Its streamlined interface provides a clear view of real-time production, enabling swift adjustments.

D:PLOY harnesses the power of data, delivering insights that can lead to cost savings, competitiveness, and boosted returns. It’s not just a tool, says OnRobot; it’s a paradigm shift in machine building.

As industries evolve, the importance of seamless operation and intelligent insights cannot be overstated. OnRobot’s D:PLOY is the answer to this demand, ensuring automation for everyone and optimisation for future demands. Experience the future at MachineBuilding.Live.

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Traditional sanding automation solutions often require a background in robotics to implement and maintain. With the launch of OnRobot Sander, manufacturers now have access to a complete out-of-the-box sanding tool that’s easy to use with all major collaborative and lightweight industrial robots.

The complete Sander package incorporates everything OnRobot customers need to get their sanding application started quickly and easily: a plug-and-play sanding tool, a variety of standard sanding and polishing pads, easy-to-use programming software, an optional force/ torque sensor and a Grit Changer that enables automated switching between different sanding grits without operator intervention.

Taking useability a step further

Programming simple surface finishing applications on Sander is easy thanks to the intuitive built-in software. But OnRobot takes usability a step further with the addition of a “Save Position” button on the tool that allows users to set waypoints manually without using the robot’s teach pendant. The Sander software comes with different path planning options – handguide, shape and points, and allows users to adjust rotation speed, optimizing cycle time and consistency.

“OnRobot is committed to providing small and medium-size businesses with affordable, application-centered solutions that are easy to set up and maintain. OnRobot Sander is a versatile sanding tool that provides all the features and benefits our customers expect of automated sanding technology, but without all the hassle and cost traditionally associated with automated sanding tools,” says Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO of OnRobot.

OnRobot Sander supports flat, curved and uneven part geometries and comes with replaceable standard pads that can be used on a wide range of materials. Adding a force / torque sensor enables the sander to adapt to surface variations or part misalignment, while improving consistency and quality and reducing scrap rate. All of the advanced features of the OnRobot Sander are supported on Universal Robots cobots, but the tool is easily integrated with any major robot brand.

Significant cost savings compared to pneumatic sanders

Sander is a lightweight [1.2 kg (2.64lb), with pad] solution that combines the power of its brushless electric motor power (up to 10,000 RPM) with operating costs as little as 5% of that of pneumatic sanding systems. Traditional pneumatic sanding machines use external air compressors, which are very expensive and prone to leaks. Meanwhile, Sander’s brushless electric motor is durable and reliable with a lifespan equal to or greater than that of competing pneumatic systems.

“OnRobot is committed to democratizing automation, product by product and application by application, by making ready-to-go solutions available to companies that are completely new to automation. We take the cost and complexity associated with automation away, leaving our customers with the all-important functionality they need to get the work done,” explains Iversen.

Sander provides safer work environment

Sanding is often dirty and dangerous work that carries a range of potential health risks for workers, from the debilitating ‘white-finger syndrome’ caused by high vibration hand tools to lung damage caused by particulate matter. OnRobot Sander eliminates these risks and uses 3M clean sandpaper discs, which allow more dust to be extracted, thereby ensuring a safer environment for workers compared to competing systems.

“At OnRobot we’re seeing increased interest from companies that are completely new to robotics but are looking for ways to supplement existing labor through automation. These companies are looking for simple, user-friendly solutions, like OnRobot Sander, that can be easily deployed on a wide variety of tasks within each application domain,” says the OnRobot CEO.

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Traditional single-purpose industrial robots are losing ground to affordable, easy to use robots and peripherals that can be flexibly redeployed for a wide range of applications. This empowers manufacturers to gain even greater productivity increases from their automation investments. OnRobot is extending its commitment to ongoing customer empowerment with the launch of a software update for its popular, 2.5D camera-based Eyes vision system.

“Traditional approaches to industrial automation place the product at the centre, which results in costly, over-complicated solutions to simple automation problems,” says Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO at OnRobot. “OnRobot takes a more practical, application-centred approach. This means providing our customers with easy-to-use tools tailored to specific application needs. But it also means empowering customers through updates to existing products that enable deployments in new application domains.”

