First Korean-Designed Two-Armed Robot Launched

Korea-based Rainbow Robotics has unveiled details of its latest robot, the RB-Y1.

The new design is reportedly Korea’s first-ever bimanual mobile manipulator, with its wheeled, two-arm design intended to enable work across several environments.

Each arm has seven degrees of freedom and the single leg offers six degrees of freedom for flexible motion.

Rainbow Robotics said the RB-Y1 uses core components from cooperative robots and autonomous mobile robots to create a final design with high reliability and performance. 

"These days, when generative AI such as ChatGPT and Figure is a hot topic in the robot industry, we have developed a bimanual mobile manipulator in line with the AI era," a company spokesperson said in a statement. "We hope that the platform will overcome the limitations of existing industrial robots and be used in many industrial sites."

The robot features a teaching system to enhance usability, allowing users to train a robot arm by linking it to a data arm. It also has a self-collision prevention feature which ensures safety during training sessions.

The news comes after the company announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Schaeffler Group and the Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI) to co-develop RB-Y1 and other mobile manipulators in Korea.

"Korea stands at the forefront of the robotics industry, and we are excited to partner with Rainbow Robotics in driving advancements in this area,” said Michael Pausch, Schaeffler’s CTO. “We are committed to creat[ing] automated solutions that enhance efficiency and contribute to the evolution of smart and sustainable production processes."

"Through this agreement, we will provide KETI's technology for the development of AI-Mobile Dual-Arm Robot with Rainbow Robotics and Schaeffler Group,” said Shin Hee-Dong, president of KETI. “[This will] bolster the creation of a successful model for global R&D."