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Comau is expanding from automotive manufacturing to logistics applications such as Pick & Place. Source: Comau
As technological change continues, existing industrial automation providers must adapt as well. Comau SpA recently announced that it is transitioning from traditional robotics to software-driven systems and industry-agnostic technologies.
Allesandro Piscioneri, Comau’s global head of strategic marketing, advanced robotics and digital, said the company has been expanding from the automotive industry and systems integration into new markets, including logistics and energy.
“There is a shift from the traditional car body business to new batteries for mobility, including hydrogen cells and power for robots,” he said. Robot Report. “Our business is evenly split between North America, Europe and Asia.”
Stellantis, a subsidiary of Stellantis, headquartered in Turin, Italy, expects the automation market to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10% from 2022 to 2030, with industrial robots expected to grow from 1.2 million today to 2.6 million by 2029. He said it would increase accordingly. It has 50 years of experience in manufacturing and employs more than 3,700 people in 13 countries.
The company also supplies collaborative robots, wearables, and vision-based systems and software. This month at Automate, Comau announced new products, including the S-Family welding and material handling system, the MI.RA/OnePicker system, and the MATE-XB and MATE-XT exoskeletons.
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Comau launches S-Family robot arm
The new S-Family, comprised of a compact six-axis robotic arm, can handle payloads of up to 13 kg and 18 kg (28.6 and 39.6 lb.). Designed with a hollow wrist and protected cable to prevent damage and risk of contamination in sensitive environments such as food and beverage, battery manufacturing or electronics.
“We have squeezed knowledge from internal and external customers to focus on high-performance, precise production,” Piscioneri said. “It’s also rated IP68 for water and dust resistance and can be mounted on the floor, wall or ceiling.”
According to Comau, the S-Family is compactly designed to fit into tight spaces and includes integrated arc and gigabit dressing. The S-13 can reach up to 1,960 mm (77.1 in) and the S-18 can reach up to 1,730 mm (68.1 in).
Comau demonstrated welding using the S-Family robot at Automate. Source: Comau
Comau also presents a picking and identification system.
Comau’s Machine Inspection Recognition Archetypes (MI.RA/OnePicker line) are hardware-agnostic machine vision products intended to ease robot component selection. It uses sensors and artificial intelligence to identify and select random objects from bins without relying on CAD data or prior information about the item’s size, shape, color, or other characteristics.
MI.RA/OnePicker is “applicable to any brand of commercial robot, custom carton or custom gripper,” Comau said. It said it is suitable for pick and place, kitting, sorting, e-commerce and other warehouse applications.
Customers can use virtual simulation tools and prediction algorithms for optimal path management and collision-free trajectories, Comau said. The software comes with Comau’s Racer5 five-axis cobot, which can switch from cooperative to industrial mode to work at full speed without a safety cage, Piscioneri explained. Safety evaluation of the payload and application is still required.
Exoskeletons and collaboration for improved accessibility
Comau is exhibiting a non-powered exoskeleton designed to assist workers with repetitive lifting and overhead tasks, addressing widespread labor shortages. MATE-XB is designed to support the lower back, while MATE-XT is designed to support the upper back and shoulders.
MATE-XT upper body exoskeleton. Source: Comau
Comau also showcased its partnership with Rockwell Automation in a demo cell in Chicago using the Racer-3 robot and Rockwell’s Unified Robot Control (URC) library and Emulate3D for palletizing, color sorting and depalletizing. All Comau robots can be controlled via a PC using the Open Controller software.
Another collaboration is with Intrinsic, whose Flowstate development platform will “make the next generation of robotics more accessible to everyone,” Comau said. Last March, Intrinsic co-founded the Open Source Robotics Alliance (OSRA). In 2022, it acquired Open Source Robotics Corp., a maker of robot operating systems.
Speaking of accessibility, Comau’s e.DO robot was originally created to aid science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students, but industrial customers have found it useful for teaching and building complete systems, Piscioneri said.
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