The new features, which enable Eyes to be deployed in quality inspection applications and on mobile setups, include one-shot detection for multiple objects, colour and blob detection and automatic landmark calibration tools designed to speed cycle time for mobile robot setups.

“OnRobot prides itself on having meaningful conversations with customers and on having the agility to respond to those conversations quickly through new releases and product updates,” says Iversen. “Our customers told us that they love Eyes’ ease of use, but that they would like to see new features tailored to common quality inspection tasks. Today’s Eyes update delivers that functionality.”

New visual inspection features

Eyes’ new inspection features enable the system to easily sort, inspect, or pick & place unstructured objects using colour and contour detection – a capability that is beyond most competing vision systems. This detection method requires no workpiece teaching and finds items based on colour and size information input by the operator. Eyes’ inspection features can be used to inspect parts removed from CNC machines, for example, or to check IMM parts for excessive or inadequate material after part has been moulded. The tools also support manual inspections: operators can set up a camera and inspection program, manually place a workpiece in view and execute inspection. No robot required.

The update also provides users with one-shot detection for multiple objects, allowing the system to pick all workpieces with only one picture. This reduces complexity for users and improves cycle times. The update includes tools that allow users to request specific workpiece types and specify gripper clearance parameters.

Adding Eyes to mobile robots

A new Landmark feature has been added to Eyes’ powerful toolkit, enabling easy deployment of Eyes on mobile robots and setups with carts, trays, and pallets. The Landmark feature makes it simple to program mobile robots to move from station to station using end user-defined Landmarks as their guide. Landmarks can also be used to initiate specific robot operations: for example, when Eyes detects the arrival of a mobile cart in its workspace loaded with parts for picking, it can easily switch to pick & place routines.

“More and more manufacturers are looking to deploy robot arms on mobile platforms for various factory and warehouse applications. Today’s update gives our customers the ability to put ‘Eyes’ on mobile robots and does so without sacrificing the ease of use that makes our products such a compelling proposition for manufacturers of all sizes,” says Iversen.

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OnRobot, the maker of tools for collaborative applications, announces the release of its smart, complete-out-of-the-box Screwdriver that allows manufacturers to automate a wide range of assembly processes quickly, easily, and flexibly. This provides welcome relief for manufacturers who are eager to automate repetitive, unergonomic, and often inconsistent manual screwdriving processes, but who struggle to integrate and program typical piecemeal screwdriving systems.

Programming the OnRobot Screwdriver is as easy as entering the appropriate screw length and torque value into the user interface that is integrated into the teach pendant of any leading robot. With precise torque control and embedded axis, the OnRobot Screwdriver automatically calculates the speed and force required for consistent, accurate screwdriving. The Screwdriver can detect incorrect screw length, which can help improve overall quality and reduce scrap.With the Screwdriver’s unique “z-axis,” screws are retracted inside the tool and driven automatically once the robot arm moves into position, which reduces robot arm movement and additional programming. Screws up to 35mm long are retracted completely inside the Screwdriver when moving until the screwdriving process is safely initiated, enhancing its collaborative capabilities.

The Screwdriver can handle a wide range of screw sizes and lengths, from M1.6 to M6, and up to 50mm long. With its simple programming and easily exchangeable bit system, the Screwdriver can be quickly changed over to a different screw size, length or product line in minutes, which minimizes downtime and improves productivity.

“This is one of our most advanced products to date,” says CEO of OnRobot, Enrico Krog Iversen. “We’ve designed an automated screwdriving tool that simplifies a highly complex process for our users, making it cost-effective and easy for manufacturers to see fast results in terms of higher uptime, output, consistency and quality.” The Screwdriver includes the following robust and intuitive features:

• Embedded axis for accuracy and easy programming
• Precise torque control from 0.15Nm to 5Nm
• Screw sizes from M1.6 to M6, and up to 50mm long
• Available screw feeders
• ESD safe for electronics assembly
• Mounting via OnRobot Quick Changer

The Screwdriver is compatible with OnRobot’s award-winning One System Solution, a platform that provides a unified mechanical and electrical interface between leading robot arms and any OnRobot product. The One System Solution has been newly expanded to include integration with robots from ABB Robotics and Hanwha Precision Machinery. Users of those robots can now also take advantage of the unified mechanical and electrical interface of any OnRobot product, for easier integration and faster ROI.

