The collaborative robot industry that assists humans has recently been receiving attention as a national future strategic industry, but there are many who are skeptical about its actual introduction into industrial sites.

Universal Robots has revealed its ambition to expand the domestic collaborative robot ecosystem in earnest by launching the high-load collaborative robot 'UR20'.

Global collaborative robot company 'Universal Robots' held a 'UR20 Domestic Launch Press Conference' at 'Botbotbot' in Seongsu-dong on the 7th, demonstrated its new product 'UR20', and presented the outlook for the collaborative robot industry and future plans.

According to Lee Nae-hyung, CEO of Universal Robots Korea, "Last year, our country ranked first in robot usage relative to population density, but it was focused on industrial robots. The government has also expanded its support policy for collaborative robots, and the number of collaborative robot manufacturers has increased to around 10, but awareness of collaborative robots is still low." He argued, "In order to increase awareness of collaborative robots themselves, we will ultimately need to expand the market itself."

Universal Robots is spurring the training of collaborative robot experts to improve awareness of collaborative robots in Korea.

To this end, Universal Robots will provide paid training with certifications in addition to six locations nationwide starting in the second half of the year.It was reported that one-day free training was conducted at an authorized training center. In the future, the number of online and offline training sessions will be increased and the target will be expanded to elementary and middle school students to foster robot experts.

Meanwhile, at the event, Universal Robots’ Seonghwang Hyung manager introduced and demonstrated the new product ‘UR20’ with a payload capacity of 20 kg.
The 'UR20' working range has increased to 1,750mm compared to the existing UR10e, and is designed to operate up to the full height of a Euro pallet, enabling installation in small spaces. The weight including all equipment is 64kg, which is the lowest in the industry.

The 'UR20' has been redesigned to ensure that there are no speed restrictions even in large-scale workplaces. It can be used with maximum payload in any position and can be installed in various directions. Major applications include pick-and-place, palletizing, machine standing, and welding.

“Universal Robots is differentiated in that it maximizes uptime and achieves reliability by using premium parts, compared to problems that can arise and accumulate when using low-cost parts,” said Sung.

He also added, "Although domestic references are still lacking compared to Japan and other countries, we plan to increase our response to the needs of various industries including manufacturing," and "We will actively make efforts to expand the market in various ways, including considering rental methods."

Meanwhile, Universal Robots is maintaining its title as the No. 1 collaborative robot company, recording sales of 50,000 collaborative robots in 2020 and occupying more than 50% of the market share.