AGT Robotics, the Trois-Rivières-based company, received the Technology Innovation of the Year Award from FANUC, the world’s largest manufacturer of industrial robots. This award is an acknowledgment from the industry for the most innovative product or project of the year in the Americas and is awarded by a jury of peers, all robot system integrators, from among several hundred projects. AGT stood out from some twenty finalists thanks to its BeamMaster and its Cortex software. Winning this award is also a story of David vs. Goliath, in which AGT, a small business from Trois-Rivières, prevails over companies with several thousand employees.
The BeamMaster is a robotic system dedicated to welding steel structures. The structural steel industry is greatly in need of an innovative solution for its welding applications. Indeed, the challenges facing this industry are well known. Together with a lack of skilled labor, the unique appearance of each manufactured part makes standard robotic welding solutions unusable. AGT’s Cortex software is designed to meet this very challenge.
Cortex bridges the gap between welding robots and the steel structure designers. Cortex can retrieve 3D information from an architectural drawing and automatically generate the weld seams without any human intervention; it can generate all the program points necessary for the welding tool, automatically determine the correct welding procedure to be applied, define all robot movements (without collisions), and plan the sequence of all the operations that the robot will perform.
“Sometimes we forget that in order to perform a task, an industrial robot must be programed. Using the robot’s programming console, a robotic welding routine for a column with about ten accessories can easily take several hours of programming. With Cortex, the task is automatically performed for hundreds of parts at a time and will only take a few minutes per part,” adds Louis Dicaire, General Manager and Joint Shareholder of AGT.
Thanks to its expertise in the development of advanced robotic welding systems and the software intelligence of its solutions, the Trois-Rivières-based company is positioning itself as the North American leader in adaptive robotics for the metal fabrication industry.
“We are very pleased to receive this award, which once again demonstrates AGT’s leadership and innovation in robotics,” said Éric Bélanger, President of AGT Robotics. “AGT’s success is simply the result of its team of passionate people. ”
“FANUC works in partnership with leading integrators in their sector. For AGT, this is arc welding. They have proven to be an outstanding systems integrator in their industry by providing their demanding customers with complex solutions,” said Norbert Boch, Sales Director at FANUC Canada. “FANUC expects AGT Robotics to continue its strong growth under the leadership of President Éric Bélanger, General Manager Louis Dicaire and AGT Robotics’ exceptionally qualified team. We would like to express our gratitude for their continued commitment by presenting AGT Robotics with the 2019 Innovation Award. ”
By winning the FANUC Innovation Award for robot manufacturer of the year, AGT Robotics showcased Quebec’s technological know-how in advanced automation technologies.
About AGT Robotics
AGT Robotics is a leader in automation and industrial robotics for the metal manufacturing sector. Thanks to its expertise in robotic welding and in flexible robotics for low volume/high diversity productions, AGT Robotics is committed to offering the best return on investment to its customers by supporting their technological innovation processes.
For more information, visit agtrobotics.com.
About FANUC Robotics
FANUC Robotics manufactures industrial robots for a wide range of applications, including arc and spot welding, material handling (maintenance, preparation, packaging, palletizing), assembly, finishing and distribution.
For more information, visit www.fanucamerica.com
