When Robots Collide: Yaskawa and Clearpath Partner for New Machine Tending Solution

Motoman MH12 robot and OTTO 1500 self-driving vehicle combine.

Yaskawa and Clearpath are partnering to develop a mobile machine tending and material movement solution for shop floor environments.

Yaskawa’s Motoman MH12 robot, equipped with an end-of-arm tool and vision system, will come mounted on Clearpath’s OTTO 1500 self-driving vehicle. The result is an alternative to arranging fixed robot stations.

The MH12 six-axis collaborative robot features a 12 kg payload capacity with a hollow wrist for EOAT cable management.

The robot achieves 1,440 mm horizontal reach, 2,511 mm vertical reach and features a contoured arm design to reduce peripheral interferences from fixtures, parts or machinery.

The OTTO 1500, with a payload of up to 3,300 lbs, uses the Clearpath OS to move around its environment using only built-in sensors.

A Dispatch App, available on tablet devices, is used to manage delivery routes in facilities, along with many other features. 

The combo solution will offer natural feature navigation, eliminating the need to add fiducials or reflectors to operating environments. With the MH12 collaborative robot, the system can be reconfigured or redeployed for changing preferences, facility infrastructures and various processes.

The new solution will be introduced at the International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago, Illinois on Sept. 12-17, as well as AUTOMATICA 2016 in Munich, Germany, June 21-24.

For more information, visit the websites for Motoman and Clearpath