including medical devices, robotics, machine tools, semiconductors, food, and packaging. 

Ruland said it decided to use Flexxbotics technology for a number of reasons. First, it provides in-line inspection for precision quality, 100% part coverage, and closed-loop optimization for uninterrupted production.

The company also provides automatic configuration and program loading of robots, CNC machines, and inspection equipment for each job.  The FlexxCORE system includes a dynamic changeover process for over 100 SKUs with only three in-feed part presentation fixtures.

In addition, Flexxbotics said it provides smart workflows with contextualized step-by-step instructions. These instructions are based on the CNC machine and robot’s status at failure for error resolution. This way, technicians or operators know exactly what went wrong. 

Ruland was also interested in the company’s open connectivity and interoperability between robots, CNC controllers, different inspection equipment, and IT and business systems. Finally, Flexxbotics said it provides extensibility to numerous workcell configurations, inspection technologies, and machinery types including Haas and Brothers CNCs, along with various dispensing machine options. 

“With Flexxbotics, we have achieved our 80% utilization goal for our FANUC RoboDrill cells in less than 90 days,” Vinci said. “The optimization process that Flexxbotics provides has been invaluable

FlexxCORE the ‘backbone’ of the smart factory

Flexxbotics’ workcell digitalization technology delivers autonomous process control for machining environments utilizing robotics. The company’s flagship product, the FlexxCORE technology, connects and coordinates robots with existing automation equipment, IT systems, and people. 

“We understand the complexity involved in transitioning to next-generation machining operations and the necessity for advanced robotic machine tending,” stated Tyler Bouchard, founder and CEO of Flexxbotics. “What we’re doing at Flexxbotics is enabling the world’s most sophisticated smart factory environments to embrace robot-driven manufacturing at scale.”

The company recently teamed up with Vention to release a combined machine-tending offering. The partners claimed that customers can now benefit from the combination of Flexxbotics’ system with Vention‘s MAP offering.

Customers can now use Vention’s cloud-robotic tools and modular automation hardware to design custom workcells, while also taking advantage of Flexxbotics’ software-as-a-service/hybrid system.

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Olis Robotics error-recovery system will be available with all Kawasaki robot models starting in Q2. Source: Business Wire

Olis Robotics and Kawasaki Robotics Inc. said yesterday that they will jointly offer robots and controls to enable customers to restart production faster, reduce troubleshooting and downtime costs by up to 90%, and gain access to expert support more quickly.

“We’re seeing a growing demand for remote robot monitoring and recovery capabilities,” stated Paul Marcovecchio, director of the General Industries business unit at Kawasaki Robotics, in a release. “Adding Olis to our industrial robots is a game changer for the market.”

“Our new partnership supports the industry gamut, from smaller first-time end users and their integrator partners up to more complex AI-driven applications in larger plants,” he said. “All stakeholders can now easily and cost-effectively monitor, access and recover their robot cells remotely.”

Marcovecchio added that Olis Robotics has taken the time to understand the adaptation barriers. “As a result, they created a powerful tool that also addresses end-user concerns such as cybersecurity or the need to retrofit machines,” he said.

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Olis Robotics offers remote monitoring and control

Olis Robotics claimed that it is a leader in remote error recovery for industrial robots. The Seattle-based company said that by providing the best remote-control user experience, it can “catalyze automation adoption.”

Founded in 2013 as a spinout from the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab, Olis said it has built on over a decade of telerobotics research and development conducted with the U.S. Navy and NASA. When robots fail, the company claimed that its flagship Olis system delivers the data needed for remote monitoring, control, and troubleshooting.

The company also said its users can connect directly to their robots through an on-premise device via a secure connection, avoiding the risks and complexities associated with cloud-based systems. To ensure physical safety, Olis is designed to always obey the robot controller’s safety restrictions.

Kawasaki and partners to demo palletizing at MODEX

Wixom, Mich.-based Kawasaki Robotics (USA) Inc. said it has incorporated more than 50 years of experience with industrial automation for a wide range of applications and markets. The company said it provides a set of standard features on all of its robot models.

