VIDEO: Yaskawa Motoman Enters Collaborative Robot Market with Motoman HC10

Motoman HC10 will have a graphical interface teach pendant in the future, says Yaskawa Innovation expert.

Collaborative robots, or cobots for short, seem to be the future of industrial robotics, as more companies enter the market.

In the video above, we look at Yaskawa Motoman’s new entry: the Motoman HC10 cobot for pick and place, machine tending and similar applications.

“This is our first collaborative robot, which complies with all four characteristics of a cobot,” said Bernardo Mendez, senior product manager, Yaskawa Innovation.

Mendez describes these characteristics as:

  1. Power-Force Limitations
  2. Standard and Emergency Stops
  3. Programmed Stops
  4. Hand Guiding

“We designed this robot to try and empower the worker, rather than replace them,” Mendez explained. “It enhances the worker’s experience by helping them with repetitive tasks or tasks that are ergonomically challenging, involving heavy weights and things like that. Doing this, workers can focus on more value-added tasks.”

Mendez said a new teach pendant would be coming to market for the robot soon.

“Eventually we’re going to come out with a very easy to use pendant, that will be more graphically interactive,” he explained. “We’ve also added a few features where you can hand-guide the robot. The advantage is that is that it empowers the user who doesn’t have a lot of knowledge about programming.”

Yaskawa will not develop end effectors for the HC10, but is partnering with companies like Robotiq and other end-of-arm tooling developers. Working with several partners will allow the HC10 to meet a greater diversity of applications thanks to a wider array of end-of-arm tooling.

For more information, watch the video above and visit the Yaskawa Motoman website.

Written by

James Anderton

Jim Anderton is the Director of Content for ENGINEERING.com. Mr. Anderton was formerly editor of Canadian Metalworking Magazine and has contributed to a wide range of print and on-line publications, including Design Engineering, Canadian Plastics, Service Station and Garage Management, Autovision, and the National Post. He also brings prior industry experience in quality and part design for a Tier One automotive supplier.