Press release from Motoman Robotics Europe ABPage 1 of 2

24 March, 2006

Trendsetting innovative robot technology from MOTOMAN

The Yaskawa Electric Corporation, with its headquarter Japan, have recently developed humanlike robots with one or two arms. Through this revolutionary development Yaskawa is the trendsetter for a new generation of robots. MOTOMAN, the robotic division of Yaskawa, are now proudly introducing the innovative robots, IA & DA, on the European market. The two robot types, the single arm IA20 and the dual arm DA10/20, have 7 respectively 13 axes with payloads of 10 and 20 kilos.

The main purpose of Motoman’s new robots is to robotize manufacturing lines where a lot of the work is still being done manually. E.g. assembling parts or engines in the car manufacturing industry, and all kinds of assorting processes. The key words are human flexibility and human size. The robot arm is just as flexible and moveable as our own in order to perform the complicated motions of assembling and handling objects. For practical reasons the robot body is about the same size as a human being, because that makes them easier to fit into existing production lines without too many costly changes.

These two new robot models use the same robot controller as the rest of Motoman’s industrial robot range. This NX100 controller is the product of over 12 years development and perfection of synchronized multi-robot control and it is more than up to the task of handling dual-armed robots. In the case of MOTOMAN-DA a special version of the controller is also small enough to fit into the robot body itself. More of Motoman’s innovative technology is hidden in the robot arms. Motors and transmissions, which are responsible for the movement of the robot arm, have been built into each robot axis with the supply cable running through them. This enables the robot to move freely without cable bundles being in the way, and to be able to sneak into very tight spots.

Motoman/Yaskawa was the first robot manufacturer to use robots to make robots. They already have a few of the new models installed that are using vision systems.It will not be long until many of the other Yaskawa factories are using the new robots to assemble more Yaskawa products. The DA and IA-series were launched in Japan in late 2005 andmany car manufacturers have already shown an interest in them.Motoman are now launching the new robots IA and DA on the European market.

World leading robot manufacturer

Motoman Robotics is the world’s largest robot manufacturer with a production rate of up to 24.000 robots per year. The European headquarter is located in Kalmar, Sweden, and the production unit in Torsås manufactures, develops and adapts control systems, robots and peripheral equipment for the European market. The MOTOMAN robot range includes application dedicated robots with a handling capacity from 3 to 500 kg.

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Contact person Cecilia Benze

(for more info and high res. jpg photos)Marketing communicator

Motoman Robotics Europe AB

Phone +46 480 417 851