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“A significant part of our customer base does not want to be tied to a fixed incoming position of a product they want to pick,” says CEO of OnRobot, Enrico Krog Iversen. “They would love to eliminate complicated, bulky and expensive part feeders and fixtures to achieve this, but until now, vision systems have felt out-of-reach. Our new Eyes vision system changes all that.”

As opposed to other vision systems on the market, Eyes just needs to take a single image for calibration and part recognition, and has automatic focus to work at different distances within the same application.

Eyes is ideal for sorting a wide variety of objects or for CNC machine tending with metal parts that are defined by outer shape, as well as many other pick-and-place applications where orientation is important. Eyes also offers depth perception within its affordable and easy-to-deploy 2.5D vision.

“2.5D is rapidly emerging as the perfect technology for vision-guided applications,” says Iversen. “Compared to 2D it adds not only length and width but also height information for the specific part, which is ideal when objects may vary in height or if objects must be stacked.”

Eyes can be easily mounted on the robot wrist or externally, and integrates seamlessly with all leading collaborative and light industrial robot arms through OnRobot’s One System Solution, a unified mechanical and communications interface based on the company’s Quick Changer, now an integrated part of all OnRobot products.

The new vision system directly interfaces with other OnRobot devices making it is very easy to use Eyes together with any of OnRobot’s grippers. With a dual setup, using a dual Quick Changer, the gripper’s tool center point (TCP) can be automatically configured by Eyes, eliminating any potential conflict between different software packages from different tool vendors. The optimal mounting depends on the application. Some of the advantages of having Eyes mounted externally is not having to worry about cables running alongside the robot and the ability to optimize cycle time, as Eyes can take the picture and process this, while the robot is doing another operation.

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“Our new Soft Gripper is challenging existing solutions for picking hard-to-grasp, delicate and odd-sized items,” says CEO of OnRobot, Enrico Krog Iversen. “Unlike proprietary solutions, the Soft Gripper offers seamless integration with most collaborative robots and light industrial robots through our One System Solution.”

OnRobot’s award-winning One System Solution is a platform that provides a unified mechanical and electrical interface between leading robot arms and any OnRobot end-of-arm tooling (EoAT). The One System Solution has been newly expanded to include integration with robots from ABB Robotics and Hanwha Precision Machinery. Now, users of those robots can take advantage of the unified mechanical and electrical interface of any OnRobot product, for easier integration and faster ROI.

While the Soft Gripper is ideal for food and beverage applications, it also provides flexible, delicate gripping for manufacturing and packaging.

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The new Gecko SP can handle high-shine surfaces without leaving any marks, eliminating the cleaning step in the manufacturing process, thereby saving precious time and significantly improving output. The new model retains its larger sibling’s ability to grip a diverse range of workpieces, including perforated ones such as printed circuit boards, aluminium mesh or head gaskets.

The award-winning Gecko gripper technology uses millions of micro-scaled fibrillar stalks that adhere to a surface using powerful van der Waals forces — the same way that geckos climb. The technology helps critically reduce costs and maintenance as it requires no compressed air or external power, and its implementation is quick and easy, thanks to OnRobot’s One-System Solution platform, providing greater production flexibility with little to no programming.

“Our unique Gecko technology automates processes that no other gripper can accomplish, and now it’s available in a compact, flexible format that offers our customers even more options,” said Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO of OnRobot. “This plug-and-play gripper helps us fulfill our promise of offering a full range of easy, cost-effective, flexible robotic tooling that empowers customers to focus on the application rather than the robot.”

