ABB Robotics’ new ABB OmniCore robot controller family is the first offering in a series of “flexible, intelligent, and tailored solutions” that the developer will offer for the connected Factory of the Future. OmniCore controllers are designed for maximum performance and reliability during 24/7 operations of factories making products with increasingly shorter lifecycles. The controller’s high path accuracy also increases throughput and decreases cycle times.
The OmniCore controller family comes with ABB’s RobotWare7 intuitive operating system, incorporating new features and functions, and is accessible through a newly designed, ergonomic new FlexPendant.
Also, the series’ first variants provide flexibility for integrating robots into the digital factory ecosystem, whether manufacturers need standardized motion control or more tailored solutions.
The new controllers offer best-in-class motion control and path accuracy in a 50% smaller footprint, for maximum installation flexibility and floor space utilization. This allows robotic solutions to be flexibly tailored to existing and new production lines. In addition to increasing mounting flexibility, the OmniCore also increases flexibility to incorporate the latest digital technologies.
The ABB Ability™ digital offering and Connected Services are built in, as is ABB’s SafeMove2 safety software solution. Thus, the new controllers can turn any connected industrial robot into a collaborative robot. OmniCore also represent progress in digitalized control, for seamless connection to a variety of fieldbuses, advanced vision systems, and force control as part of a greater digital ecosystem.
“Automation needs are becoming increasingly complex in today’s high mix, low volume manufacturing,” according to Per Vegard Nerseth, managing director of Robotics for ABB. “Factories need solutions that support flexibility and high performance during demanding 24/7-hour operations and, at the same time, can be tailored to specific applications.”