Robotics education package

ABB Robotics is closing the global automation education gap and preparing students with the launch of a ready-to-use education package. Comprising a GoFa collaborative robot (cobot), teaching materials, and a globally recognized technical qualification, the package is part of ABB Robotics’ global campaign to help workers thrive in a new era of automation.

The ABB Robotics Education Package was created to ensure educational establishments provide highly skilled young people for companies looking to benefit from robotic automation. Although 80% of global educators see automation shaping employment in the next 10 years, only one in four education institutes incorporates robotics into its curriculum. Barriers include the lack of teachers trained in robotics and automation and the difficulty in incorporating robotics training into the curriculum seamlessly.

“With robotic automation increasingly embraced by multiple sectors, from manufacturing and distribution to retail and healthcare, companies are looking for people with the skills needed to handle robots and automation,” says Andrea Cassoni, MD, General Industries Business Line for ABB Robotics. “By enabling schools, colleges, and universities to easily create and run robotics training courses recognized by industry, ABB’s Robotics Education Package is closing the technology skills gap by preparing students for the automated workplace.”

The heart of the package is the Education Cell featuring a fully functional ABB GoFa cobot. Mounted on a compact tabletop, GoFa is an easy-to-use cobot helping students learn real-life industrial applications such as pick and place and 3D printing. Students as young as 15 can use the robot, with no prior engineering knowledge thanks to its Wizard Easy Programming.

A comprehensive suite of material gives teachers everything to guide students through 12 lessons at basic and advanced levels, from the fundamentals of robotics to more advanced applications and programming. Industrial level training material has been adapted by teachers into a student-friendly format, enabling them to easily grasp robotic concepts. A total of 56 hours of content is provided, including videos, interactive online exercises, 400 test questions, and lab exercises with ABB’s RobotStudio off-line programming tool used to plan, simulate, and develop real-life robotic solutions in a virtual environment.

The third part of the package is a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) certification for teachers and students supported and authenticated by educational research and credentialing organization STEM.org. This allows teachers to be certified by ABB and then certify their students as competent to use robots. It also provides students with an accepted qualification that can be shown to employers in more than 80 countries as proof of their ability to work with robotic automation.

Denali partnering with Universal Robots

PHOTOS COURTESY OF RESPECTIVE COMPANIES

Denali announced a partnership with Universal Robots (UR), a manufacturer of collaborative robots. Denali will be UR’s largest global Certified Solution Partner (CSP). Denali can now offer customers robotic solutions and technologies as part of its Automation-as-a-Service (AaaS) portfolio.

Denali’s AaaS is available now to enterprises needing a partner to provide end-to-end automation services and solutions to support their information and operational technology (IT/OT) environments, accelerate their business outcomes, and achieve maximum return on their technology investments. As a CSP for UR, Denali will now include collaborative robotics as part of its automation solutions to help customers in manufacturing, transportation, and logistics manage environments requiring interactive multi-modal automation applications. Customers can layer machine learning (ML) with robotics and use data and analytics to drive near real-time decision making.

Denali AI

Universal Robots

Rockwell Automation, autonox Robotics partner

Rockwell Automation Inc. and autonox Robotics are partnering to enable companies in North America, Europe, Middle East, and Africa to achieve new manufacturing possibilities through unified robot control solutions.

The two companies are bringing together Kinetix motors and drives of Rockwell with the robot mechanics of autonox in a customer-friendly catalog-number-approach. The robot solutions are programmed and controlled in a single environment using Logix-based controllers and the Studio 5000 automation system design software. This removes the need to try and coordinate traditionally disparate machine control and robot systems, instead yielding a simplified system architecture helping teams work more efficiently, deploy systems faster, and create more effective robotic automation systems. This unified robot control solution will be possible using autonox’s line of DELTA and DuoPod robot mechanics.

Rockwell Automation Inc.

autonox Robotics

Expanded composites products offering

GracoRoberts has acquired Washington-based Pacific Coast Composites (PCC) to significantly expand its composites materials offerings as a technical aerospace specialty chemicals distributor.

The addition of PCC to GracoRoberts bolsters product depth and breadth and amplifies its reach to customers and suppliers of aerospace composites. As a distributor for 3M, Hexcel, Aerovac, and Isovolta brands, PCC stocks nearly 400 composite products from 20 suppliers and 15 product categories including adhesives, bagging materials, pre-pregs, resins, and honeycomb core. With spec-driven in-house converting, and offering customers custom kitting and slitting capabilities, PCC can rapid-turn and same-day ship made-to-order composite materials, a historically long-lead time product.

Customers will benefit from a larger portfolio of products and channel partners in the specialty chemicals space from GracoRoberts, including Resin Formulators, GracoRoberts’ custom formulated line of epoxy resins. Customers will benefit from easy access to composite materials in a click-to-ship environment.

PCC will maintain its operations in Puyallup, Washington, and serve as a key distribution hub for GracoRoberts in the Northwestern United States.

GracoRoberts

Pacific Coast Composites