ABB and Kawasaki have launched the their first collaborative robots running on a standardised robot control interface. This allows the robots to work together in a coordinated way, despite being developed by different manufacturers.
Collaboration between humans and robots is becoming increasingly important, which is partly due to the shrinking of production series with a large variety. In practice, this means that more human interaction is needed in the production process and more variables have to be taken into account. Human-robot collaboration can help overcome the challenges this poses. For instance, humans can provide knowledge, insights and improvisational skills, while robots can perform repetitive tasks.
Developing industry standards
In view of the growing importance of human-robot collaboration, ABB and Kawasaki announced a collaboration on collaborative robots in November 2017. The focus here is specifically on two-armed robots. The parties want to jointly exploit technical opportunities and raise awareness about collaborative robots. In addition, the parties are jointly working on industry standards in safety, robot programming and communication between robots.
"Collaborative robots, especially versions with two arms that can perform human actions, can contribute significantly to society and help the world deal with labour shortages and an ageing workforce. We see great potential in expanding collaborative applications and processes where people and technology work together to create solutions," Yasuhiko Hashimoto, Managing Executive Officer and General Manager of Kawasaki Robot Division, said earlier about this collaboration.
Standardised control interface
This collaboration has led, among other things, to a standardised control interface for robots. This standardisation allows robots from companies to cooperate with each other, even though both robots were developed by different manufacturers. Ease of use plays an important role in this new interface. For example, the interface allows users to control robots using a smartphone-like interface in which icons are used.
"The new state-of-the-art industry-standard control interface will further accelerate the rapid growth of collaborative robots," explains Per Vegard Nerseth, Managing Director at ABB. "It will give many new manufacturers flexibility and scalability, while creating more interesting jobs for vital industrial personnel worldwide." The companies demonstrated in June at the automatica trade fair how Kawasaki's two-arm SCARA robot duAro can cooperate with ABB's two-arm robot YuMi thanks to its interface.
Safety standards
In addition to developing the standardised control interface for robots, ABB and Kawasaki are also collaborating on safety standards. The companies say that safety standards have traditionally been based on very specific values, allowing little flexibility and limiting the capabilities of collaborative robots. The parties therefore want to jointly develop new safety standards focused on collaborative robots and, specifically, two-armed robots. These standards should ensure the safety of collaborators, while enabling new ways for collaborative robots to work together.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: ABB
Source: Kawasaki
