The Innovation Centre was unveiled to key channel partners from around Australia, as well as members of ABB’s Shanghai and Swedish robotics teams. The launch included information and training seminars presented by key ABB robotics staff from around the globe, followed by a display of the brand new IRB460 and IRB760 robots.

Oliver Cafmeyer, Global Channel Partner Manager for the robotics business unit, described the launch as a “good mix of interesting presentations - technical and non-technical - break-out sessions and demonstrations”. The event strengthened relationships with channel partners while demonstrating ABB’s latest offerings from robotics and how they can be integrated with existing ABB systems and technology.

The Innovation Centre was designed specifically for customer trials, robotics training and product demonstrations. The innovation centre currently displays an application demonstration of an IRB460, picking flexible bags off a roller conveyer and palletising them at a remarkable rate. Complementing this application is an IRB120 robot demonstrating material handling, an IRB1400 robot welding, and an IRB360 robot playing scrabble. Also on display is the new IRB760 robot, the big brother of the IRB460 robot. The new centre has been designed with flexibility in mind so it can be easily redesigned for future application demonstrations.

Included in the innovation centre are demonstrations of ABB’s value added packages and tutorials covering the latest RobotStudio software. In addition, visitors to the Innovation Centre can see offerings from Jokab Safety - the machine safety solution specialists acquired by ABB in March 2010 - which demonstrates that ABB offers a complete robotics solution with safety as a primary concern.

The successful launch of the Innovation Centre is attributed to the Robotics team in Australia led by Olivier Coquerel, head of Robotics in Australia. The centre will be a great asset to the company, offering a unique sales tool plus education facility.