New Cobot Welder Features Smartphone-App Programming

April 29, 2021
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Hirebotics-Cobot-WelderNew from Hirebotics, the Cobot Welder, a collaborative-robot (cobot) welding system featuring rapid and simple programming via a cellphone app. Complete and ready for production out of the box, Cobot Welder provides all the hardware and software required to deploy automated welding, including a Universal Robots UR10e cobot, a Miller Invision 352 MPa cobot package, a Tregaskiss robotic torch, a mobile cart with a standard 5/8-in.-dia. on 2-in.-center hole pattern and the Hirebotics Cobot Welder smartphone application.

“The Cobot Welder is a major leap forward in easy-to-use welding automation that combines industrial-grade robot welding functionality with consumer-level ease of use,” says Rob Goldiez, Hirebotics co-founder and CEO.  

The Cobot Welder app employs Hirebotics’ cloud-based Beacon software platform. Beacon provides for cobot application building and remote cobot monitoring, maintenance, and 24/7 global support.  

“The app turns welders into robot programmers in a matter of minutes, no pendant required,” says Mitch Dupon, director of business development of Hirebotics, who detailed the product’s features and advantages during an online product launch. “By reducing the time taken to teach new parts by as much 60 percent, Cobot Welder reduces downtime, improves welding quality and productivity, and ensures painless automated welding deployments.”

During the launch event, Dupon showed videos of programming using the cellphone app and simple robot manipulation by a welding technician. In one video example, the technician programmed the Cobot Welder for a linear to radial to linear-welding sequence with actual welding beginning in 3 min. 3 sec.—no pendant needed.

Employing the Cobot Welder, as outlined by Dupon, enables fabricators to:

  • Do more—Ease of programming and use, along with a cobot’s ability to work safely near humans, opens the technology to numerous applications, and allows job shops to profit in taking on smaller jobs or tedious work.  
  • Know more—Users can configure real-time alerts to know when a human is needed, when a job has finished and more.  
  • Win more—Ease of programming and use enables quick gathering of data, leading to rapid, accurate quoting, and the ability to quote competitively on projects that might be unattainable using traditional welding configurations.
  • Control more—The Cobot Welder takes advantage of Beacon’s role-based access, allowing fabricators to control who can operate the Cobot Welder and who can teach parts.
  • Get more—Through cloud-based technology, Hirebotics promises ongoing support and updates to ensure that the Cobot Welder functions efficiently and simply for users on the shop floor.

“The welding profession is experiencing a labor crisis,” concludes Joe Campbell, Universal Robots’ senior manager of applications development and strategic marketing for North America. “The average age for skilled welders is 55, most are likely to retire within 10 years, and younger people aren’t entering the profession in sufficient numbers to sustain industry demand. There’s is an urgent need for collaborative welding systems that are safe to use around human beings and can be used to support expert human welders by taking over the tedious and unergonomic aspects of the welding process.”

Industry-Related Terms: Functionality, Hardware
View Glossary of Metalforming Terms

 

See also: Universal Robots, Hirebotics LLC

Technologies: Pressroom Automation

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