At Booth C5475 at MODEX 2024 in Atlanta from March 11 to 14, Kawasaki and Olis Robotics plan to showcase their partnership with CRG Automation, a Louisville, Ky.-based integrator. They will demonstrate a “state-of-the-art” robotic corner board system, integrated with a mixed palletizing and depalletizing cell.

The cell will feature a Kawasaki RS007L robot placing corner boards on pallets being wrapped to ensure overall load stability. The system can handle multiple SKUs of unstructured products.

It will be equipped with Olis Robotics remote error-recovery software, so attendees can see how it alerts users when the robot unexpectedly stops or when it fails to pick or place a part. After such a system failure, the attendees can use Olis to run a tool-inspection routine and perform remote error recovery, allowing the robot to resume its cycle and get back to work.

Fredrik Ryden, CEO of Olis Robotics, noted that Kawasaki robots are built to last for decades, giving end users maximum control of a highly customizable product. “Kawasaki’s commitment to a world-class buying experience and quick ROI [return on investment] in a wide range of applications is a perfect match for Olis,” he said.

Ryden asserted that Kawasaki’s extensive integrator network is another key factor in the new partnership, as Olis provides integrators time-saving bandwidth through the remote support capabilities, enabling them to grow up to 25% faster.

“We’re incredibly excited to start working with Kawasaki integrators to deploy and retrofit Olis units with Kawasaki robot arms,” he added. “It’s a win-win for both the integrator and their customers.”

The Olis remote monitoring and error recovery system will be available for any Kawasaki robot model starting the second quarter of 2024.

Learn more about Kawasaki Robotics here, watch robot application videos here and connect on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn

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AutonomyOS is designed to help automate manufacturing tasks. Source: Omnirobotic

Omnirobotic Inc. today said it has closed on $500,000 in funding. The Laval, Quebec-based company said it plans to use the financing to commercialize robots using its proprietary AutonomyOS platform for manufacturers struggling with labor shortages in high-mix production environments.

“Building autonomous machines allows Omnirobotic to address the need for skilled labor at scale,” said Francois Simard, co-founder and CEO of Omnirobotic, in a release. “This model has proven to be much more effective at deploying AutonomyOS at scale.”

“We sold in six months more machines than forecast for a year,” he added. “Manufacturers want to buy proven solutions, not automation projects. Developing standard machines that they can try before they buy proved to be the right approach to getting SMEs to adopt new automation technology.”

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Omnirobotic adds hardware, restructures

Since 2016, Simard and Omnirobotic co-founder Laurier Roy have worked to develop AutonomyOS, a platform to train robots to perform manufacturing processes on never-seen-before parts. Until 2022, the company licensed AutonomyOS to users building autonomous machines.

Last year, Omnirobotic changed its business model to become a machine builder, selling robotic equipment built on AutonomyOS. The company restructured to reflect this change in June.

Investissement Québec, as a representative of the government of Québec, supported Omnirobotic in this transition, restructuring the company’s debt, while existing strategic investors, the management, and all the remaining employees injected new liquidities.

In November, Omnirobotic signed a distribution agreement with Würth Baer Supply Co. to commercialize robots for woodworking. Simard noted that Omnirobotic plans to address additional markets with new products. 

“The new products developed by Omnirobotic using AutonomyOS are addressing well-identified skilled labor shortage in the industry,” he said. “We plan to widen our product line in the metal transformation and composite sectors in the near future.”

“Our autonomous sanding robots are already disrupting the cabinet manufacturing industry by allowing companies counting as few as six people to automate one of the hardest tasks in their shop successfully,” said Simard. “That is why we recently moved to a new 6,500 sq.-ft. [603.8-sq.-m] facility that will allow us to build up to 180 machines yearly.”

Génik invests to serve global customers

Strategic investors led Omnirobotic’s round, which also included participation from Genik and Exelpro management, as well as its own employees. It previously raised $5 million in 2020.

