On 19 January, ICD hosted a visit from OMRON, represented by Barry Oorbeek, Key Account Manager Industry Solutions and Rob Verbeek, Marketing Manager. The purpose of the visit was to celebrate and confirm Omron's cooperation with ICD. During the visit, attention was also paid to how Omron would like to shape the cooperation in the field of innovation and knowledge sharing within ICD and beyond.
OMRON supports factory innovation with industrial automation technology and solutions. The company was founded in 1933 and employs about 30,000 people worldwide. OMRON has its European headquarters in Hoofddorp, and a factory, the European distribution centre, R&D and repair services in Den Bosch.
After a welcoming speech by Binne Visser from ICD, 'Ronny' was introduced. Ronny is an AMR developed by Omron, a mobile robot that adapts to its environment. This mobile robot makes a scan of its surroundings by means of built-in sensors and lasers. This helps the robot to map out its surroundings and determine the most efficient route. When changes are made in the workplace, the AMR adapts itself accordingly. For each purpose and use, the upper part of the AMR can be placed differently. The AMR can also collaborate with a cobot (collaborative robot) arm for even greater flexibility.
The visitors were given a tour of the SKILLS building with a lab for robotics, 3D printing and artificial intelligence software and watched a promotional video about ICD. Joost Krebbekx, Program Manager at ICD gave a presentation about the future plans of ICD and Victor Woord of Beenen gave a demonstration about AMR Ronny, which is now in use at industrial automation company Beenen.
"We wanted to take this step over a year ago," says Barry Oorbeek, "and now we're here. OMRON's mission is to improve lives and contribute to a better society. The cooperation with ICD fits our mission perfectly. We would like to share knowledge with educational institutions, and use our innovation capacity and expertise for large manufacturing or tech companies."“
Celebrating the reinforced cooperation, Joost, Binne en Eric received a gift from OMRON.
