Motoman markets co‐operative and humanoid industrial robots

The purpose of this paper is to examine the advantages of two‐arm robots in the industrial environment.

The innovative thinking behind Motoman's dual arm humanoid robot is presented. Then, its technical design and its industrial applications are studied. The general advantages of co‐ordinating multiple robot arms are given.

Motoman has designed a two‐arm robot of human size to take over industrial tasks still performed manually, providing an alternative to the practice of outsourcing such operations to low‐cost labour countries. However, its variance from traditional robot design means that its applications are not immediately apparent, and sales so far have been mostly in Japan. The NX100 multiple robot controller allows high‐density layouts and reduced cycle times, and makes programming simpler than for a cluster of individually controlled robots.

Humanoid robots tend to attract hobbyists rather than industrial users. This paper concentrates on a commercially available dual‐arm robot series and its industrial potential.