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Mechatronics concept will ‘revolutionise’ industrial automation
Published:  03 November, 2017

Yaskawa Electric has made a rather cryptic announcement in Japan about a new “solution concept” aimed at achieving “a revolution in industrial automation”. It adds that it is about to offer solutions that will merge software with hardware, and will create new value for customers.

The technology appears to be based on a concept called i³-Mechatronics that promises “further advancements and implementations of automation” through “the management of digital data”.

Yaskawa says that the technology will result in enhanced productivity and higher quality through data acquisition and analysis, using artificial intelligence. It will offer real-time visualisation of manufacturing statuses, link devices and move data between them, and reduce “tact times” by leveraging big data for improved productivity.

The technology will also use analytics on product quality data with the aim of improving accuracy “by equalising inspection procedures”.

Yaskawa says its i³-Mechatronics concept will revolutionise industrial automation

Yaskawa sees the development as an extension of proposals it made in the 1970s for unmanned factories, where digitally controlled and digitally connected machines are “working systematically”. The company dubbed the concept “mechatronics”.

Since then, Yaskawa has offered an array of automation technologies including AC servos, AC drives and robots, with the aim of improving productivity and quality.