B&R, ABB’s business unit, is integrating ABB robots in its own automation portfolio. This will enable B&R to supply machine builders who want to buy directly from them along with their control, I/O, and drive components. Integrating robotics and automation together means only one controller and engineering system is needed for development, diagnostics, and maintenance. This eliminates the need for extra control cabinets, ultimately saving floor space.
“The integration of ABB’s robot fleet into the B&R portfolio makes us a true one-stop-shop,” says Sami Atiya, President of ABB’s Robotics and Discrete Automation business. “We are the only company to offer industrial automation customers the entire range of integrated hardware and software solutions around control, actuation, robotics, sensing and analytics and electrification. Our strength lies in our ability to combine ABB and B&R products into one solution, supported by our deep application expertise. This will help manufacturers increase their flexibility, at all levels including machines, to support shorter product cycles and to make much smaller lots of greater variety.”
Because the robot no longer needs a dedicated controller, interfaces between the machine and the robot are eliminated. Axes and sensors communicate through a common network, increasing precision and efficiency. This creates quicker synchronization between the robot and machine components. The robot’s and the machine’s motion control axes can be easily coordinated, allowing for better productivity and output. The two companies gave this sample scenario: “The result of a quality inspection with a B&R vision camera can be converted into a control command for the ABB robot in less than a millisecond, so defective workpieces can be removed from the production process without manual intervention or slowing the manufacturing process.”
Combining robotics with machine control also makes way for user-friendly programming. Machine builders can make use of only one application and development environment instead of the traditional approach wherein programming a robotics application and machine application happens in separate development environments. Additionally, ready-made software components of map technology are available which will allow even those without knowledge of special robotics languages to easily set up and configure machine applications. These are expected to reduce development times overtime.
“Our newly developed integrated solution enables us to support machine builders, enhancing their processes and future-proofing their automation investments,” says Hans Wimmer, Managing Director of B&R. “Traditionally, the robot is a self-contained system, with its own controller and its own control cabinet. Engineering, diagnostics and maintenance are all performed using dedicated systems, and with specific robotics language, you often need a specialist programmer. With the incorporation of ABB robots into one simple architecture we create a fully integrated automation system. For machine developers, it now makes no difference whether they must integrate a single motion control axis or an entire robot into the machine.”
A variety of ABB robots will be available for machine builders to choose from such as the articulated arm, SCARA, as well as delta and palletizer robots in various sizes and payloads.
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