FANUC Arcmate Vs. Yaskawa Motoman Welding Robots
FANUC and Yaskawa Motoman are the two biggest robotic manufacturers in the world. Both manufacture hundreds of innovative industrial robots. Between the two, just about any production related task can be automated by their industrial robots.
Arc welding is one of the most common applications for robotic automation. Both FANUC and Yaskawa Motoman produce robots specifically designed for arc welding automation. FANUC has one robot line dedicated to the welding method with their Arc Mate series. Yaskawa Motoman is considered the world leader when it comes to robotic welding having developed several arc welding lines over the years. Below is a comparison of FANUC’s Arc Mate robots and Yaskawa Motoman’s MA robots.
Robot Specifications
FANUC’s Arc Mate series is an extensive line of arc welding robots featuring several models. Payload capacities start at 3 kg and go up to 20 kg, allowing these articulated robots to be able to handle light tooling and workloads. Short arm variants are available for those with compact work envelopes with reaches starting at 717 mm and extending to well over 2,000 mm with the extended reach models of the series. The FANUC Arcmate 100ic is one of the base models from the series. Several variants have been created from it including the extended reach Arcmate 100ic/6L.Yaskawa Motoman’s MA “Master Arc” series is one of their most popular for arc welding automation. This line is less extensive than FANUC’s Arc Mate series with eight robot models. However, these six axis robots truly are master arc welders. Payloads start at 3 kg like the Arc Mates, but only go up to 10 kg. Reaches for the MA robots are longer than FANUC’s arc welders starting at 1,434 mm and extending to over 3,000 mm for a larger work envelope. The Yaskawa MA1400 is one of the more popular models from the series.
Welding Applications
FANUC’s Arc Mate robots are capable of automating traditional arc welding processes such as TIG, MIG, and plasma. They are also capable of automating the less traditional welding method of laser welding. The FANUC Arcmate 120ic is ideal for laser welding automation. These robots can also be deployed for automated plasma cutting, laser cutting, and even assembly applications making them incredibly versatile.The Yaskawa Motoman welding robots are capable of automating similar types of applications as FANUC’s Arc Mates. They can be used for most arc welding applications as well as laser and plasma cutting. The Motoman MA1900 can automate arc welding and laser welding.
Special Features
FANUC’s Arc Mate robots feature slim arms and wrists with compact footprints. Many of the Arc Mates have been designed with hollow arms and wrists for internal cable routing. This allows them to operate in confined spaces without peripheral interference and to obtain better access to workpieces.The MA robots feature similar designs as the Arc Mates with slender profiles, slim robotic arms with hollow arm configurations in most models. The MA robots are some of the fastest in their class with advanced servo motors that enable high operation speeds without compromising accuracy.
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