FANUC Robotics, Cognex Enter OEM Agreement

Cognex Corp. (Natick, MA), a leading supplier of machine vision systems, announced yesterday that it has entered into an OEM agreement with FANUC Robotics North America, a major supplier of industrial robots for factory automation. Under the agreement, FANUC Robotics intends to purchase more than $1 million of Cognex machine vision systems over the next two years.

FANUC Robotics (Rochester Hills, MI) will integrate Cognex's PatMax machine vision technology into its new generation of vision-guided robot systems — the Vision Integrator Package (VIP) and visLOC. Cognex's advanced PatMax software enables the systems to recognize and locate parts with high accuracy, despite changes in their angle, size or appearance. Once located, those parts are then handled by the robot for processing applications, such as palletizing and machine loading.

"We selected Cognex for its high-performance PatMax software," said Rick Schneider, president and CEO of FANUC Robotics. "This agreement with Cognex allows FANUC Robotics to expand our robotic application technology and enables us to offer unparalleled performance to our customers."

"The combination of Cognex's PatMax software with FANUC's robotic system will provide their customers with a highly flexible and precise tool for automating a wide range of manufacturing processes," said Dr. Robert Shillman, president, CEO and chairman of Cognex Corp.

For more information: FANUC Robotics, Tel: 248-377-7000, Cognex Corp., Tel: 508-650-3000.