Press Release
21-January-2016
Echternach, Luxembourg – During 2016 FANUC will be introducing a new collaborative robot, which will have a payload of 7 kg. And as in the case of the company’s first Collaborative robot model, the CR-35iA, a mass-produced model serves as its base. The CR-35iA, which was launched on the European market in 2015, was developed based on the M-20iA/35M robot model. The new collaborative robot’s name will be CR-7iA, and its mechanics correspond to that of the company's LR Mate-series (LR Mate 200iD).
Potential customers in Europe will get the opportunity to view the prototype in action in early 2016. FANUC will exhibit a prototype of the unit at a number of trade shows during coming months, namely: the TechniShow (Netherlands) in March, the Industrie fair (France) in April, the MACH Show (UK) in April and the Automatica fair (Germany) in June.
As in the early days of robotics, the objective of automation is transferring heavy material handling and monotonous or dangerous tasks to robots. Whereas non-collaborative robots needs to be surrounded by protective barriers to ensure staff and operator safety, collaborative robots have the ability to work side by side to personnel without barriers due to their protective functions. Strenuous, routine jobs, along with handling tasks at workstations with unfavourable ergonomic conditions, will be optimal tasks for the CR-7iA's. The operators will contribute with their cognitive and sensory capabilities alongside the robot, thus man and machine will be able to accomplish their respective tasks in a congenial manner.
The rollout of the CR-35iA robot attracted a high level of interest within a variety of industries, as the robot allows users to automate industrial tasks where the flexibility of an operator is needed as well as the power of a robot handling up to 35 kg payload. The introduction of the lower payload CR-7iA collaborative robot is only logical, as FANUC thereby continues its tried and proven scaling of its robot series, and thus providing a suitable robot for every type of job.
