KYOTO, JAPAN – Omron signed an agreement for a capital investment in Techman Robot, a collaborative robot company that works with people at manufacturing sites. Omron will hold a stake of approximately 10% in Techman. The investment is expected to be completed by December.

Through this investment, Omron aims to jointly combine Omron factory automation equipment with Techman's collaborative robots.

In 2018, Omron entered into an alliance with Techman to meet the automation needs generated by labor shortages. Since then, Techman’s TM series collaborative robots have been sold as a co-branded product globally through Omron’s distribution network.

Omron and Techman have jointly developed the Mobile Manipulator, a mobile work robot that combines Omron’s mobile robot and the TM series to enable manufacturing sites where humans and machines collaborate.

“The environment surrounding the manufacturing industry is changing significantly,” said Junta Tsujinaga, president of Industrial Automation Business Company. “Anticipating these changes since 2016, Omron has pursued advanced manufacturing with the unique value-generation concept innovative-automation to resolve issues that manufacturing sites face. We have focused on robot technology and market development since it acquired industrial robot maker Adept Technology in 2015. In 2018, we added Techman's collaborative robots to our product lineup. The strengthening our alliance with Techman at this time further pushes the evolution of collaboration between humans and machines in manufacturing. By strengthening collaborative robots, Omron aims to create manufacturing sites where humans and machines collaborate and solve the issue of labor shortages. By utilizing automation technology cultivated in manufacturing sites, we will also actively pursue creating automation to address labor shortages beyond the manufacturing sector in the primary and tertiary sectors as well.”

“Techman Robot has penetrated the global market and successfully become the world's second-largest collaborative robot company since 2018,” said Shi-Chi Ho, Ph.D., chairman of Techman Robot. “Under the alliance, Techman Collaborative Robot has enhanced the reputation all over the world with Omron, which helps achieve our company’s mission of improving the lives of humans through innovation. We aim to close the gap for every business and create smart factory solutions for human-machine collaboration. We are delighted to deepen our longstanding relationship with Omron through this collaboration, which is a significant opportunity for both companies, addressing the fast-growing gap in the market for the demanding need for smart manufacturing. We believe our partnership will open new innovative doors into the future. Omron and Techman Robot will together deliver a highly flexible and scalable collaborative robot solution, assisting customers to easily and fully integrate collaborative robotics into smart manufacturing.”

No financial terms were disclosed.

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