ABB Robotics Announces the Okuma Interface for Robotic Machine Tending

ABB Robotics and Okuma, a developer and production of machine tools, have together developed an ABB - Okuma Interface, an ABB Robot standard interface to Okuma machine tools.

The Interface was developed under the THINC Program (THe Intelligent Numerical Control), which brings together more than 25 companies representing different facets of the manufacturing industry in an environment where they can collaborate on manufacturing solutions to allow customers to compete in a global and changing marketplace.

Developed on the open PC platform used by Okuma, the Interface consists of two parts: the graphical interface and the extendable robot controller program libraries and configuration files. The graphical interface allows the operator to start and stop the robot and move the robot safely into its home or service position. Graphical windows provide information about part data, robot events, input and output signal status, etc. The extendable robot controller program enables the programmer to readily create the code for the robot tending various machines, without the need for complex programming.