ABB and Kawasaki Develop World's First Common Interface to Collaborative Robots

As a global leader in industrial automation and robotics, ABB and Kawasaki Heavy Industries, the world's first co-operative interface for cooperation-based robots, 19-22, presented in June at the automatica in Munich, Germany.

The common interface also aims to eliminate the lack of qualified staff in most sectors. For example, one in five people in Japan will retire in the next ten years.

In the world, cooperation based robot demand surpassed the growth rate in the industrial robot market. Simple to use, these robots create their own new users. Cooperative based robots, which do not need hard learning process in industrial robots, benefit from small and medium sized enterprises with the feature of being programmed and used without special training.

These cooperative robots, called ere Cobot ini, can be used by any employee and can eliminate the lack of staff. Thanks to the flexibility of operating in almost every factory, without special safety barriers, cobots are ideal for periods of sudden and unexpected demand growth.

Per Vegard Nerseth, General Manager of ABB Robotic, says about the new interface: ı The state-of-the-art interface, which is the most advanced technology, will accelerate the expansion of collaboration-based robots. It will bring flexibility and scalability to a large number of manufacturers and create attractive jobs for the qualified industrial workforce in the world. Çok
The interface is the result of the collaboration described by ABB and Kawasaki in November 2017. The project focuses on raising awareness of the benefits of collaborative information sharing, collaborative automation, and especially double-arm robots. This interface has the capability of providing simple and intuitive human-robot interaction with smartphone-like navigation and icons.

Yasuhiko Hashimoto, Managing Director and President of Kawasaki Heavy Industries for Precision Machinery and Robot Company, commented on the interface: as Thank you for taking this big step together with ABB. It was the most natural approach to step into the age of collaborative automation by establishing a cooperation. Collaborative robots will make a great contribution to the society by making our production processes more flexible and efficient, and keeping our factories working despite the ever-decreasing workforce. İş

The joint venture automation demonstration at automatica, which is located in Munich, near the East Gate, works with Kawasaki's unique double-arm SCARA robot, duAro bir and ABB's double-arm YuMI® robot.
In addition to developing the operating interface, other issues, such as building common security standards, are also considered in cooperation. Traditional industrial safety standards have been developed by adding specific parameters to the application practices of the years. The goal of security-based automation is to develop safety standards that ensure the safety of employees, but which enable the operation of cobots without unduly restricting their functions.