Universal Robots+ simplifies collaborative robot implementation

With Universal Robots+, the company says it has created its own ecosystem, enabling applications based on its UR3, UR5 and UR10 collaborative robot arms to be developed and showcased. The URCaps third-party accessories that extend the UR robots' capabilities can be customised hardware components, software plug-ins or a combination of both. The aim of Universal Robots+ is to speed implementation, increase user comfort and reduce costs for all parties involved.

Esben H Østergaard, CTO and co-founder of Universal Robots, states: "With Universal Robots+, we create an unmatched win-win-win situation benefitting the developer community, our distribution partners and our end customers. The participants in the developer program +YOU will receive free support from Universal Robots when developing URCaps. By integrating the accessory components showcased at the Universal Robots+ showroom, our distribution partners and end users reduce spending on application development and testing when they deploy the URCaps as simple plug-and-play solutions. In short, Universal Robots+ is easy access to efficient, well-proven, and safe automation solutions that we elevate to the next level by collaborating with a crucial component: the developers of today and tomorrow."

Benefits for developers and distributors

Stefan Tøndering Stubgaard, Manager of Universal Robots' Corporate Technical Support, explains: "When developers have received our approval for designing within Universal Robots+, we will support them via our local subsidiaries by providing robots for testing and optimising URCaps. On request, robots can also be purchased at a reduced price, given that they will be used exclusively for the development and testing of new UR-related components."

After completion of a URCaps prototype, the developer sends it to Universal Robots for examination. Tøndering Stubgaard says: "Before a new product can be presented in our showroom, we verify its quality. In comprehensive functionality tests, we test whether the URCap can be implemented and operated easily and if the product conforms to Universal Robots' quality requirements."

In addition, developers can also get their URCaps certified by Universal Robots. In order to receive this additional quality certificate, developers must document that their solution is already operating in a real application and used successfully by a customer.

Having capabilities featured in the Universal Robots+ showroom is free of charge for developers. In providing this, Universal Robots offers all developers a professional marketing platform granting them access to an ever-expanding, global customer network. Sales of all products and capabilities revolving around the UR robots' universe will continue to be provided through Universal Robots' established network of distribution partners. In this way, distributors also benefit from this central platform, where they can both offer and access applications developed specifically for the use with UR robots. Universal Robots+ is described as 'the toolbox that tailors the optimal solutions for their individual customer needs.'

URCaps already available

The first approved capabilities developed by the developer community will accompany the Universal Robots+ launch at Automatica on 21 June 2016. One new URCap is Robotiq's vision-guided pick-and-place system (see right). Samuel Bouchard, CEO of Robotiq, explains: "The UR robot arms can be equipped with our new camera and vision system and deployed right into assembly within five minutes. There is no need for an external computer to set up, program, or operate the camera. Everything can be done within the robot's user interface. In developing this solution, we managed to meet the need of Universal Robots and our customers demanding an easier and faster implementation of a camera and vision system that can be deployed by anyone."

New software for faster implementation

Alongside the launch of Universal Robots+, a new update for the robot arms' operating software has been released. Software Version 3.3 includes updates such as the Profinet IO device functionality; the new compatibility with Profinet opens up numerous additional areas of deployment and activities for robots. Østergaard comments: "A key feature of the update supporting the Universal Robots+ platform is the ability for providers to now offer solutions that interface seamlessly with the UR software."

Until now, the software enabling communication between developer applications and the UR robot arms had to be implemented by using relatively complex script code, which is time-consuming and difficult for the majority of end users. As the Software Version 3.3 now consists in part of open-source software, developers can implement their software as an add-on, thereby reducing the time needed for implementation at the end customer's premises significantly, which reduces cost and risks.

Availability

Universal Robots+ and the +YOU forum are accessible online now in English. The first URCaps are already on display in the Universal Robots+ Showroom.