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Now, OnRobot in Odense, Denmark, adds another trail-blazing technology to the product mix. With the acquisition of the company Purple Robotics, OnRobot can now offer its partners the world’s first dual vacuum gripper. The gripper attracted international robot industry attention when the inventors presented it in June at Automatica, the world’s largest robotics fair.

Purple Robotics was established by the three Danish ”super-nerds” Lasse Kieffer, Henrik Tillitz Hansen, and Peter Nadolny Madsen, all of whom have a background as product developers at the company behind the world’s first cobot, Universal Robots. And this is the valuable expertise which OnRobot is now fusing with its existing R&D department at their headquarters in Odense. Lasse Kieffer, Purple Robotics CEO, looks forward to joining the OnRobot organisation together with his colleagues.

”It has been really good fun to create a brand new robotics company and to disrupt the market for vacuum grippers with our invention. It makes a lot of sense and creates significant synergy to join forces with OnRobot who have already created a strong, global sales organisation. This means that we can focus 100% on developing the world’s coolest robotics products. Together, we can go far,” says Lasse Kieffer.

Already sold in 25 countries

Since entering the market, Purple Robotics has experienced a veritable onslaught from partners worldwide wishing to be able to offer the product to their customers. Already three months after launching the product, 40 partners in 25 countries have concluded partnership agreements with Purple Robotics for the patented innovation.

The Purple Robotics dual vacuum gripper can, so to speak, give a robot arm two “hands” and thereby the ability to handle several items simultaneously and solving multiple tasks in one movement. Additionally, it has an electric pump integrated in the gripper itself, meaning that users need not worry about hoses, compressed air, and cables as with conventional vacuum gripper solutions.

The vacuum gripper meets a clear need in the global industry for efficient and flexible robot solutions which are simple and quick to commission. It takes less than 30 minutes to install the Purple Robotics gripper on a robot and start it up. The vacuum gripper is able to gently and efficiently handle items of many different dimensions, weights, materials, and shapes. The lifting capacity is 10 kilograms (22 lbs) and the robot gripper is designed for use on a wide range of light-weight robots from all robot manufacturers.

“It must be easily conceivable to automate even small production batches. Otherwise, robot technology is not a good investment. This is why we hand pick the best and most user-friendly robot products and integrate them in OnRobot. We are extremely pleased to now be able to offer our robot partners and integrators the vacuum gripper, just as we look forward to being able to add the top class Purple Robotics robot developers to our development department,” says Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO at OnRobot.

The acquisition of Purple Robotics means that the Vacuum Gripper will be presented in the USA to robot equipment buyers at the IMTS fair in Chicago during 10-15 September. After the spring merger of the three robotics companies OnRobot, Perception Robotics, and OptoForce, the OnRobot product range now features a wide assortment of robot equipment, including electric grippers, force-moment sensors, gecko grippers, and tactile sensors.

“We are now one step closer to our vision of offering ”one-stop-shopping” for buyers of robot accessories”, Enricro Krog Iversen added. “Purple Robotics will definitely not be our last acquisition. We have our eye on a number of other, interesting companies around the world.”

OnRobot has also recently welcomed another strong, international investor to the ownership roster – the American venture fund Summit Partners.

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“Collaborative robots have the potential to become the comprehensive standard in industrial automation,” says Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO of OnRobot. “We want to contribute and unleash this potential by taking the next step: to make collaborative applications even easier to implement and to take them into completely new areas of application.”

Developed by the start-up Perception Robotics which merged with OnRobot, the ‘Gecko Gripper’, offers a completely new approach – its inspiration coming from nature, applying the same adhesive system for gripping as that of the feet of a gecko: millions of fine fibres adhere to the surface of the workpiece to generate strong van der Waals forces.

For the ‘Gecko Gripper’ technology, OnRobot licenses a concept originally developed by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and brought it to market maturity. The unique and fast moving solution makes vacuum grippers and thus the necessity of a compressed air system for handling large, flat objects unnecessary. In contrast to vacuum grippers, the ‘Gecko Gripper’ seamlessly handles perforated or porous workpieces such as printed circuit boards.

