Dobot Robotics expands its offering in the German market: New Cobot series and first German office location

Frankfurt am Main, 26 September 2023. With its newly founded subsidiary Dobot Europe GmbH as well as its first German office location near Frankfurt am Main, manufacturer Dobot Robotics will in the future focus on even closer cooperation with its local customers such as well-known automotive manufacturers and partners. This complements Dobot Robotics' global network with close to 200 sales partners and additional locations in China, the USA and Japan. Having already sold 68,000 robots worldwide already, Dobot is now launching the new CRA series of collaborative robots (cobots) and the associated VX500 smart camera to the German market. The cross-sector products expand the range of high-performance, easy-to-use cobot solutions primarily for companies in the automotive, electronics and metal processing industries, but also for the logistics sector.

"We are seeing a rapid expansion of application scenarios for cobots especially in the manufacturing industry. With the CRA series and its high performance all-in-one joint, we can provide a cobot solution with improved efficiency and highly consistent quality even for the most demanding users," explains Jerry Liu, CEO of Dobot.

The new products take human-machine collaboration to a new level in terms of reliability, safety and expandability. "In doing so, we aim to meet the individual needs of our partners and customers across different sectors and company sizes to accelerate the transition to automated production. Therefore, our first German location and the employment of dedicated experts who are very familiar with the local market are the next logical step for us." In the future, a total of seven employees from the areas of channel management, technical customer support, sales engineering and user training will be based in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt. A showroom and a training lab will be available to both partners and customers on site.

CRA Series: Even higher performance and precision combined with advanced safety features

The new CRA series comprises a total of seven models with maximum payloads from a minimum of 3 to a maximum of 20 kilograms and a working radius of 620 to 1,700 millimeters. They are used in high-precision industrial applications such as pick-and-place, sorting, screwing, inspection, gluing, welding, transporting, polishing and palletizing. Compared to the previous model, the CRA cobots offer a more powerful gearbox that shortens a work cycle by an average of 25 percent. The control boxes of the devices are also about 25 percent smaller, with optional IP54-rated protection in demanding environments, reducing long-term maintenance requirements. Micrometer-level anti-vibration technology ensures that the robot stops quickly and steadily, even at high speeds. In combination with the TrueMotion function, the CRA cobots ensure trajectory accuracy even during complex curved operations and thus add a new level of stability to all use cases.

CRA Series

Electromagnetic brakes stop the gripper arms from descending within 18 milliseconds, protecting workers in the immediate vicinity even during power outages. In addition, the models with payloads of 3, 5 and 10 kilograms are compatible with Dobot's self-developed SafeSkin technology. This detects obstacles within a radius of 15 centimeters and avoids collisions.

The CRA series supports Modbus, Ethernet/IP and Profinet communication and connects seamlessly with PLC and other automation systems. With 24 available I/O ports and PNP/NPN switching, expansions can be carried out more easily. The cobots' operating software, also new, supports graphical programming, scripting and drag-to-teach for trajectory replay. It is particularly user-friendly and compatible with diverse end devices, from PCs to tablets.

The new VX500 Smart Camera uses Dobot's proprietary 2.5D spatial compensation technology, which enables robots equipped with it to more accurately detect tilted or angled objects. This enables a variety of vision-based automation scenarios for cobots of the new CRA series as well as the existing CR series. Users can set up the new camera quickly and easily via Dobot's latest software.

VX500 Smart Camera