Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. has announced the launch of its ASSISTA collaborative robot in the Americas. As a collaborative robot, or "cobot," ASSISTA is designed to share its workplace with humans in a safe and efficient manner. This makes it a useful solution across various industries with its internal wiring, rigid, industrial-grade design, and newly developed components. ASSISTA is designed for original equipment manufacturers and endusers with a focus on easy implementation, as its high-quality internal wiring and piping reduces the risk of cables being caught or snagged, increasing uptime and decreasing the risk of needing repair.
It also includes an H1 food grade grease option for implementation in food processing facilities. For those customers with a focus on throughput and production, ASSISTA features accuracy that has been measured to be +/- 0.03 millimeters per cycle. Safety considerations include the elimination of hand and pinch points to protect hands and fingers of operators, and the robot reacts to its environment by going into a collaborative mode when operators approach it. Finally, ASSISTA can be programmed without a teach pendant to be more easily operated by those without prior industrial robot experience.
While ASSISTA is still compatible with a teach pendant, it can also be operated by buttons on the robot body or by “hand guiding” it to various positions. “We are excited to bring ASSISTA to North and South America,” said Scott Strache, product manager at Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. “We saw an opportunity to introduce a cobot that features truly industrial performance to the marketplace, all while backed by a three year onsite warranty.”