The gripper is compatible with Universal Robots and Kawasaki robotic arms. The high degree of innovation has led to the system being among the three finalists of this year’s renowned IERA Award.

More sensitivity for demanding workpieces

The new ‘Polyskin Tactile Gripper’, also from the merger with Perception Robotics, features sensitive gripping. Its two fingers can be individually aligned and have integrated tactile sensors at its fingertips. The gripper precisely measures the condition of an object’s surface and aligns its gripping processes accordingly. These properties make it a fundamental enrichment, especially when working with sensitive or irregular objects. The Polyskin Tactile Gripper is also compatible with Universal Robots and Kawasaki.

Gripper for precise assembly

OnRobot will be launching the ‘RG2-FT’ a variation of the original ‘RG2’ gripper. This new version has integrated force-torque sensors and a proximity sensor, that accurately detects the condition of objects. This model of gripper is particularly suitable for use in precision assembly and is compatible with lightweight robots from Universal Robots and Kuka.

Fast installation for sensors

The OnRobot product line for force-torque sensors based on OptoForce technology, ‘HEX’, whilst not a new product, will be revealing a substantial technical upgrade. The innovations are primarily designed to make installation and handling of the sensors even easier and faster: Mounting is now up to 30 percent faster, partly thanks to overload protection now integrated into the sensor, which no longer has to be removed and mounted separately when attaching to the robot arm. Furthermore, the weight of the sensor can be reduced by 20 percent. With a new, improved sealing ring the ‘HEX’ products are better protected against dust and water.

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The new company combines US-based Perception Robotics, Hungary-based OptoForce, and Denmark-based On Robot to become OnRobot, which will drive innovation and ease-of-use for robotic end-of-arm tooling. OnRobot’s headquarters will be located in Denmark under the management of Enrico Krog Iversen, and the three entities will continue their individual operations and development as well.

“The aim is to build a world-leading organisation in development and production of end-of-arm tooling. Through further acquisitions and collaborations, we expect to reach a revenue exceeding one hundred million dollars in a few years,” says Iversen.

“Safe, cost-effective, and versatile cobots are becoming increasingly common because they offer sophisticated and intuitive programming that enables them to be easily deployed and redeployed. Easy-to-integrate end-of-arm tooling, such as grippers and sensors, become vital elements in adapting these powerful automation tools for a wide range of applications.”

In 2015 Enrico Krog Iversen and the Danish Growth Fund sold the Danish cobot pioneer company Universal Robots to US-based Teradyne for $285 million. With their new venture, the two investors now further strengthen Denmark’s global position in the robotics field.

“In recent years Denmark has successfully established itself as a global hub for robotic technologies,” says Christian Motzfeldt, CEO of the Danish Growth Fund. “Universal Robots was a pioneer, and since then many more strong and innovative companies have been formed with roots in Odense, Denmark. The new OnRobot has the potential to become not only a world-leading company, but also a catalyst for further development of the Danish robotics cluster. We are pleased to promote this trend through our investments and invite both companies and investors from around the world to come join us.”

Collaborative robots, which work safely alongside humans in applications such as packaging, quality testing, material handling, machine tending, assembly and welding, currently represent 3% of global robot sales, according to the International Federation of Robotics, but the share is expected to rise to 34% of a $25 billion market by 2025.

“This growth will most definitely depend on cobots being used in more applications,” Iversen adds. “Their small footprint and ability to work safely alongside humans make them ideal for small and medium-sized manufacturers who need to compete globally. Cobots are also increasingly integrated into very large manufacturers such as automotive plants, where they are taking over processes that can’t be automated using traditional robotics.

“As the types of cobot applications expand, so does the need for new tooling that can be quickly and easily integrated into the cobot’s user interface,” he continues. “The new OnRobot is championing a current mega trend in the field of automation. Combining the unique capabilities of these end-of-arm technologies under one umbrella company that is led by some of the smartest minds in the robotics industry will make them even easier to implement and program. By the way, the new OnRobot is currently looking to add employees in R&D.”

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