FANUC Ltd is a leading global manufacturer of factory automation – a fast growing and innovative field of engineering. Increasingly, industrial robots are used to perform automated manufacturing tasks as they can be programmed to work in a variety of sectors including assembly, welding and finishing.
The competition was designed for students as a basic introduction to FANUC.
The competing teams were: The Righteous Brothers (Lewis Wright and Caleb McClarty); 2 Dudes, 1 robot (Louie Heath and Brennan Wilson); Hammer Basher and Sparky (Adam Kirkpatrick and Cameron Middleton); The Rednecks (Alphie Clarke and Paul Millar); The Athletes (Aaron Stevenson and Jude Moore); and The Cyborgs (Julia Millar and Thomas Simpson).
Working in teams of two, competitors had to follow instructions and procedures to complete an offline programming task using Roboguide.
The teams will be informed by WSUK and FANUC Ltd in September on who will compete in the final.
The teams were competing for the chance to qualify for the UK finals later this year, in November, when they will be tested further on their virtual and real-world programming skills using the FANUC Educational robot cell.