The Danish pioneer of collaborative robots has chosen Irvine to headquarter its new Western division. The offices, located at 101 Pacifica in Irvine, will also feature a training and demonstration center for clients and partners. A large open house event is planned for July 13, 2016.

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Universal Robots, the market leader of collaborative robots, the emerging new class of industrial robots that can work outside of safety enclosures alongside employees, is now widening its U.S. presence with a 3,000+ sq. ft. new West Coast base in Irvine.

New West Coast HQ opening in Irvine, CA, expanding local tech & sales support of UR #cobots - Open House July 13:
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For the past three years, Universal Robots has doubled sales each year and now has more collaborative robots - or cobots - deployed worldwide than all competitors combined. Area Sales Manager of Universal Robots Western Division, Craig Tomita, will head up the new team in Irvine providing expanded West Coast operations.

"This office will be key in sustaining our growth. Our cobots are already deployed in a wide range of industries here in Southern California; from medical device manufacturers to machine shops. Having a local presence brings us closer to our end users and sales channel partners, enabling us to offer unmatched service and support," says the Area Sales Manager, emphasizing the ideal location of the Irvine office.

"Our robots are now increasingly deployed with larger enterprises, but our target market has always been small to medium sized businesses that are trying to optimize production but up until now viewed robotics as too costly and complex. Theres a great mix of these kinds of companies in this region," says Tomita adding that the Irvine location is perfectly located between San Diego, Los Angeles and Riverside counties.

"It is also very close to the University of California, Irvine, which could be a potential source of engineering talent, as well as having convenient access to the local Santa Ana Airport, only eight miles away."

The official opening of Universal Robots new Irvine office takes place:
Wednesday July 13, 9am - 4pm, 101 Pacifica, Suite 350, Irvine, CA 92618. Anyone interested in cobots and their applications is invited to stop by to meet and interact with the complete lineup of collaborative UR robots by RSVPing to jya@universal-robots.com.

The UR robots are sold through local distributors, in Southern California the robots are represented by Numatic Engineering in Los Angeles, providing extensive application prototyping on-site with all new customers.

"Contrary to traditional industrial robots that need to operate within safety enclosures and are difficult to move and program, we can easily take the lightweight, flexible UR robots directly to the factory floor of the customer and program it within hours. Universal Robots has completely changed industrial automation and the way we sell robots," says President of Numatic Engineering, Steve Leach, who looks forward to the office opening:

"The new regional office shows Universal Robot's commitment to customer support, as well additional resources to assist the distribution channel which is integral to the sales process. UR has added personnel ultimately both technical and operationally, building the infrastructure needed to expand and support the market demand for collaborative robots."

Numatic Engineering has been selling the UR cobots in Southern California since early 2014 and now has many repeat customers:

"Our customer base is continuing to develop as the market itself evolves from small-and medium sized businesses and system integrators to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) including existing customers automating more of their operations and purchasing their second or third robot as they see the value."

One OEM incorporating a UR robot arm into a complete solution is Irvine-based 3D InfoTech, showcasing the UR robots in two automated metrology scanning applications at the open house event.

"We chose the UR robot for this application due to its collaborative nature which means we dont need to add safety fencing around it during operation. It makes it super-easy for an operator to teach the robot where to scan parts, especially complex geometry," says Rohit Khanna, President of 3D Infotech.

About Universal Robots
Universal Robots is the result of many years of intensive research at Denmark's successful robot cluster, which is located in Odense, Denmark. The company was established in 2005 by three researchers, Esben Østergaard, Kasper Støy and Kristian Kassow. They wanted to make robot technology accessible to all by developing small, user-friendly, reasonably priced, flexible industrial robots that are safe to collaborate with and that on their own can be used to automate and streamline processes in the industry. The product portfolio includes the collaborative UR3, UR5 and UR10 robotic arms named after their payload in kilos. Since the first UR robot was launched in December 2008, the company has experienced considerable growth with the user-friendly robots now sold in more than 50 countries worldwide. At just 195 days, the average payback period for UR robots is the fastest in the industry. The company is headquartered in Odense and has subsidiaries and regional offices in the U.S., Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Singapore, India and China. Universal Robots has more than 270 employees worldwide. For more information, go to www.universal-robots.com or visit the company blog.