Robotics are becoming more important, but small and medium-sized companies are often faced with the question: How can a task be automated cost-effectively with little effort, in training or investment? Since 2019, the RBTX marketplace powered by igus brings robotics providers and users together and has offered simple and inexpensive solutions from less than EU3,000 – for example, a pipetting robot with all accessories. Now RBTX is cooperating with Universal Robots, a market leader for lightweight, industrial collaborative robots.
Flexible automation solutions and fast integration as well as intuitive use – these are the goals pursued by the RBTX marketplace and the cobot manufacturer Universal Robots with their robotics offerings. The two companies announced at Motek 2022 in Stuttgart the start of their partnership in Germany, Austria and Switzerland as part of the RBTX offer of igus. Through the online platform RBTX.com, the marketplace now cooperates with 70 companies and suppliers that supply their robots, gripping systems, camera technology, conveyor belts, software, and services on the platform. The advantage: it provides a compatibility guarantee for the entire software and hardware offering, so that users can have assurance that all components work together.
“With Universal Robots, we have gained another well-known partner through which we can expand the product range of cobots on RBTX.com, beyond igus’ own robot ReBeL,” says Adam Sanjurgo, Low Cost Automation Manager at igus UK. “Universal Robots is not only a pioneer of cobots, but also a pioneer in the intuitive programming of robots. This fits perfectly into our marketplace concept for low-cost automation – solutions that can be implemented quickly and easily even with no previous knowledge of robotics. We are therefore very pleased that we were able to establish Universal Robots as a partner.” There are already numerous accessories on the marketplace, such as the seventh robot axis from igus, which can be combined with the UR cobots.
Lowering hurdles together
“Universal Robots offers easy-to-integrate automation solutions that enable customers to strengthen their competitiveness and achieve a quick return on investment, and this fits very well with RBTX’s approach,” says Andrea Alboni, General Manager Western Europe at Universal Robots.
Adam Sanjurgo adds: “We are always interested in new partners, because this allows our open marketplace to offer even more individual solutions. After all, we are both pursuing a common goal: to make automation as accessible as possible to everyone.” According to the “Build or Buy” principle on, buyers and interested parties can find a ready-made robotics system at a fixed price on RBTX or they can individually build up components for their own solution.
Users of the marketplace also have access to “RBTXpert” at any time – a remote integrator service for automation solutions with a fixed price. The RBTXpert checks the feasibility of the planned application with the customer in a video chat (first hour is free of charge) and shows the advantages of different kinematics. After the consultation, the customer receives an offer with a fixed price – always offering the most cost-effective, functional solution. And the RBTXpert also helps with commissioning robotics components, helping everyone to find the best automation solution for their application and budget on RBTX.com – even without automation experience or programming knowledge. With its constantly growing partner network, RBTX offers customers an ever-expanding low-cost automation universe – with the common goal of further lowering the hurdles of automation.
