ABB's YuMi collaborative robot has the ability to feel and see

YuMi has been developed to meet the flexible and agile production needs of the consumer electronics industry in the first instance. It will increasingly be rolled out to cover other market sectors. YuMi is a collaborative robot with the ability to feel and see. The robot's soft, padded dual arms, combined with innovative force-sensing technology, ensure the safety of YuMi's human co-workers. Safety is built into the functionality of the robot itself so that it can work without the need to be surrounded by machine guarding.

Capable of handling everything from the delicate and precise parts of a mechanical wristwatch to the components used in mobile phones, tablets and desktop PCs, YuMi performs with accuracy so great it can thread a needle.

Pekka Tiitinen, head of the Discrete Automation and Motion division of ABB Robotics, says: "YuMi is going to change many of mankind's assumptions about manufacturing and industrial processes. YuMi will open endless possibilities. We are at the start of a very exciting new era for industrial automation."

Per Vegard Nerseth, head of ABB's global Robotics business, adds: "Naming this robot YuMi reflects the true spirit of human-machine collaboration - humans and robots sharing tasks side by side in ways we could never have imagined previously."

YuMi will be commercially launched on 13 April 2015, at the Hannover Messe in Germany.

To watch a video and find out more about the YuMi human-friendly dual-arm robot go to www.abb.com/yumi.