East Sussex-based Dugard Machine Tools will be exhibiting at the Robotics & Automation exhibition at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry on 29 and 30 October (stand 412).

The UK’s largest dedicated robotics and automation event will be used as a launch-pad for the Hanwha HCR range of collaborative automation solutions (cobots) for automating machine tools.

The company (www.dugard.com) will be showcasing the Hanwha HCR-5 model, which can handle loads up to 5kg and has a reach of 915mm; it can be easily moved around the workshop on a trolley that is available as an optional extra.

Siavash Baghaei, technical manager at Dugard Machine Tools, said: “The cobot market is extensive and mainly applies to materials handling, injection moulding and packaging, with machine tool applications currently representing less than 2% of the market for Hanwha robot solutions.

“We will be following this model and aiming at the wider industrial market.

"The Robotics & Automation exhibition will prove the perfect platform for us to promote the new range to an extremely diverse audience.”

The cobots are easy to program and very safe to use.

They incorporate many safety features, such as collision detection, joint rotation and speed limits, a virtual safety fence and a reliable control system.

Customers can store thousands of programs, and the cobots’ connectivity — via Ethernet or a USB port — means that data storage is never a problem.