The Swiss energy and automation technology group ABB and the Japanese heavy industry group Kawasaki Heavy Industries presented the first uniform user interface for their collaborative robots at the automatica 2018 in Munich. At ABB it controls the twin-arm robot YuMi , at Kawasaki the twin-arm SCARA robot duAro . Both Cobots can be programmed and controlled with the same software. The two manufacturers promise that users can operate the devices even without special training. The unified user interface is intended to reduce the customer’s learning curve. Small and medium-sized enterprises should also be enabled to use Cobots in production.

The development is a result of the cooperation between the two companies established in 2017. They want to share knowledge and raise public awareness of the benefits and opportunities the use of Cobots presents. Moreover, the common user interface will also serve to advance the development of new, uniform security standards.