European Automotive Giant Showcases Solutions for Diverse North American Industries

Summary

North American manufacturers of everything from electric vehicles to batteries to renewable energy systems to ships made of welded steel have a new solution provider to consider. That is message from Comau, the European-based industrial automation products and systems provider with roots in the automotive industry who was showing its portfolio of robots and other advanced automation solutions at the Automate Show in Chicago last month.

As the robotics and automation engine of Stellantis, a multinational automotive manufacturer of brands including Citroen, Peugot, Chrysler, Maserati and Dodge, Comau is leveraging its expertise to drive other complex manufacturing tasks all over the world. Laerte Scarpitta, Comau’s leader of the Americas, provided insight into the company’s push into North America and its portfolio of new products.

Comau is “powering automation innovation in the USA and elsewhere” in logistics, warehousing, hydrogen and e-Mobility as well as in shipbuilding, aerospace and other unstructured environments with its intelligent robots and mobile robotic solutions, Scarpitta said. On display were technology and systems for electric, hybrid and traditional vehicle manufacturing, industrial robots, collaborative and wearable robotics, and autonomous logistics. The company also provides dedicated machining centers, interconnected digital services, and products able to transmit, elaborate on and analyze machine and process data.

“We understand the best application of automation and robotics in different domains to improve productivity and reduce costs,” Scarpitta said. “As we expand into the North American market, we’re emphasizing customer needs and tailored solutions. For example, we can provide perspective on the potential of machine learning and automation in the renewable energy sector.”

Scarpitta has worked for Comau for 22 years, always in Latin countries: Mexico, Brazil, Argentina. He said he learned a lot by working directly with customers and is looking forward to working with new customers in a new market.

“The automotive industry [in South America] is a wild roller coaster sometimes, and here in North America, the cycle is not so different,” he said. “For example, in Brazil, we have cycled through incredible highs when everybody was investing at the same time. And then everybody stopped investing at the same time.”

Comau took the opportunity to diversify into other segments and markets and now has “some skills to apply, Scarpitta said. “We can show customers what we did someplace else. We can use some things we have developed for automotive and, for example, give them a second life applied to palletizing applications, for example.”

Already in North America

Comau already has a solid presence in North America with its Engineering Center in Southfield (Detroit), Michigan, and its longstanding collaboration with innovation partner Intrinsic. Intrinsic is an Alphabet company and Google moonshot based in Mountain View, California that is working to make the next generation of robotics significantly more accessible to companies of all sizes and in all industries. 
 
In their respective booths at Automate, Comau and Intrinsic showed their joint solutions including Intrinsic Flowstate, an all-in-one developer environment for building production-grade automation solutions. Automate attendees were buzzing about leveraging existing robot operating system (ROS) code in new ways with Intrinsic and Jazzy Jalisco, the latest ROS 2 release.

Comau works with customers to provide exactly what they need. Scarpitta explained that some customers say, “I need to buy two robots, but I can’t afford them. And then I say, okay, you can buy one through me and then I can rent to you a second one for six months. This can help them. We can be more flexible and help them with the cost. Whether they need to buy 10 robots or 100 robots or 1000 robots, we can help them understand the best way to get what they need,” he said.

New robots and systems

One demo cell in Comau’s Automate booth featured the new S-Family of small 6-axis articulated “red” robots specifically designed for arc welding and other applications where accuracy, repeatability and speed are essential. S-Family robots are suited not only for automotive but also for material handling, food & beverage, general assembly, and battery manufacturing.

Their smaller footprints and multiple mounting positions can increase robot density without sacrificing performance. With their protective water and dust-resistant IP68 hollow-wrist and fully integrated arc and gigabit dressings, the compact red robots are said to grant improved access to small spaces. Further benefits include protected cables to avoid damage and reduce the risk of contamination in sensitive environments; and multiple mounting positions (floor, wall, ceiling).

Another demo cell featured Comau’s MI.RA/OnePicker, the newest solution in its Machine Inspection Recognition Archetypes (MI.RA) family of hardware-agnostic, AI-enhanced intelligent vision systems. Making its worldwide debut at Automate 2024, the MI.RA/OnePicker is designed to autonomously pick miscellaneous objects from the same bin without relying on CAD-based assistance or prior information about the objects’ size, shape, color or characteristics. AI-enabled and adaptable to any brand of commercial robot, customized bin or customized gripper, the smart functionality of Comau’s MI.RA solution is suitable for pick and place, kitting, sorting, warehouse, e-commerce and similar applications.

See Comau: Supporting Sustainability on Multiple Fronts for more information on the company.