London, United Kingdom
“It was a true meeting of scientific minds and design thinking that helped give form and function to a product that significantly enhances the user experience. This is what will drive the success of this new Co-bot within the workplace,” Young Choo Project Director and Head of tangerine’s Seoul studio in South Korea.
British design firm tangerine has designed the new RB Series Collaborative Robot for Rainbow Robotics understanding that robots are making their way further into our lives with every passing year.
Working with two eminent robot academics from South Korea’s KAIST University, the team has helped develop the Co-Bot, a machine they hope could be relevant to all walks of life – from bakeries to start-ups.
The design process, therefore, involved in-depth immersion in a series of workplaces, from food and beverage to medical and retail, to find out exactly what a robot could help within each environment.
But alongside focusing on the cutting-edge possibilities of the tech, the team also had to keep in mind the aesthetics, function, and usability.
As the team explains, most co-bots on the market are unpleasant to look at and require huge prior knowledge to get the best out of them.
The result is the RB Series Collaborative Robot, a machine that takes all of this into account. It took the team some time to get it right, but in the end, they say what was missing was “a human touch.”
Taking inspiration from the word ‘rainbow’ the Prism DNA was born.
The triangular body makes it easier to install in a diverse range of environments due to its compact design.
The prism-shaped arms make the Co-bot easier to grip by hand and move during the manual operating process (teaching mode).
Compared to traditional Co-bots, the RB Series naturally follows a straight line making it intuitive for the operator to recognize which direction the arm will travel in during operation, aiding close collaborative working.
Key features such as LED indicators on every joint give real-time feedback to enhance programming accuracy.
A one-touch button on the teaching pendant ensures an error-free experience when marking the path for the RB Co-bot to follow.
To ensure the design and brand were aligned.
Vibrant color for the Co-bot was chosen strategically to enhance the visibility of the Co-bot in
environments.
The more visible a moving machine, the safer the work environment.
Tangerine and Rainbow robotics’ software and programming team members collaborated to create the completely new image-based GUI.
The new all-in-one platform personalizes the graphic interface by adapting the Co-bot’s function depending on the different types of users operating the system.
Tangerine also designed Rainbow Robotics’ new brand identity, including a wordmark, brand guidelines book, and marketing collateral to help the company to its customers as a design-led organization offering high-quality, intuitive, and innovative products.
Project: RB Series Collaborative Robot
Designers: Tangerine
Manufacturer: Rainbow Robotics