Next Generation Cobots Unlock Automation for Industries Beyond Manufacturing
ABB is expanding its collaborative robot (cobot) portfolio with the new GoFa™ and SWIFTI™ cobot families, offering higher payloads and speeds, to complement YuMi® and Single Arm YuMi in ABB's cobot line-up.
These stronger, faster and more capable cobots will help the company meet the growing demand for automation across multiple industries.
GoFa and SWIFTI are intuitively designed so customers need not rely on in-house programming specialists. This will unlock industries that have low levels of automation, with customers able to operate their cobot within minutes of installation, straight out of the box, with no specialized training.
"Our new cobot portfolio is the most diverse on the market, offering the potential to transform workplaces and help our customers achieve new levels of operational performance and growth." said Sami Atiya, President of ABB's Robotics & Discrete Automation Business Area. "They are easy to use and configure and backed by our global network of on-call, on-line service experts to ensure that businesses of all sizes and new sectors of the economy, far beyond manufacturing, can embrace robots for the first time."
ABB's cobot portfolio expansion is engineered to help existing and new robot users accelerate automation amid four key megatrends including individualized consumers, labor shortages, digitalization and uncertainty that are transforming business and driving automation into new sectors of the economy. he expansion follows the Business Area's focus on high-growth segments through portfolio innovation, helping to drive profitable growth.
Automation Driving the Future of Manufacturing
In a global survey of 1650 large and small businesses in Europe, the US and China, 84% of businesses said they will introduce or increase the use of robotics and automation in the next decade, while 85% said the pandemic had been "game changing" for their business and industry, with COVID-19 a catalyst for accelerating investment in automation.
Nearly half of businesses (43%) said they were looking to robotics to help them improve workplace health and safety, 51% said robotics could enhance social distancing and more than one-third (36%) were considering using robotic automation to improve the quality of work for their employees. More immediately, 78% of company CEO's and Managing Directors said recruiting and retaining staff for repetitive and ergonomically challenging jobs is a challenge.
GoFa and SWIFTI are engineered to help businesses automate processes to assist workers with tasks including material handling, machine tending, component assembly and packaging in manufacturing, medical laboratories, logistics hubs and warehouses, workshops, and small production facilities.
"With this expansion, we are making cobots easier to use and deploy, with real-time support to help speed their adoption in businesses that may have not considered their use previously," Atiya said. "Our experience is that the best performing operations harness people's skills, alongside the potential of new technologies."
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