GoFa

“Key to our vision is to make robots as familiar in the workplace as a laptop is today,” said Sami Atiya, President of ABB’s Robotics & Discrete Automation. The new GoFa cobot by ABB demonstrates how good industrial design can help make this vision a reality. After the collaborative robot YuMi from 2015, ABB is taking a novel and strong stand in human-robot collaboration with the debut of the new GoFa six-axis collaborative robot. Thanks to its user-oriented design, which clearly distinguishes itself from classic industrial robots, GoFa conveys a strong notion of utility and user-friendliness. Without the need for spatial safety limitations, the robot shares the same workspace with its users and makes their work easier. With a payload of 5 kg and a reach of 95 cm, GoFa is able to pick up, move and place objects with precision and use this capability to handle materials, tend machines, assemble components and package products. Due to its low weight of 27 kg and a small footprint, the robot can be used wherever more demanding activities have to be performed repeatedly and need to be automated. Its design reflects the robot’s direction of movement and grasping in a manner that is easy to understand by human co-workers. This augments safety and trust. The user interface on the robot’s upper arm, with two customisable buttons and a status light indicator, enables even novice users to carry out programming quickly and easily. “Anyone who can handle a tablet or smartphone can also operate our cobots,” says Andie Zhang, Global Product Manager Collaborative Robotics at ABB.