ABB invests in Scalable Robotics

ABB is entering into a strategic partnership with U.S.-based startup Scalable Robotics to enhance its portfolio of robotic welding systems. Through 3D vision and embedded process understanding, the Scalable Robotics technology allows customers to program welding robots without the need for coding. ABB Technology Ventures (ATV), the venture capital unit of ABB, will be the lead investor in Scalable’s seed funding investment round.

The Scalable platform allows a welder to teach a task to the robot by pointing to where the weld should be applied, with the robot learning the path on its own. The platform features a 3D camera in a protective box attached to the robot end-of-arm tooling and uses a touchscreen interface to guide the welder through the scan, teach, validate, and tuning steps.

The welder teaches the robot the positions of the welds by clicking a hand-held stylus to indicate the desired approach, path, and departure points of the weld. The platform automatically generates a weld path that is validated within RobotStudio, ABB’s simulation and programming software. The operator makes any final modifications before the robot auto-tunes the program and sends it to the robot controller so the weld can be performed.