Yaskawa and Clearpath partner to develop mobile manipulation system

Yaskawa, Dayton, Ohio, and Clearpath, Kitchener, Ont., have partnered to develop a mobile machine tending and material movement system suitable for shop floor environments.

This fully integrated system features a Motoman® MH12 robot equipped with an end-of-arm tool (EOAT) and vision system, mounted on Clearpath’s OTTO 1500 self-driving vehicle. The project currently is under development and supported under the advanced research division of Clearpath.

“Our partnership with Clearpath will provide industry with a robust, tightly integrated solution for moving robots to the work in a very flexible and dynamic way,” said Roger Christian, divisional leader, new product development, at Yaskawa Motoman. “This autonomous modular solution provides users an alternative to arranging the work to a fixed robot station.”

The robot has a 12-kg payload capacity, a hollow wrist for EOAT cable management, and a 1,440-mm horizontal reach.

The vehicle has a payload capacity of 3,300 lbs. and is built with industrial-grade components to withstand the rigors of industrial environments.

“We’re really excited to partner with Yaskawa to develop the future of mobile manipulation and collaborative robots,” said Matt Rendall, CEO of Clearpath. “Combining our cutting-edge self-driving industrial vehicles with Yaskawa’s industry-leading robot arms will enable a new category of automation for machine tending.”