Motoman, with more than 30 years of experience, is a leading developer, manufacturer and supplier

of industrial robots and robotised automation systems for a wide range of applications. At its manufacturing facilities in Europe the company develops control systems for state-of-the-art robots, while
supplying total solutions to a wide range of industries. Abigail Saltmarsh reports.

ADVANCED ROBTICS
ajsa Pettersson, the marketing
director for Europe, began by saying
that the company is pushing further
to develop state-of-the-art application
dedicated robots and solutions, and
working with customers from a growing
number of industries, to expand the business and gain more satisfied customers.
Most of our business is for countries in
Europe and we are aiming to grow the com-

pany in the eastern region as well, she says.

We have a local presence in most European
countries either with our own offices or via
distributors. One of our aims is also to
increase the focus on general industry.
Motoman Robotics Europe was
founded 30 years ago as a manufacturer and
supplier of welding machinery,
primarily for the automotive industry,
explains Kajsa Pettersson. From that

point on, the company has gone on to

develop in this area, focusing on the
supply of robots and robotised automation systems in Europe.

Part of a global leader

Since the company started operating,
it has steadily developed its field of
expertise. As early as 1996, it introduced a solution for controlling several

robots with a single control system, and

was also the first to offer synchronised
control of up to four robots or 36 axes in
total. This has helped it to achieve its
current position as the worlds leading
robot manufacturer.
The European company is a part
of the Japanese electronics group
Yaskawa Electric Corporation and
has two main production locations
in Europe, in Kalmar, Sweden and
Allershausen, Germany.
In Sweden and Germany we produce
a wide range of positioners, tracks and
gantries that have been developed for
our European market, which are all fully
integrated in the robots control system
says Kajsa Pettersson. We employ
approximately 250 people at each location, and about 650 people in Europe
as a whole.

A strong position
From motor applications, advancement of
industrial automation, creation of mechatronics, and cutting edge robotics, the
Yaskawa Electric Corporation has continuously been at the forefront of each development since the company was
established in 1915.
With its well-cultivated core technologies focused on the fields of motion control, robotics automation and systems
engineering, Yaskawa, which has an
annual turnover of 3000 million and produces up to 24,000 robots per year, has
aimed at enhancing customer returns
through the value-added solutions business. Today Yaskawa employs some 8000
people and has a network of business
sites in 24 countries, including Japan, and
manufacturing locations in six countries.
For us, there is a major advantage to

being part of the Yaskawa Electric

Corporation, says Kajsa Pettersson. For
example, from a research and development point of view, it puts us in a strong
position. Research and development for
our range of robots all takes place in
Japan, where they are well ahead of
Europe in this area.

User-friendly robots
Motoman has steadily increased its scope
for solving customers automation problems by expanding its application and
product portfolios. Its fastest-growing
applications include palletising, machine
tending and material handling.
Our aim is to expand in all these areas,
says Kajsa Pettersson. We can supply
any industry with our products and solutions, and work with them to ensure that
the solution is right for their needs.

Robots and control systems are extremely

user-friendly. The control systems are PCbased and use a Windows operating system.
Open system architecture facilitates communication with external equipment, making all
operations extremely easy to perform. The
latest programming pendant has a colour
LCD touch screen for ease of use.
Motoman offers robots with payloads
from three to 500kg, ranging from fouraxis robots to 15-axis dual-arm robots.
To satisfy the industrys growing demands
regarding performance, it develops robot
models that are customised to their
specific application area.
We are unique at doing this, adds Kajsa

28 Industry Europe

Pettersson. Our product range includes

customised robots for operations such as
welding, handling, painting and palletising.
We are the biggest player in arc welding too.
Motoman Robotics has more than 30
years, experience of producing equipment for robotic welding. This equipment
can also be adapted to fit units produced
by other suppliers such as Esab, Kemppi,
Binzel, SKS and Fronius.

Exciting new products

Motomans latest robot models just being
launched are the Super Speed welding
robots, SSA2000 and SSF2000, with 3
and 6 kg payload respectively. The speed

of the robots axes has been increased by

40% compared with the previous models,
which can reduce welding cycle time by
15% and thus enhance productivity.
Further improvements, such as minimised
time and up to 30% less air-cut time, also
reduce cycle time. The robots also feature
new ARM (Advanced Robot Motion) motor
control making the SSA2000 and SSF2000
the worlds fastest arc welding robots.
Last year, Motoman also started to
introduce its new family members the
4-axis Scara robots. These robots are
available in four types with payloads up
to 20kg and up to 850mm reach. The YSseries of Scara robots are ideal for appli-

Industry Europe 29

cations such as high-speed handling, pick

and place and assembly. They are controlled with the efficient NX100 controller
and programmed with the same teach
pendant, as are all other Motoman robots.
Two other relatively new arrivals, ideal for
automating assembly and handling operations, are; the 13-axis dual-arm DA20 with
20kg payload per arm and the seven-axis
IA20 with a payload of 20kg, which are the
first of their kind to be introduced onto the
European market. The revolutionary technical concept is based on actuators that
integrates motor, encoder, reducer and
brake into a single body. Thus, motors and
transmissions, which are responsible for
the movement of these robots, have been
built into each robot axis with the supply
cable running through the arms. This
enables the robot to move freely without
cable bundles being in the way, and to be
able to sneak into very tight spots.
The IA20 features seven axes of programmable motion and with the shorter
links, it is nicknamed the Snake.
Standing upright, with an overall high of
just 159 cm, this robot occupies a footprint
of about 280x280mm. In fact, it can stand
in this footprint for example close beside
a machine tool-or close between two
machines-and snake around into the
machines work zone as needed. This configuration leaves the floor space fully open
both in front of the machine and behind it.
The 13-axis DA20 is also an actuatorbased robot, and it works within a footprint
comparable to the working space of a
human being, making it easier to fit them
into existing production lines without too
many costly changes. This robot has two
independent six-axis arms that can be independently programmed or work in unison.

included modeller it is also possible to

make other models. The core graphics
engine is the powerful Hoops 3D, also
used in many leading CAD/CAM products.
MotoSim EG supports the import of 3D
models in the following formats: hsf, hmf,
rwx, 3ds and vrml. With the additional
Innovate software (optional) it is possible
also to handle formats like: sat (acis), x_t
(parasolid), step, iges, dxf, obj, stl and
Catia V4. Files can be transferred to the
robot with a cf-card, or downloaded with

communication software. However, with

the NX100 control system it is possible to
transmit files via a file transfer protocol. A
program like JobEditor is recommended in
order to be able to include Inform-commands in jobs with the correct syntax.

Pushing ahead
Kajsa Pettersson says that parts of
Motomans European strategy for the
coming years is to keep the leading position in arc welding, strive to become the

preferred robotics supplier and expand in

eastern Europe.
We are already working with manufacturing companies in Germany, Italy and
Spain etc, and are seeing increased volumes for these countries every year, she
says. Eastern Europe, however, also
holds a lot of potential for us. We will look
more at developing our business for customers in these countries as well as maintaining the strong position we already
hold in current markets.

Leading in software solutions

Motoman is also known for its groundbreaking work in software programs for
robots. One of these is the MotoSim EG,
an off-line programming and real-time
3D simulation tool for Motoman
robots. Here the language used is
Inform, and it is possible to open
robotic programs made for ERC,
MRC, XRC or NX100 controllers.
MotoSim EG now comes with a range
of Motoman robots and tools. With the
30 Industry Europe

Industry Europe 31