Universal Robots presents next generation of lightweight robots

Universal Robots continues to allow safe human-robot collaboration with the new versions of its robots. In addition, the safety system is now certified by TUV. The company's extensive experience in the market influenced the product refinements. Well-known characteristics such as the ease of use and the quick return-on-investment remain.

The UR5 and UR10 robot arms are now equipped with numerous new features. Nevertheless, Universal Robots remains true to its approach of user-friendly lightweight robots. The visual appearance of the six-axis, arm with a payload of 5/10kg, remains unchanged. But inside the robot arm itself, as well as in the controller, are some hidden surprises.

Enrico Krog Iversen, Universal Robots CEO, comments: "We are the only manufacturer of lightweight robot arms which already has a long-lasting experience in a wide variety of industries. Our R&D department worked hard in order to integrate input and feedback from end users in our product development."

A central innovation of the new generation of UR robots is the True Absolute Encoder. This technical improvement enables faster start-up of the robot arms. The absolute position is recognised immediately after power-up, thereby eliminating the need for jogging during initialisation of the robot arm. For this reason the UR5 and UR10 are now suitable for automatic start-up - and no battery is needed for this function.

Esben H Østergaard, Universal Robots CTO, explains: "With the integration of the True Absolute Encoder, our robot arms can be integrated even more easily into other machineries, while startup also becomes much faster and simpler for all applications."

Adjustable safety settings

The safety settings of this generation of Universal Robots' lightweight robots can be adjusted for each application. The robot arm can run in two operating modes for the safety functions: a normal and a reduced one; it is also possible to switch between the safety settings during operation. To achieve this, eight safety functions are monitored by the new patented safety system: joint positions and speeds, TCP positions, orientation, speed and force, as well as the momentum and power of the robot. The settings can only be changed in a password-protected area. All of these safety functions are safety rated PL d and certified by TUV.

Østergaard states: "Our new patented safety concept is a logical development of our previous robot arms. The revised UR5 and UR10 can be operated in different modes, depending on the context. For example, when a human enters the robots workcell, the robot can continue to operate in reduced mode, and then resume full speed when the human leaves again. Or the robot can run full speed inside a CNC machine, and then reduced speed when outside."

UR Safety 3.0, the safety system of the new generation UR5 and UR10, is certified by TV Nord and tested in accordance with EN ISO 13849:2008 PL d and EN ISO 102181:2011, Clause 5.4.3. Further innovations include 16 additional digital I/O, which are easy to configure either as digital signals or as safety signals; a revised design of the control box and a rebuilt controller are further improvements.

The six-axis, cost-efficient UR5 and UR10 robot arms are especially suitable for small and medium-sized businesses. Thanks to their light weight and their user-friendly handling via a touch pad, a wide range of applications can be programmed quickly without complex training or deep technological knowledge.

Iversen adds: "With our flexible robot arms, we address a broad target group - whether it is (un)loading of CNC machines in a ten-man firm or a gluing process at an automotive manufacturer, everyone benefits from our robots. Because they perform the dull or harmful jobs that needed to be done by humans before."

The official release of the next Generation of robots from Universal Robots is planned for September 2014. Universal Robots is at the PPMA show on Stand A108. To learn more about the UR5 and UR10 lightweight robots, go to www.universalrobots.com.