Robots are certainly getting smaller and more collaborative, but that doesn’t mean the era of large industrial robots is over. In fact, ABB Robotics recently expanded its portfolio of large industrial robots with the release of its IRB 7710 and IRB 7720.
Key operating factors associated with these new robots are a 25% decrease in cycle times and a 30% reduction in energy consumption. These reductions come from a comparison of the new IRB 7710 with a 500 kg payload paired with ABB’s new OmniCore controller to its IRB 7600 predecessor operating with the same payload and using ABB’s IRC5 controller.
In its announcement of the OmniCore platform, ABB explained it as being “the result of more than $170 million of investment in next generation robotics…that will enable the full integration of AI (artificial intelligence), sensor, cloud and edge computing systems to create the most advanced and autonomous robotic applications.”
The new OmniCore controller reportedly enables the new IRB 7710 and IRB 7720 robots to “achieve class-leading motion control with path accuracy down to 0.6 mm, even with multiple robots running at high speeds of up to 1600 mm/s and moving payloads of up to 620 kg,” according to ABB.
Niko Quiskamp, global product manager of large robots at ABB, said these new IRB robots are multi-purpose robots targeted for use in the automotive industries as well as electronics and construction/earthmoving industries. For the automotive industries, ABB said these robots can be used in multiple applications ranging from press automation and palletizing, body-in-white, electric vehicle battery construction and final assembly as well as high-accuracy contact applications, such as machining and friction stir welding.
According to ABB, the two new robots, combined with the recently launched IRB 5710 and IRB 5720 and IRB 6710 and IRB 6740, offer “a combined total of 46 different variants capable of handling payloads between 70 kg and 620 kg.”
In the video below, ABB’s Niko Quiskamp explains the new IRB 7710 and IRB 7720 robots.
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