ABB has expanded its collaborative automation offering with the launch of Single-Arm Yumi, the latest member of the Yumi family, at Automatica in June. ABB's most agile and compact robot to date is designed to be easily integrated into existing production lines to increase flexibility while working safely side-by-side with humans. It is also the first of a new generation of ABB robots based on a new flexible, modular design platform that will enable a greater variety of robots and sizes as well as more customized solutions.

In 2015, ABB launched Yumi, the first truly collaborative robot on the market. As part of the networked "factory of the future", the Yumi family is designed to enable collaboration between humans and robots, in which robots and humans can work side by side on the same tasks without jeopardizing human safety.

"The single-arm solution [...]

provides additional flexibility and scalability for manufacturing companies of all sizes, helping them to meet their current and future challenges," says Per Vegard Nerseth, Managing Director of ABB Robotics. Today's manufacturing companies need flexible automation solutions to successfully meet the demands associated with high-mix/low-volume production - many variants at low volumes - in shorter cycles. Like the two-arm version, the single-arm Yumi is also able to work safely alongside people. It is characterized by its small footprint and can be mounted on the floor, on the table, on the wall or on the ceiling. This offers manufacturers the opportunity to quickly and flexibly add collaborative applications to their production with minimal disruption to existing processes.

The third hand

Thanks to their versatility, the robots in the Yumi family can be combined in different ways. For example, a single-arm Yumi robot can supply a two-arm robot with parts to shorten the cycle time. Or it can act as an additional arm to integrate a test station into an electronics assembly line.

The single arm offers the same intuitive and user-friendly lead-through programming as the two-arm version, so that even employees without special training can set up and operate the robot. This simplicity combined with the robot's flexibility of use can help manufacturing companies in many industries compensate for labor shortage issues. Yumi also lowers the barriers to entry for many potential robot users, especially for small and medium-sized companies.