The big news is out: Universal Robots+ has been launched successfully at the German trade show AUTOMATICA. Universal Robots+ is a new environment creating Win-Win-Win situations benefitting all parties involved. This new ecosystem includes a showroom for developers to display their robotic components: vision systems...
AUTOMATICA. Universal Robots+ is a new environment creating Win-Win-Win situations benefitting all parties involved: developers and distributors, end customers, and Universal Robots. This new ecosystem includes a showroom for developers to display their robotic components, for example, vision systems, software, or grippers, and a community, +YOU, where developers can begin a knowledge exchange to enhance applications for the UR cobots. The end result of this new form of collaboration will be ready-to-use plug & play applications for Universal Robots’ product line.
Additionally, developers can certify their products with the Universal Robots+ certificate, a guarantee that this product has successfully been installed in a UR robot application at a customer and has proven successful. The solutions displayed in Universal Robots+, named URCaps as they extend the capabilities of the UR robots, can be all kinds of components revolving around the robot: end-of-arm effectors (e.g. grippers and screwdrivers), software solutions (e.g. software plug-ins, developed with the URCaps Software Development Kit (SDK) and computer programs for simulating robot systems or programming, and last but not least robot accessories such as cable routings or vision systems. An example of a URCap now featured in the Universal Robots+ showroom is the new plug & play camera system developed by Robotiq.
Robotiq is a Canadian manufacturer of flexible robot grippers and sensors with the aim to make automation accessible and affordable for all small and medium-sized companies, - a mission that aligns perfectly with that of UR. Their new camera system is a plug-and-play solution mounted on the robot in only five minutes through a USB port with no need for an external computer to setup, program or run the camera. All these tasks can be executed directly from the user interface of the robot.
With the camera kit, the robot controller can teach the robot arm to recognize objects in its working area. After this teaching process, the robot can autonomously recognize the objects even in different positions in its working area, enabling the human and the robot to collaborate even closer.
At Automatica, Silas Robertson, Vice President of Sales and Marketing with Olympus Controls, our distributor in Seattle, was so excited to discover the benefits of Robotiq’s new wrist camera that he made this little demo video from their booth, explaining how “it would take hours to program other robots to accomplish what is now done in minutes.”
We believe the future is collaborative. In this future, starting now, the developer community +YOU and the Universal Robots+ showroom will optimize the entire implementation process of a collaborative robot: First and foremost, developers have access to a showroom where they can display and market their products free of charge. While developing these products, they get a unique chance to receive technical support directly from Universal Robots – also free of charge. Developers can even apply to loan UR robots to test their products on. If you’re developing a product enhancing the UR robots capabilities, we highly encourage you to register for the +YOU program right here.
And as for the end-users, they now have access to a platform where they quickly can browse and find tailor-made, certified solutions for their automation challenge, enabling them to hit the ground running when deploying their next UR robot.
We believe that collaborative robotic technology can be used to benefit all aspects of task-based businesses – no matter what their size.
We believe that the latest collaborative robot technology should be available to all businesses. The nominal investment cost is quickly recovered as our robotic arms have an average payback period of just six months.