MachineMetrics, UR partner to automate robot performance monitoring, intelligence

MachineMetrics announces the availability of its Connector for Universal Robots (UR) to easily connect to and capture valuable data from any equipment from UR. This latest connector, now available through the UR+ program to all current UR cobot users, enables instant insights into the health and performance of their cobots. Now manufacturers can maximize the uptime of their cobots to increase productivity and drive additional throughput with no additional headcount.

“MachineMetrics, like Universal Robots, is at the forefront of delivering innovative solutions that lower the barrier to automation for manufacturers,” says Christopher Savoia, regional head UR+ Ecosystem. “Their unique ability to deliver real-time insights into the health and performance of UR collaborative robots means increased reliability, uptime, and productivity of automated work cells.”

“Connecting to – and capturing real-time data from – manufacturing equipment is what enables our customers to quickly and easily understand their production performance and the health of their machines,” says Bill Bither, CEO and co-founder of MachineMetrics, “By connecting UR cobots to MachineMetrics, users can now gain real-time insights into cobot productivity, alert teams when issues arise, and remotely troubleshoot and diagnose issues to get the cobot back up and running.”

The announcement of the Connector for Universal Robots follows MachineMetrics’ successful June 2021 series B funding round led by Teradyne, parent company of Universal Robots.

Manufacturing is undergoing a resurgence as business owners look to modernize their factories and speed up operations. According to Research Dive’s newly published report, the global collaborative robot (cobot) market is predicted to grow at a stunning CAGR of 41.2% by 2026. Cobots deliver a cutting-edge solution that makes it easier than ever before to automate manual tasks such as the loading and unloading of materials and parts, leading to major productivity gains and boosting throughput with no additional headcount. But, like all machines, ensuring these cobots run to their potential is paramount to their success.

MachineMetrics is a pioneer in making Industrial IoT (Internet of Things) technology easy for the shop floor. Its connectivity system is designed so that customers can capture data from any piece of factory floor equipment in minutes. Users can install it themselves without the need for expensive and time-consuming system integration work. Once installed, the data is instantly and securely streamed to the MachineMetrics Cloud Platform where users can visualize and analyze data from any asset.

“Extending the value of MachineMetrics to drive automation is the next generation of solution for manufacturers,” Bither says. “On its own, MachineMetrics can let the right person or system know at the right time what is happening to keep machines running. In an autonomous factory powered by MachineMetrics, machine data can trigger an action by a robot that feeds the bar into the machine without human intervention.”