A number of releases regarding next week’s Automate show have just come my way from one of my favorite professional PR contacts. This one is robotic-oriented. It appears that this will be very much a robot show. A company I don’t know (Inbolt) partnering with one I’ve studied extensively as an analyst (FANUC). This is pretty cool stuff.
Inbolt and FANUC are enabling FANUC robots to perform production tasks on continuously moving parts at line speeds. With Inbolt’s AI-powered 3D vision, manufacturers can now automate screw insertion, bolt rundown, glue application and other high-precision tasks on parts moving down the line without costly infrastructure investments or cycle time compromises. The new Inbolt and FANUC integration allows the CRX cobot and other FANUC robot models to operate with real-time 3D vision and adaptive trajectory correction, even with part variation or imperfect environments.
General Motors is the first to adopt this new integration, while other leading brands, including Stellantis, Ford, Whirlpool, ThyssenKrupp Automotive, and Toyota, use Inbolt’s technology across various applications.
This solution combines FANUC’s streaming motion capabilities, which enable real-time trajectory input via Ethernet, with Inbolt’s lightweight, robot-mounted vision system and ultra-fast AI model.
- Real-Time 3D Guidance: Inbolt’s proprietary localization AI refreshes at a high rate continuously identifying object orientation and adapting robot paths on the fly, enabling high-speed screwdriving and part insertion without indexing.
- Flexible Deployment: Operates in low-space environments, with no need for fencing. Ideal for General Assembly stations.
Significantly lowering the barriers to high-performance automation, this integration eliminates the need for specialized lighting or custom jigs, making it easier to deploy robots in complex, real-world environments. A single robot can now handle over 100 part models with real-time accuracy, even on continuously moving lines. Deployment is streamlined through Inbolt Studio, an intuitive platform that allows users to import CAD files, train the AI model, validate tracking in real time, and launch the program directly on the line.
