自ABB收购B＆R（现在是ABB机器人和离散自动化业务的单位）以来，父母宣布B＆R已将ABB的机器人集成到其自动化投资组合中。该公司在德国纽伦堡举行的2019年SPS（智能生产解决方案）宣布这一消息，该公司指出，该集成策略的主要目标是OEMS，其目的是为其提供一站式商店来购买其机器人和机器人和关联的机器控件，I/O和驱动组件。现在，机器制造商可以通过B＆R选择一系列ABB机器人，包括各种尺寸和各种有效载荷的铰接臂，Scara，Delta和Palletizer机器人。
B＆R说，这种机器人技术和机器控制与一个架构的合并对于需要与其他组件的高度同步的机器应用非常重要-例如，robotic picking and placing. With ABB robots integrated into the machine automation system, customers will benefit from an unprecedented level of synchronization between robotics and machine control, according to Sami Atiya, president of ABB’s Robotics and Discrete Automation business。同样，由于现在所有轴和传感器都在公共网络上进行通信，因此Atiya表示，这将其精确度提高到微秒范围。
ABB的Sami Atiya（左）和B＆R的Hans Wimmer。
Because ABB robots will no longer require a dedicated controller in an integration with B&R automation components, interfaces between the machine and the robot are eliminated. This means that, instead of programming a robotics application in one development environment and a machine application in another, there will only be one application and development environment. B&R’s mapp technology will serve as the platform for developers to set up and configure the machine application, including robotics, without requiring any knowledge of special robotics languages.
Wimmer added that synchronization between sensors and robot motion will also become easier with this integration. For example, the result of a quality inspection with a B&R vision camera can be converted into a control command for the ABB robot in less than a millisecond, so that defective workpieces can be removed from the production process without manual intervention or slowing the manufacturing process.
