ABB Robotics Launches Affordable Robotic Educational Package for Schools

ABB Robotics has designed an affordable robotic educational package for schools, universities and colleges for exposing students to the practical concepts in robotics. By working on industrial applications with the educational package, the students will gain knowledge on the latest concepts in robotic manufacturing systems.

The IRC5 compact controller, IRB 120 robot, the smallest robot from ABB, 50 licenses for RobotStudio and offline and simulation programming software are included in the package. Additionally an optional software bundle is also included. Joe Campbell, the VP of ABB robots, stressed on the importance of exposing students to the various aspects of robotics and encouraging them to take up higher studies in engineering and manufacturing.

The robotic learning package occupies very little space and is suitable for use in classrooms where the students get a real-life experience on robots, software and controllers. By interacting with the components of the package, students are exposed to the real-life operations of industrial robots, their control and design principles, programming concepts using RobotStudio and functions specific to applications such as welding, plasma cutting, palletizing, packing, assembly etc. Campbell added that their target was to reach out to schools of various budgets and sizes and improve basic skills in students need to succeed.

The IRB120 is a light weight, easily transportable robot made up of aluminium weighing about 25 kg. The IRC5 compact controller translates the offline programming to live performance; it consists of advanced technology for motion control. The offline and simulation programming is done via the RobotStudio and is instrumental in exposing the students to real-life robotic applications. Additional software bundle is available having as many as 13 functions such as including SoftMove, multitasking and collision detection. ABB has involved itself in establishing training centers for robotics at technical schools such as Alabama Robotics Technology Park and the Vincennes University.