The Gen 7 platform is designed to enhances the cobot person expertise, says UR. | Supply: Common Robots
Common Robots A/S launched Gen 7, its seventh-generation robotics platform, as we speak on the IMTS commerce present. The Teradyne Inc. subsidiary stated the unified system improve allows prospects and companions to deploy superior AI-powered purposes into industrial operations with the identical robotic expertise that operators, technicians, engineers, and integrators want to work with daily
Anchored by the PolyScope X robotic working system, Gen 7 has a totally re-engineered management field, train pendant, and gear flange. UR stated it designed all of those to make demanding duties and setups simpler.
The Odense, Denmark-based firm additionally added three new robotic arms, UR10g-1750, UR17g-1300, and UR18g-950, named after their payload (in kilograms) and attain (in millimeters), to its e-Sequence and UR Sequence lineup. They’re bigger than a few of its earlier fashions.
“Our imaginative and prescient as a complete on the Teradyne Robotics Group is admittedly to be this vacation spot platform for bodily AI,” Will Healy, the director of product and business advertising and marketing, advised The Robotic Report. “You are able to do analysis in a lab, however in the end it’s important to deploy it. Our robots are completely uniquely suited to deploy for these firms which can be making an attempt to truly do AI in a manufacturing unit.”
As a complete, Teradyne has been placing extra emphasis on AI in recent times. In its most up-to-date earnings assertion, the corporate marked its fifth consecutive quarter of development. Teradyne credited AI as a fundamental driver of its income development.
“The explanation individuals purchase from UR again and again, in surveys and interviews, is due to our ease of simple, our ease of deploy, our ease of programming,” Healy stated. “The purpose right here is to make it even higher, particularly on this world of AI.”
Common Robots downsizes controller with out sacrificing energy
With the Gen 7 launch, Healy stated UR redesigned its controller from the underside up. | Supply: Common Robots
UR’s new core controller gives 40% extra compute energy in a 30% smaller footprint than earlier generations, stated Common Robots. The controller allows multi-network communication for contemporary automation and bodily AI architectures, connecting to PLCs, HMIs, MES platforms, IPCs, and imaginative and prescient techniques, lowering the necessity for exterior switches.
“We wished to make [the controller] way more sturdy, so it might run larger applications and extra advanced applications, industrial-size applications,” stated Healy. “It’s way more compact than the earlier one.”
CB7 is obtainable at launch in a standalone management field model and a compact model for integration into an automation cupboard. The system can be suitable with e-Sequence and UR Sequence force- and power-limited robotic arms.
“There’s two variations at launch, and actually in the end the thought right here is making an attempt to only allow the integrator. The most important factor in regards to the management field is what we’re bringing to community architectures,” Healy stated. “The power for people to truly actually begin utilizing the robotic in a contemporary means.”
Up to now, connecting a robotic to the web was a wrestle, however Healy stated that is turning into increasingly more vital. So, UR is specializing in enabling its cobots to hook up with totally different layers of the enterprise it’s working for.
“This all occurs by what’s referred to as a managed swap in Ethernet networking. Mainly, we are able to configure, although the robotic, which information goes the place within the structure,” Healy stated. “That is one thing IT individuals really need and love. It permits them to regulate what site visitors exhibits up the place within the community.”
Gen 7’s instrument flange allows extra flexibility, simpler deployments
The UR17g-1300 with the Weiss Robotics Intrapal finish effector. | Supply: Common Robots
UR stated the brand new g-Sequence instrument flange allows the imaginative and prescient and sensing wanted for AI fashions to run in actual time with its cobots. It eliminates cabling complexity and makes it simpler to attach cameras and high-bandwidth sensors, which is vital to superior automation and bodily AI deployments.
“[The new tool flange] is admittedly for enabling AI, as a result of practically each software in robotics is transferring in direction of having a digicam on the wrist,” Healy stated. “Within the U.S., we don’t see a ton of adoption of that but. However after I journey to Asia, practically each robotic has a digicam on the tip effector, and in Europe, most likely half the robots have cameras on the tip effectors. So, it’s coming our means, whether or not we’re prepared for it or not.”
Moreover, built-in force-torque sensing, impedance management and RTDE (Actual-Time Knowledge Trade) give the robotic a way of contact for bodily AI purposes akin to dexterous manipulation and force-sensitive meeting duties.
With the instrument flange comes the brand new SP7 Sensible Panel instrument flange interface. The panel has safety-compliant freedrive performance, LED lights, and three configurable enter buttons able to operating PolyScope X Sensible Abilities.
UR stated the Sensible Panel cuts setup and programming time the place touch-to-teach or operator interplay is vital, akin to high-mix, low-volume manufacturing.
UR upgrades the person expertise with new train pendant
The TP7 train pendant with PolyScope X interface. | Supply: Common Robots
A part of the discharge is UR’s new TP7 Core train pendant. UR stated the brand new train pendant is greater than 20 % lighter and extra ergonomic than earlier generations. It options a number of grip positions, configurable good buttons, and a full HD show, plus a brand new digital joystick.
“We spent numerous time doing use circumstances, we’ve obtained dozens of designs we killed, and we ended up with a model that’s very nice,” Healy stated.
UR designed it to assist customers keep snug by lengthy shifts and to make programming really feel intuitive somewhat than technical. This enables operators to spend much less time studying the interface and extra time getting the job performed.
“Probably the most spectacular factor [about TP7 Core teach pendant] is seeing individuals use it, the way in which their eyes mild up,” Healy stated. “We’ve put it in numerous customers’ palms to get suggestions, and it’s simply much more intuitive than ever earlier than.”
UR customers can proceed utilizing PolyScope X, which brings trendy programming instruments, ISO 10218-1 security performance and cybersecurity compliance. With open APIs and ROS 2 communication, PolyScope X allows programmers to construct and deploy edge-AI purposes using IPCs and exterior AI processing.
Common Robots retains security on the forefront
“If you happen to we wish to be the place the place individuals land their AI, you’ve obtained to be sure to’re doing all of your due diligence on the cybersecurity aspect, and I’d argue on the security aspect as properly,” Healy stated. “If you happen to’re going to present AI management over a robotic, I wish to be sure the robotic continues to function safely each time.”
Gen 7’s superior and collaborative security features present a PLd, Class 3 (ISO 13849-1) licensed structure. All g-Sequence robots are TÜV-certified to ISO10218-1 and UL1740. Teradyne Robotics stated it’s licensed to IEC 62443-4-1 ML3 for cybersecurity, confirming that safe improvement practices are constructed into each stage of the software program lifecycle.
“The way in which we’ve constructed our stack, the way in which that the AI provides instructions to the robotic, nonetheless permits the robotic security controller the possession over the robotic and a choice whether or not to observe these directions or not, and whether or not they violate the security guidelines or not,” Healy stated. “So, the robotic will reject instructions from the AI that don’t play properly with the security settings.”
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