MOTOMAN NEXT - A new platform from Yaskawa for intelligent adaptive robotic automation and AI
MOTOMAN NEXT is a new all-in-one technology platform, including robot hardware, software and engineering tools, opening the stage of robotic automation, leveraging Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, for more intelligent and adaptive robot solutions. Robot users, software developers and system integrators find a smart and convenient entry to build, deploy and operate intelligent robotic applications which were previously considered difficult or uneconomical to automate. Robots in combination with AI, machine vision and sensor technology are seen as the key to overcome the challenges of demographic change and labour shortages.
MOTOMAN NEXT is a harmonized system including robot and control hardware, software and engineering tools. The RCU (Robot Control Unit) is supplemented by an ACU (Autonomous Control Unit) based on a powerful NVIDIA® Jetson Orin™ NX-Edge device with integrated CPU and GPU. The ACU hosts a Linux operating system supporting modern docker container deployments. Yaskawa adds relevant robot-specific core functionalities by providing pre-installed software services and skills, including automatic collision-free path planning, motion control, access to I/Os, as well as function modules for force sensing and 2D/3D/AI-based image processing (HALCON© Library). A ROS bridge, implemented through the gRPC protocol, connects the Yaskawa Services to ROS2 software modules, which are developed by the agile and innovative ROS robotics community.
All-in-one robot control platform "managed by Yaskawa"
By integrating both robot control worlds (RCU and ACU), MOTOMAN NEXT pioneers to combine programming methods from the classic, signal-based automation world (OT) and the data-based IT world - on one single robot controller platform, eliminating the need to run robotic applications on an additional external PC.
Yaskawa takes over the management of the hardware platform and core software modules (services and skills) and takes over the time-consuming setup and pre-configuration of a Linux PC. The result is an all-in-one solution including approved software modules and core robotics functions which are perfectly tuned to the robot system.
Engineering and Digital Twin
The MOTOMAN NEXT package includes a professional engineering and simulation tool, YNX Robot Simulator, which acts as a digital twin to enable virtual development, testing and optimization of intelligent robotic solutions. Alternatively, experienced software developers can choose the engineering toolchain from NVIDIA® (Isaac Sim™, cumotion), which Yaskawa is one of the world's first industrial robot manufacturers to fully support.
“Code and Produce” vs. “Perceive & Produce”
Conventional industrial robots are programmed upfront for a predictable spectrum of workpieces and defined environments. However, if this spectrum gets inpredictable in regards of variety, batch size or working sequence, flexible robots are required to recognise, understand and react to new situations and workpiece variants, involving sensor technology (e.g. cameras and force sensors). The demand is high to automate complex jobs, which have been previously considered as difficult or uneconomical to automate by robots, due to the superior skills of humans like hand-eye coordination, dexterity, or decision-making. Tasks where a certain degree of adaptivity is required which can no more be covered by classical upfront programming. Those non-automated tasks are everyday activities such as loading/unloading, assembly, cleaning, sorting, harvesting, or packaging. These more complex tasks can be found in traditional industries, but especially in new markets such as logistics, large-scale catering, healthcare, construction and recycling - in other words, areas where automation is not yet common, but all of them affected by labour shortage.