Robotic software leaders OCTOPUZ and READY Robotics have partnered up to simplify the programming and deployment of robotic automation - now they team up to share their insights on the manufacturing industry. We sit down with Kel Guerin, Co-Founder & CIO of READY Robotics, Rob House, Director, Product Management, and Jon House, Sales Director of OCTOPUZ. All three speakers have a vast knowledge of the industry and have been working tirelessly over the last decade to evolve how we program robots today.
In this monthly blog series, we sit down with Kel, Jon, and Rob to pick their brains on industry hot topics. We will dig into how advanced technologies can reduce programming time, and how reducing robot downtime can deliver a higher ROI and more.
You may be thinking READY and OCTOPUZ, what an interesting partnership. Are you not competitors? How does your respective software work together? We are setting the record straight and debunking the myths around our partnership and why it’s not crazy for Offline Robot Programming (OLRP) and No Code leaders to partner.
To put it simply the reason that our partnership makes sense is we are both trying to democratize robotic technology. In a way, both solutions are tackling the same problem. The difference is, we are focusing on different parts of it.
As we all know there’s a huge amount of work that goes into planning an industrial robot system and actually deploying that system on the factory floor. READY and OCTOPUZ take different, yet complementary approaches to reducing the work necessary for that. Enter Forge/OS and OCTOPUZ.
With Forge/OS, READY has built a single, intuitive platform for programming robots from the biggest OEMs - as well as the other peripheral hardware required to automate. Forge/OS’s No Code programming interface (Task Canvas) makes programming dramatically easier, enabling anybody to learn to program robots in a few hours. No robotics experience necessary. Once the programmer is comfortable programming with Task Canvas, they are able to program any Forge/OS-powered robot they deploy.
OLRP and OCTOPUZ excels in complex toolpath type applications or environments where you have a high mix of programs. However, there is still the requirement to be comfortable with the teach pendant for some work. You want to be able to utilize that OCTOPUZ produced code and easily make modifications on the fly. Also, for simple applications like pick and place, the pendant still may be the preferred programming method.
We can also look at it from another angle. What are the problems with industrial robots? We all know teach pendants can be clunky and difficult to use. We also know robot languages are distinct and require expertise to understand and utilize properly. Then throw in complex paths, using the teach pendant to program something like welding, cutting or machining can be very cumbersome.
What's holding robotics back is not what robots can do. It comes down to a programming barrier. The complexity of tasks robots have to perform are increasing. Someone on the factory floor may not know the best way to program a robot to weld, even if technology like Forge/OS makes it easy for them to program. There's still domain-specific knowledge that they may not have or may not be able to easily acquire. The fact that OLRP not only makes it easier to simulate this whole environment but then to take that environment and actually show the robot performing something as complex as welding is providing insights we haven’t seen before.
One thing to consider when pairing OLRP and Forge/OS, is that manufacturers that currently leverage robotic automation are probably using it for a variety of applications. Let’s take a look at a fabrication shop and see how our two solutions work together.
At this fab shop, you have weld cells and a robot that's loading and unloading a CNC machine or plasma table. You will have a programmer using Forge/OS to program the load and unload application. The same programmer will upload an OCTOPUZ program for their weld. It goes back to the flexibility of the two solutions. Having them both in place will make it so much easier for you to perform that task.
At the end of the day, we are both solving two halves of the same problem. We're both reducing that programming barrier hindering the industry. Forge/OS is entirely focused on, on-prem, and connected right to a robot. Where OLRP is focused on programming your robot offline and providing you with error free simulations of your cells. Ultimately, we're both just trying to make the programming process as easy as possible.
To learn more about OLRP and Forge/OS, visit our websites and book a demo today! Stay tuned for next month's Q&A blog. We sit down with Kel, Rob, and Jon and discuss how you can unlock ROI with new robot programming tools.
READY Forge/OS 5 Product Release
Arriving Spring 2021, Forge/OS 5 is a single, intuitive platform for controlling robots from all the top brands, and the other components needed to automate. Built on years of success in real production environments, this is the most advanced Forge/OS ever. Attend the Forge/OS 5 launch event!