SICK and Universal Robots (UR) announced a new safety solution for the safeguarding of accessible cobot applications for the URe Series of cobots. When combined, the sBot safety system and URCap from SICK increase productivity with immediate automated restart and profit from an easy configuration of the safety system directly from the UR teach pendant.

The sBot Stop – URCap and sBot Speed – URCap are based on the combination of SICK’s nanoScan3 safety laser scanner and UR’s cobot safety features. These solutions work well in handling operations using robot applications with free access and enable manufacturers to achieve safety without sacrificing productivity.

With its small size, the nanoScan3 opens up potential applications where space is extremely critical, such as cobots. It offers a protective field range of up to three meters. It features 128 freely configurable fields and monitoring cases. SICK won a 2020 RBR50 Innovation Award for the nanoScan3. The nanoScan3 is combined with the URe cobots safety features via a provided configuration tool. This enables the configuration directly via the UR teach pendant.

The safety laser scanner is constantly monitoring the ground level around the cobot. It can monitor two protective fields simultaneously around the robot, making it possible to dynamically reduce or stop the robot’s movement only when a person is too close to the robot working area. As soon the person leaves the area, the cobot recovers its operating speed.

sBot Stop – URCap and sBot Speed – URCap offers you a new way of safeguarding your robot application and achieve high productivity. It is easy and fast to setup and offers smart features like Smart Field definition, Field teach-in, simultaneous scan data and automatic field fusion provides feedback though the GUI.

UR, a 2020 RBR50 Innovation Award winner and the leading developer of cobot arms, recently sold its 50,000 cobot. In mid-February, it named Kim Povlsen its new president. Povlsen, a Danish native, held various executive business and technology leadership roles at Schneider Electric, a global energy management and automation company. Povlsen replaced Jürgen von Hollen, who stepped down at the end of 2020 after four-plus years as president of UR.