New door-opening robot for car painting released by Yaskawa

Yaskawa Electric, a Japanese industrial robot company, has launched the “MOTOMAN-MPO10L”, a door-opening robot that opens and closes car doors and works with a painting robot while following a conveyor in the painting process of an automobile production line. The new robot has a payload capacity of 10 kg and a reach of up to 2,550 mm.

Traditionally, automakers have used either a painting robot equipped with a hand to open and close car doors, or a special door-opening robot installed separately on a conveyor. However, these methods have had some limitations, such as the need to stop the painting process when the door is opened or closed, or the need to install a separate motion unit.

The MOTOMAN-MPO10L was developed to solve these problems. The robot can open, close and hold car doors while following the movement of the conveyor. This allows the painting robot to focus only on painting, thus reducing the overall production cycle time. Compared to installing a robot on a conveyor, the MOTOMAN-MPO10L’s equipment configuration does not require a large footprint or heavy-duty motion units, which reduces installation, maintenance and operating costs.

In addition, the robot arm of the MOTOMAN-MPO10L is in a low position, allowing it to operate close to the floor, where it does not interfere with the painting robot’s work area or the car body. As a result, the waiting time to avoid interference can be minimized, and the production cycle time can be further optimized.