Important Innovations

YuMi, the Robot Conductor, to Do Duty on Factory Floor Source:  ABB's YuMi conducting Lucca Philharmonic Orchestra in Italy ABB's New Shanghai  Robot Factory At the new ABB robot factory in China, the Swiss engineering group will use robots to make robots.  It's a $150 million, state of the art facility in Shanghai that the company just announced today.  ABB is building the factory to strategically secure and defend its place as China's largest maker of industrial robots.  YuMi, the highly acclaimed robot conductor, will be part of the workforce.  YuMi humanoid robots are designed to work side by side with people. China 2020 The new factory will open in 2020.  It's close to ABB's China robotics campus.  It will build robots for China and for export elsewhere in Asia.  China is ABB's #2 market after the US. Shanghai Global Technology Center In a statement announcing the project, ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer said:  "Shanghai has become a vital

Bot Conductor with Gigs that Also Works the Assembly Line YuMi, the creation of ABB robotics of Switzerland, is the world's first bot conductor.  The Maestro received thunderous applause and rave reviews when he conducted Italy's Lucca Philharmonic Orchestra and internationally acclaimed opera tenor Andrea Bocelli. The robot, who can lead an orchestra playing Verdi, is one in a series of collaborative, industrial robots ABB is developing. New YuMi's the Multi-Tasker ABB just introduced a new version of YuMi that can work side by side with humans on assembly lines.  The robotic co-worker is part of the "Factory of the Future", working alongside humans doing the same tasks.  Hence the term "collaborative" robots.  The new YuMi has a single arm - not 2-armed like the Maestro.  The company says it can easily integrate into any factory production. Robotic Specs New YuMi is small, lightweight and agile.  It's built on a flexible, new modular desig