OptoForce announced that it has completely rewritten its core software, resulting in new capabilities and automation tasks not previously available for Universal Robots industrial robots. The new developments also feature much greater speed for integration on many industrial robotic functions.

For example, the speed of pin insertion and path recording with constant speed under force mode is a major new development from this release – the latter capability providing organizations with substantially improved manufacturing performance, as it will be especially useful during surface finishing (such as polishing and deburring, among many others). The ability to provide path recording with constant speed under force mode is a unique offering now being made available to the marketplace with this announcement, and one that will likely be in high demand by organizations. 

In addition, with this solution, robots can adapt to the surface and can follow any kind of surface form. This is aided by the use of spline movement and keeping the torque constant. Despite these major advancements in robotic functions, setup is still easy-to-do and simple-to- understand, requiring only OptoForce software modules. The following videos provide demonstrations of some of the different capabilities:

·         Polishing: https://optoforce.com/applications/polishing-metal-car-part

·         Deburring:  https://optoforce.com/applications/metal-deburring-remove-raised-edges

·         Pin Insertion: https://optoforce.com/applications/pin-insertion

OptoForce also announced that the price point for its sensors will not change with this announcement.

“OptoForce listens closely to customers, systems integrators, and our distributors about what is needed in the field to improve a company’s operational performance with industrial robotics,” said Ákos Domotor, CEO of OptoForce. “We take great pride in reacting to these market demands and responding accordingly, while also holding our price point constant. With that, we’re very excited to announce this release. By rewriting our core software, we’re now able to provide several new automation tasks, at a much faster speed and with greater performance and reliability, for companies relying on Universal Robots for their automation strategy and operations.”  

Following is a complete and comprehensive breakdown of the new capabilities provided by this new release:

1)      New Hand Guide features with increased precision and maneuverability:

o   Snap to axes: to align the tool orientation to vertical or horizontal planes easily

o   Anti-drift button: allows longer hand-guiding sessions and steadier operation

o   Increased precision

 2)      Improved Pin Insertion with more features and up-to-five times faster insertion speed:

o   Increased insertion speed, up to 5x faster

o   More reliable insertion, with detection for jammed condition and customizable force/torque limits

3)      New F/T Move command with new features to speed up the programming, supporting:

o   Multiple waypoints to be added with a single click of a button to speed up dramatically the programming

o   Constant speed feature to create smooth movement easily

4)      New F/T Control command that allow even more applications (e.g.: deburring):

o   Higher fidelity: acts more precisely, keeps the force more constant

o   Force/torque control could be achieved for better surface finish or assembly

o   More control over the parameters for advanced users to finial tune the speed of the application

o   Larger options of working mode (coordinate systems can be customized) to enable even more applications

5)      Compatible with the latest UR robot software (v3.5):

o   Fully supports the latest UR software (Polyscope 3.5) while backward compatible with the previous one (Polyscope 3.4)

 6)      Improved update process to allow fast and hassle-free system update:

o   Update of the Compute Box from previous versions become easier to benefit from the upcoming new software versions

 7)      New connection protocol that eliminates the connection problems:

o   The newly rewritten connection protocols assure a more robust and reliable system to further support the 24/7 industrial working operation

 8)      New Compute Box Robot Controller Interface for third-party developers to support even more robots:

o   The new Compute Box Robot Controller Interface allows third-party developers to integrate our system into robots that we currently do not support

More information: OptoForce or email Nóra Bereczki at nora.bereczki@optoforce.com.