✅ ABB Unveils Three New Robot Families, Reinforcing Industrial Leadership in China's Future
ABB is significantly expanding its robotics offering with the launch of three new robot families, a move that reflects its three decades of leadership in China's robotics sector.
These future-generation robots, produced at ABB Robotics' cutting-edge Shanghai Mega Factory, are specially designed to address a wide variety of automation requirements in high-growth sectors like electronics, consumer products, and general manufacturing.
From simple material handling to sophisticated tasks like dispensing and polishing, these new robots will revolutionize manufacturing processes.
✨ Central to this is that all three households have been propelled by ABB Robotics' OmniCore™ one control platform, through which complete integration of AI, sensor, cloud, and edge computing systems is made possible, allowing highly advanced and autonomous robotic solutions.
📈 This growth strategy couldn't have come at a better time, as China's mid-market robotics industry has achieved a 24% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) between 2021 and 2024, with forecasts plotting an 8% annual growth until 2028.
📦 Meeting China's Soaring Need for Automation
According to Sami Atiya, President of ABB's Robotics & Discrete Automation Business Area,
🗨️ "China is the world's largest robotics market and for ABB Robotics. China's growth, especially in electronics and from small and medium sized companies, is driving increasing demand for low-cost, user-friendly solutions, and we are responding to that demand."
With these new families of robots, ABB not only increases its already comprehensive portfolio but also empowers new customers and industries with compelling mid-market value propositions.
🤖 Focus on the New Innovators
Let’s delve deeper into the three innovative robot families that will make a big difference:
🔹 Lite+
Developed for rigorous material handling and precise pick-and-place operations, Lite+ is compact and user-friendly, best lowering the barrier to automation for small and medium-sized businesses.
🧩 Available in China and Asia, smooth integration with the new IRB 1200 and other IRB robots provides versatile, end-to-end manufacturing solutions, particularly beneficial for electronics manufacturing.
🔹 PoWa
This small collaborative robot (cobot) is a speed, collaboration, and efficiency marvel.
⚙️ Retaining industrial-grade speeds of up to 5.8 meters per second, it is perfect for fast pick-and-place, palletizing, and machine tending tasks.
📦 The PoWa, available in China for purchase, boasts no-code programming and plug-and-play capabilities, which equate to total functionality within an astonishing 60 minutes from opening the box, thus making it extremely desirable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
🔹 IRB 1200 (New Generation)
This redesigned model, exported globally, is specifically designed for high-velocity, high-precision applications such as assembly, polishing, and dispensing.
🔧 Approximately 20% lighter and more compact than its previous version, the new IRB 1200 allows manufacturers to create extremely space-efficient production cells, doubling throughput and overall efficiency.
🌐 Pioneering AI-Powered Innovation
Every one of the three robot families revolutionizes with ABB's OmniCore controller platform,
💡 enabling ease of integration and access to ABB's state-of-the-art software package, including the robust RobotStudio.
According to Marc Segura, President of ABB Robotics, he emphasized:
🗨️ "By offering agile, modular, AI-driven technology lowering barriers to automation, we are enabling the adoption of advanced manufacturing in new segments and fueling continued industrial revolution in China and beyond."
🎥 One of the highlights of ABB's Shanghai launch celebration was a demonstration of a revolutionary, AI-powered natural language teaching solution for robots, showcased using the new PoWa collaborative robot.
The cutting-edge technology brings together generative and analytical AI, accelerating the learning process of robots with a simple "see, speak, do" approach.
👀 The robot sees its surroundings, 🗣️ hears words in real time, and translates them directly into precise actions.
🏭 ABB's Enduring Commitment to China
Henry Han, ABB's China Head of Robotics, reflected on ABB's rich heritage and continued dedication:
🗨️ "ABB has revolutionized robotics for over half a century, with its history in China dating back to 1994. Today, we further accelerate our leadership in robotics in China, for China and the world, based on our end-to-end local value chain of production, research and development to deliver innovative solutions to our customers in businesses of all sizes."
📊 With China being the world's largest robot market, with over half of global robot installations in 2023, and over 90% of ABB robots for Chinese customers now produced locally, this launch reflects ABB's unwavering dedication to China's high-end manufacturing revolution.
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