Génik is a vertically integrated company that has designed and manufactured automated systems for more than 30 years. The Saint-Jérôme, Québec-based member of the Excelpro Group said it serves customers around the world.

“Genik is serving some companies using autonomy,” stated Patrick Gariépy, co-founder and president of Genik Automation. “We see the future of automation in this kind of technology, which is why we decided to re-invest in Omnirobotic.”

“We are training some of our engineers on using AutonomyOS and are using it to maintain Genik as an automation leader,” he said.

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Flexxbotics’ system is now compatible with FOBA Laser Marking + Engraving equipment. | Source: Flexxbotics

Flexxbotics has announced that its robotic technology is now compatible with FOBA Laser Marking + Engraving products for machine tending. This includes communication with FOBA’s integrated camera system for vision-based inspections. 

With Flexxbotics’ robot-driven operation of FOBA equipment, customers can achieve continuous operation, greater throughput, and higher yields, asserted the company. In addition, the integration offers closed-loop feedback to the robot for autonomous process control, it said. 

“Combining FOBA with Flexxbotics is particularly valuable in industries with strict regulatory compliance requirements that dictate the highest levels of repeatable precision, such as medical devices and surgical products, along with aerospace, defense, and space,” said Tyler Bouchard, co-founder and CEO of Flexxbotics, in a release.

“Environments that require rapid and accurate processing like semiconductor and electronics operations also benefit substantially,” he said. “With Flexxbotics and FOBA together, customers can optimize cycle time, expand capacity, and increase profit per part.”

Compatibility promises more flexibility, faster deployments

FOBA Laser Marking + Engraving, a brand of ALLTEC Angewandte Laserlicht Technologie GmbH, provides laser marking systems and laser engraving machines. Its offerings include fiber laser markers and UV laser markers, ultrashort pulse laser markers, CO2 laser markers, and green laser markers for a range of applications and industries. 

Flexxbotics said its patent-pending FlexxCORE technology enables robots to securely connect and communicate with FOBA laser marking and engraving equipment. This compatibility includes the FOBA MarkUS control, its digital I/Os, PROFINET, Profibus/TCP/IP, and EtherCAT. 

FlexxCORE can coordinate robot actions with FOBA’s three-stage marking process. This includes part inspection before marking, automatic mark alignment, and subsequent validation of the marking, noted the Boston-based company. 

The system uses either the Intelligent Mark Positioning (IMP) or Point & Shoot (P&S) capabilities in the FOBA equipment for precise alignment of the laser marker on the customer’s product. It also allows for vision-assisted workflows if needed for accuracy, said Flexxbotics.

“Connecting robotic machine tending with our FOBA laser-marking solution using Flexxbotics provides an even greater return on investment,” stated Jeffrey A. Kniptash, FOBA’s sales manager for Americas. “Enabling Flexxbotics robot-driven manufacturing with our FOBA laser marking and engraving equipment to enable autonomous process control can remove bottlenecks and deliver continuous operation.”

Flexxbotics aims for robot-driven manufacturing at scale

Flexxbotics claimed that its “workcell digitization technology is the backbone of the smart factory,” and key to achieving robot-driven manufacturing at scale. It said its software-as-a-service (SaaS)/hybrid architecture runs both online and offline, so production can continue with or without Internet access.

FlexxCORE also works with existing automation equipment, IT systems, and people, said the company. Last week, Flexxbotics announced compatibility with Makino machine tools. It previously noted that FlexxCORE works with HURCO CNC machines and automation, as well as with Nakamura-Tome machine tools.

A full set of bidirectional communication, transform, and routing capabilities are available in FlexxCORE for connected robots and FOBA equipment. This includes loading programs, sending instructions, updating parameters, and status awareness depending on the equipment’s capabilities, said Flexxbotics. It said this allows the robots to command the smart factory machinery.

The company plans to demonstrate its technologies at ATX West from Feb. 6 to 8 in Anaheim, Calif.

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