Yaskawa has been producing electric motors since its founding in 1915. Our first robot model, the Motoman-L10, rolled off the production line in 1977 and was used, for example, in the production of underbody parts and exhaust systems in automobile manufacturing. This was our response to the growing demand for automation in automotive factories.
In 1994, YASNAC MRC robot control enabled fully independent collaboration between multiple robots for the first time in the industry. In 2003,Yaskawa moved from standard robots that can be used for a variety of applications, such as welding or handling, to “application-optimized robots” that are optimized for the specific application and consistently designed to meet customer needs. In addition, we have consistently introduced innovative technologies, such as a 7-axis robot that achieves the same degree of freedom as a human arm, or a dual-arm robot that can simulate work performed by a human with both arms.
In recent years, against the backdrop of a declining working-age population and a worsening labor shortage, demand in the general industrial sector for the three product markets (food, pharmaceuticals or cosmetics) and the 3C market (computers, home appliances and telecommunications equipment) has increased in addition to the automotive industry. To respond to diversifying manufacturing demands, we have introduced several HC (human collaboration) series collaborative robots since 2018, expanding the range of applications for industrial robots.
It is expected that customers’ manufacturing sites will continue to diversify, and there will also be a growing need for smarter manufacturing, such as improving production efficiency and quality and ensuring traceability. Under these circumstances, Yaskawa has developed a solution concept called “i³-Mechatronics” that adds “digital data management” to our automation solutions.