ABB has developed a collaborative, dual arm, small parts assembly robot solution that includes flexible hands, parts feeding systems, camera-based part location and state-of-the-art robot control. YuMi is a vision of the future. YuMi will change the way we think about assembly automation. YuMi is “you and me”, working together to create endless possibilities. YuMi was officially introduced to the market at the Hannover Messe on Monday, April 13, 2015. Innovative human – friendly dual arm robot with breakthrough functionality designed to unlock vast global additional automation potential in industry.
YuMi is designed for a new era of automation, for example in small parts assembly, where people and robots work hand-in-hand on the same tasks. Safety is built into the functionality of the robot itself. YuMi removes the barriers to collaboration by making fencing and cages a thing of the past. ABB dual arm robots have accurate vision, dexterous grippers, sensitive force control feedback, flexible software and built-in safety features that collectively allow for programming through teaching rather than coding. YuMi an operates equally effectively side-by-side or face-to-face with human coworkers.
Features
−Servo grippers (the “hands”) include options for built-in cameras
−Real-time algorithms set a collision-free path for each arm customized for the required task.
−Padding protects coworkers in high-risk areas by absorbing force if contact is made.
−If the robot encounters an unexpected object
– even a slight contact with a coworker
– it can pause its motion within milliseconds, and the motion can be restarted again as easily as pressing play on a remote control.
−Pinch points have been eliminated or minimized to an acceptable level between moving parts, and between moving and stationary parts.
At its core, YuMi has the DNA of safety. Much like a human arm has a skeleton covered with muscles that provide padding, YuMi has a lightweight yet rigid magnesium skeleton covered with a floating plastic casing wrapped in soft padding. This arrangement absorbs the force of any unexpected impacts to a very high degree. Like the human arm, YuMi has no pinch points so that sensitive ancillary parts cannot be crushed between two opposing surfaces as the axes open and close. If YuMi senses an unexpected impact, such as a collision with a coworker, it can pause its motion within milliseconds, and the motion can be restarted again as easily as pressing play on a remote control. Additionally, the robot can rapidly diagnose changes in its environment and, if necessary, register the overload, shutting down YuMi‘s motion within milliseconds to prevent injury. When this is combined with the floating padding, safety for a human coworker is drastically increased. Even with these inherent safety features, YuMi is incredibly precise and fast, returning to the same point in space over and over again to within 0.02 mm accuracy and moving at a maximum velocity of 1,500 mm/sec
