Sawyer to produce real-time robot performance, manufacturing data

BOSTON, November 7, 2017 - Rethink Robotics today announced the release of Intera® 5.2, an expansion of its first-of-its-kind Intera software platform that provides critical data insights to manufacturers in real time. Rethink Robotics Sawyer™ gives operators and line managers valuable data at a glance, including metrics such as cycle time, part count, speed and force - data that has never before been available through a single collaborative robot vendor.

The new feature, Intera Insights, displays key performance indicators (KPIs) via a customizable dashboard on the robots on-board display, making it accessible directly on the factory floor. The same charts are also fed back to the Intera Studio platform, providing visibility to other members of the manufacturing team. Intera Insights drives more informed production decisions and saves manufacturers time and money by eliminating the need to invest in or create another data collection system.

"Todays manufacturer relies heavily on data to optimize factory performance and adapt to market demand," said Scott Eckert, president and CEO, Rethink Robotics. "Intera Insights gives them the ability to instantly know how their line is working. We are providing the first-ever option for manufacturers to deploy collaborative robot automation and simultaneously gain valuable information about their line in a way that maps directly to action."

The Intera 5.2 release also includes extensive additions to Sawyers vision capabilities. In addition to the embedded cameras that are standard with every Sawyer robot, manufacturers now have the option to seamlessly integrate an external camera in minutes. This will allow manufacturers to optimize cycle time with improved vision, or leverage in-house vision systems on Sawyer.

"With the arrival of Intera 5.2 and Intera Insights, our customers, among some of the leading manufacturers in the world, now have un-paralleled access to the production data they need to prove KPIs and optimize their production processes", said Antony Lovedale, Managing Director, Active8Robots in the UK. "This information provides immediate value today while also working toward innovation tomorrow".

"Based on feedback we hear from customers, our software innovation continues to add value to the Sawyer robot," said Eckert. "Were bringing our data analytics, revolutionary ease-of-use in machine vision implementations and performance improvements to further deliver on our commitment that your Sawyer will get smarter, faster, and more capable over time.

Intera 5.2 will be available for download on all existing Sawyer robots and will come standard on all new robots. For more information visit rethinkrobotics.com.

About Rethink Robotics
Rethink Robotics is transforming the way manufacturing gets done, with smart, collaborative robots able to automate the 90 percent of tasks that until now, have been beyond the reach of traditional automation. Its Sawyer and Baxter™ robots, powered by the Intera software platform, adapt to real-world variability, can change applications quickly and perform tasks like people do. The result: manufacturers of all shapes, sizes and industries get the fast-to-deploy, easy-to-use and versatile automation solution they need to increase flexibility, lower cost and accelerate innovation.
Based in Boston, the Rethink product suite is available in Asia, Europe and North America. The company is funded by Bezos Expeditions, CRV, Highland Capital Partners, Sigma Partners, DFJ, GE Ventures and Goldman Sachs. For more information about Rethink Robotics, please visit www.rethinkrobotics.com and follow us on Twitter at @RethinkRobotics.