Combined with Hurco’s Automation Manager CNC feature, the partnership is expected to enable job shops to integrate collaborative robots into their processes with minimal effort.
Hurco has partnered with ProCobots to provide integration of robotic automation for high-mix manufacturing with its machining centers. Hurco’s Automation Manager CNC feature is said to ease such integration, providing a graphical interface between the collaborative robot and the machine tool.
“We know the struggles shops have experienced with traditional automation, especially when it’s time for program changes or a machine transfer. That’s why we formed a partnership with ProCobots to create a completely integrated job shop automation system that is portable, reliable, easy to set up, easy to program and affordable. The Automation Job Manager software feature on the Hurco control was created specifically for job shops and the machinists who find ways to bring order to the chaos of high-mix manufacturing,” says Maggie Smith, marketing manager for Hurco Companies Inc.
Brian Knopp, president of ProCobots, adds, “With compact footprints that don’t require intrusive safety fencing, the UR collaborative robots that we use work safely with machinists. With the Practical Job Shop Automation Packages Hurco has put together, machinists are able to focus on the high-value skills they contribute to each job and let the cobots do the monotonous, lower-skilled tasks.”
