7 Latest Innovations in Robotics - ECPI University
1. Google's worker robots. Google is planning to produce worker robots with personalities. The technology giant recently won a patent for the ambitious project.
multi-tasking bot
Momentum Machines developed a <anchor>multi-tasking bot</anchor> capable of preparing a gourmet hamburger in as little as 10 seconds. If all goes well, the robot could eventually be used in fast food restaurants.
Universal Robots UR3 Arm Is Small and Nimble, Helps to Build Copies of Itself - IEEE Spectrum
Universal Robots UR3 Arm Is Small and Nimble, Helps to Build Copies of Itself

Share

FOR THE TECHNOLOGY INSIDER

Search:

Explore by topic

FOR THE TECHNOLOGY INSIDER

### Topics

### Sections

### More

### For IEEE Members

### For IEEE Members

### IEEE Spectrum

### Follow IEEE Spectrum

### Support IEEE Spectrum

IEEE Spectrum is the flagship publication of the IEEE — the world’s largest professional organization devoted to engineering and applied sciences. Our articles, podcasts, and infographics inform our readers about developments in technology, engineering, and science.

© Copyright 2024 IEEE — All rights reserved. A not-for-profit organization, IEEE is the world's largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity.

## Enjoy more free content and benefits by creating an account

## Saving articles to read later requires an IEEE Spectrum account

## The Institute content is only available for members

## Downloading full PDF issues is exclusive for IEEE Members

## Downloading this e-book is exclusive for IEEE Members

## Access to  Spectrum  's Digital Edition is exclusive for IEEE Members

## Following topics is a feature exclusive for IEEE Members

## Adding your response to an article requires an IEEE Spectrum account

## Create an account to access more content and features on  IEEE Spectrum  , including the ability to save articles to read later, download Spectrum Collections, and participate in  conversations with readers and editors. For more exclusive content and features, consider  Joining IEEE  .

## Join the world’s largest professional organization devoted to engineering and applied sciences and get access to  all of Spectrum’s articles, archives, PDF downloads, and other benefits.  Learn more about IEEE →

## Join the world’s largest professional organization devoted to engineering and applied sciences and get access to  this e-book plus all of  IEEE Spectrum’s  articles, archives, PDF downloads, and other benefits.  Learn more about IEEE →

## Access Thousands of Articles — Completely Free

## Create an account and get exclusive content and features: Save articles, download collections, and  talk to tech insiders — all free! For full access and benefits,  join IEEE as a paying member.

# Universal Robots UR3 Arm Is Small and Nimble, Helps to Build Copies of Itself

## One application this robot is already helping with: making more robots

17 Mar 2015

3 min read

Erico Guizzo is IEEE Spectrum’s digital innovation director.

Universal Robots UR3 Arm Is Small and Nimble, Helps to Build Copies of Itself

The new UR3 robotic arm [left] and its bigger siblings UR5 and UR10.

Photo: Universal Robots

This Danish family is growing. Universal Robots, based in Odense, Denmark, is announcing today a new addition to its line of industrial robotic arms. The new arrival is called UR3, and it’s smaller than the company’s earlier models, UR5 and UR10. Compared to its older siblings, the little UR3 looks light and nimble—and even “cute,” as one observer described it.

Universal Robots has been expanding at a rapid pace, selling 2000 robots last year and planning to sell 4000 this year, with expected revenue of $100 million. With a more portable and affordable offering, the company wants to bring robots to companies—especially small and medium businesses—for which automation has been too complex or costly.

The UR3 will sell for US $23,000 in the United States. (The UR5 costs $35,000, and the UR10, $45,000). Like its predecessors, the UR3 is a 6-axis articulated arm that can perform a host of tasks (pick-and-place, soldering, screwing, gluing, painting) in close collaboration with human workers. To program the robot, you can simply grab it, move it around, and tap on a touchscreen to record the desired positions and actions.

Universal Robots is unveiling the UR3 today in Shanghai, China, and it will demonstrate the new robot at the Automate trade show in Chicago next week.

imgThe UR3 will sell for US $23,000 in the United States. (The UR5 costs $35,000, and the UR10, $45,000).Photo: Universal Robots

Unlike traditional industrial robots, which are big, expensive, and work inside safety enclosures, this new generation of collaborative robots is designed to be flexible, easy to program, and safe to operate near people.

Universal Robots CTO and co-founder Esben Østergaard tells IEEE Spectrum that it took three years to develop the UR3. The biggest technical challenge, he said, was miniaturizing their technology, which was already highly compact and integrated. (Read more about what’s inside the UR robots in our interview with CEO Enrico Krog Iversen.)

Here are some UR3 specs:

- Weight: 11 kg

- Payload: 3 kg [UR5: 5 kg; UR10: 10 kg]

- Reach: 50 cm [UR5: 85 cm; UR10: 130 cm]

- Rotation: 360-degree rotation on all wrist joints, infinite rotation on end joint; 360 degrees in 1 second

- Repeatability: ±0.1 mm [same as UR5 and UR10]

- Safety: 15 adjustable settings (force limit default is 150 N; can be adjusted down to 50 N)

- Modular design: exchanging a joint takes less than 30 minutes

- Improved force control

- New motherboard with faster boot-up

Asked if the UR3 is capable of performing electronics assembly tasks, such as placing small components on a circuit board, Østergaard says there are dedicated machines for that. “A traditional robot should probably not try to replace those,” he says. “However, for doing handling and assembly of everything else, the UR3 could prove to be a very good choice.”

img

Photo: Universal Robots

Universal Robots says the UR3 can tighten screws by applying the correct torque.

I asked him to explain how the “improved force control” works in the new robot, but he declined to give details, noting that the technology “is basically the same as for UR5 and UR10, just developed further.” An interesting feature is the robot’s ability to follow the shape of a part—while applying glue to it, for example—by “feeling” its outline rather than through a pre-configured path (which would be time consuming to program).

Universal Robots has provided robotic arms to several of its suppliers, with the arms helping human workers assemble components that will go into other arms, Østergaard says. “Our robots are indeed helping to build our robots.”

Universal Robots is aggressively marketing its robots through a network of 200 sales partners in 50 countries. But it remains to be seen how the UR3 will affect the company’s bottom line; after all, the UR3, which is only slightly smaller than the UR5, could cannibalize sales of the higher priced models in certain projects.

The company says the UR3 is particularly suited for “light assembly tasks and automated workbench scenarios” in a variety of industries. In fact, there’s one application the new robot is already helping with: making copies of itself. Universal Robots has provided robotic arms to several of its suppliers, with the arms helping human workers assemble components that will go into other arms, Østergaard says.

“Our robots are indeed helping to build our robots.”

Erico Guizzo is the director of digital innovation at IEEE Spectrum, and cofounder of the IEEE Robots Guide, an award-winning interactive site about robotics. He oversees the operation, integration, and new feature development for all digital properties and platforms, including the Spectrum website, newsletters, CMS, editorial workflow systems, and analytics and AI tools. An IEEE Member, he is an electrical engineer by training and has a master’s degree in science writing from MIT.

The Conversation (0)

## Can AI Talk People Out of Conspiracy Theories?

9h

4 min read

## The Next Frontier for EV Batteries: Nanoscale Coatings

16h

3 min read

## AI Makes Effective Solar Cells—And Explains the Results

11 Sep 2024

3 min read

## Related Stories

## Dextrous Robotics Wants To Move Boxes With Chopsticks

## Zebra Technologies To Acquire Fetch Robotics for $305 Million

## What’s Going on With Amazon’s “High-Tech” Warehouse Robots?