“Asia is a strong focus area for Universal Robots. We opened a Shanghai subsidiary in 2013 and are constantly expanding our distributor network in the regions where customers are increasingly using our cobots to optimise product quality and automate repetitive tasks that many manufacturers have difficulty staffing with manual labour,” said Friis.
According to Friis, the demand for consumer goods across global markets is pushing manufacturers to produce innovative, high-quality products more quickly, consistently, and sustainably around the world.
“To support the growing demand for flexible cobot solutions, Universal Robots recently launched Universal Robots+, an online showroom for end-effectors, software, peripherals and accessories from the UR ecosystem of 3rd-party developers that are optimised to work flawlessly with UR robots. This allows UR’s integrators, distributors and customers to hit the ground running when completing their next UR robot installation,” said Friis.
Complementing Universal Robots+, is the new UR Academy, which includes free e-learning modules available to all that make up the basic programming training for UR robots. This includes adding end-effectors, connecting I/Os for communication with external devices and setting up safety zones. Universal Robots expects the initiative to help support Industry 4.0.
“It’s unprecedented in the industry to provide hands-on interactive teaching modules available for free with no licensing required. The Academy offers an instrumental tool in helping us educate the market on how our technology can address key business challenges. As Southeast Asia gears up to be the world’s manufacturing hub, educating future operators and programmers now to bridge this gap becomes even more important,” said Friis.
