Danish collaborative robot (cobot) manufacturer Universal Robots has announced that it has sold its 50,000th unit.
Company president, Jürgen von Hollen, personally delivered the milestone cobot to German manufacturer Vema.
Von Hollen said: “We have worked very hard in the past 15 years to develop an entirely new market segment with a mission to enable especially small- and medium sized companies to automate tasks they thought were too costly or complex.
“We put a lot of work into creating awareness, influencing standards, and changing customers’ perceptions influenced by their experience of traditional robots.”
Collaborative robots remain the fastest growing sector in industrial automation, with compound annual growth of 30.37% in the next five years predicted by Universal Robots.
Vema’s new collaborative robot joins a fleet of three other cobots from the supplier. It will be used for pick-and-place tasks in end-of-line applications.
Christian Veser, managing director at Vema, said: “Our employees are freed from ergonomically straining work to focus on quality testing. In navigating Covid-19 challenges, it has also been a great advantage that the cobots don’t need to keep a safety distance or undergo quarantine. They can always work.”
Jürgen von Hollen is set to leave Universal Robots at the end of 2020, following a four-year stint as president.
Gregory Smith, currently president of Teradyne’s industrial automation group, will succeed von Hollen on a temporary basis from 01 January 2021 until a new leader is named.
