ABB TO OFFER JET PAINTING TECHNOLOGY

By Éric Descarries

German robotics specialist ABB has just announced that its PixelPaint spray painting robot is about to hit the market. First unveiled in 2020, the manufacturer claims that its system will save production costs, speed up the paint application and facilitate customization.

Aimed at the industry, PixelPaint would replace traditional sprayers that require a thousand nozzles by approaching the bodywork at around six millimetres. The new technology would also eliminate overspray and allow custom painting without slowing down the production line. It would also eliminate the need to apply masking paper, while energy demand would be reduced to a third of current production. ABB believes that the primary demand would be for painting car roofs in different colours. This would be of great benefit to manufacturers of very high-end cars.

The robots will be built in Shanghai, while the heads come from Japan. The software was created in Norway, while the system itself was developed in Freidberg, Germany.