Productive Robotics, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based developer of collaborative robot arms, launched a software update for its line of OB7 cobots. The software update enhances the connectivity features of the OB7 cobots.

The company said the updates include:

• The ability for OB7 cobots to directly monitor and control machines they’re working with. This includes instant connection to machines with Rockwell Automation’s Ethernet IP, and other compatible controls.
• Live online status monitoring
• Email and text message alerts for status updates, machine stoppages or issues.
• Complete interoperability and collaboration with Cognex and other camera systems.
• 30-plus other “convenience function.”

Existing cobots will receive a digital download of the new software updates. There are currently three OB7 cobots on the market — OB7, OB7-Max 8 and OB7-Max 12. Here is a quick comparison of the OB7 cobots:

Productive Robotics OB7 Cobots Comparison

All of the OB7 cobots are equipped with a “no programming,” teach interface. This allows users to instruct the OB7 through positioning and a simple user interface rather than through programming.

Zac Bogart, president and CEO of Productive Robotics, recently told our sister publication, The Robot Report, that its cobots learn by interpreting what the user shows it when moving it through the job. The OB7 does not simply go from point to point.

The OB7 interprets the moves and positions that the user “shows” it, and from that, it creates movements that are efficient, smooth, and accurate.

Like a human arm, seven joints give OB7 the flexibility and dexterity to reach around objects or obstacles. Unlike a human arm, each joint on the OB7 cobots can rotate 360 degrees in both directions, allowing the cobot to work in confined workspaces.

Productive Robotics entered the cobot market in 2017 with its OB7. It unveiled a full line of cobots at Automate/ProMat 2019 in Chicago.

To compare 100 different cobot arms by payload, horizontal reach, repeatability and degrees of freedom, check out our Collaborative Robots Comparison Tool.