[00:00:00] Speaker A: So Exoskeleton is still a new market. Also, customers still understand when they need it. And what they need most of the time is discussion that we have together to explain them what are the advantages and how this can impact their operators.
[00:00:13] Speaker B: We need to differentiate the broader automation field and robotics.
[00:00:25] Speaker C: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the robot industry podcast. We're here at the automate show, and we're here in the Kamau booth, and I'm really pleased to have Stefania Ferrero and Alexandro Piscanari. And we're talking about robots. One of the exciting things I get to do today is to find out a little bit more about Kamau, the company. So, Stefania, you're going to tell me a little bit about the company and where you're located and what you do.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Thank you, Jim. So the story of Kumao starts more than 50 years ago. 51 years ago, actually. It was founded by a group of crazy engineers that were selected to start a project in Russia at very extreme condition of weather and temperature in the heavy russian winter, to assemble some lines for body construction of cars. And many other companies refused those tasks, and instead they decided to accept. And Comao was founded starting from that project. And I think the DNA of Comao is rooted in that project because we accept the challenges that others are not brave enough to accept. I would say that we are an automation company, automation and robotics company. We work in automation for body with big numbers in robotics. We prefer to define ourselves like tailors. So we work in the customized solution field. And this is what distinguishes us from other companies. So this is where Kumao is, I would say, in the mission of the company. Our headquarters are located in Italy, in Turing, in the north of Italy. But we are an international company. So we have manufacturing plants all over Europe, in France, beside Italy, and also in Romania. We have offices in UK and Germany. In us, we have a presence in Detroit, but also we have presence in Americas, in Mexico and Brazil.
And then we also have three different plants in China, namely in Shanghai, in Dalian, and in Kunshan. So in three different locations. So we are an international company, proud of our DNA. What is our specialty? So our reference market is automotive. So this is where we do at our best and where we started with. And we are among the, I would say, between the three and the top five companies in body wide automation for automotive. So we have around 10% share of the overall market. And this is our core, I would say then where we are growing. So, at the moment, we are growing whatever is connected to e mobility, electrification, batteries, technology for batteries, for the production of batteries. This is something that we can deep dive later. And in advanced robotics, this is also where we are growing because we are now working to provide solution in industries like pharmaceutical, food and beverage, besides, of course, fulfillment and warehousing, but also technologies connected to the production of hydrogen, like electrolyzers or fuel cell. So this is, in short, who we are and where we are located.
[00:03:41] Speaker C: And your job? Stefania is the chief marketing and solutions officer, correct?
[00:03:47] Speaker B: Yes, yes. So I am not only heading whatever is connected to this kind of events and communication, but also I am the owner of the portfolio and the overall strategy. So one of my tasks is to define what the company says to do in the next five to ten years. And these are great responsibility, as you can imagine.
[00:04:08] Speaker C: I bet you're never tired or bet you're always tired, but you're never not busy.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly.
[00:04:14] Speaker C: And Alessandro, just wanted to maybe switch the conversation over to you for a few minutes.
What do you do at Camow?
[00:04:22] Speaker A: So I'm responsible for product and solution management in one business unit that we called Advanced automation solution. Advanced Automation solution is a new part of the company that we created last year and is focusing on expanding the business of Comao that Stefania mentioned, that our heritage is coming from automotive battery, now expanding to new businesses like logistics, automation, warehouse, food and farm, and so on.
As part of the business unit, there is also the all product portfolio so related to robotics, vision system and other technologies that can help the robotics side.
[00:05:01] Speaker C: And can you tell our audience a little bit about what you're showing here at Automate 2024? Like, what are the robots in your booth?
[00:05:09] Speaker A: So here at automate, we are happy to announce a new family of robot we call the S family. It's a robot family that can cover the ten to 20 robot of payload. Actually, we have two models. One is 18 payload and 113 kilogram of payload. This new feminine robot is perfect for all handling operation and also arc welding. There are some peculiarities, like very small footprint or olive rays that can allow the cable to pass through the robot. Another product that we are presenting here at automate for the first time is what we call Mia. One picker Mirror is our family of vision systems, and one picker is our latest software that we develop for solving the typical problem of logistic automation that is called pspeaking. So when you need to pick parts that are unknown without a CAD, without a well known CAD, and usually in places like fulfillment center, this is what you need to solve. And one of the greatest problem of the last years in automation. Other than that, we are also showing our exoskeletons. We have two exoskeletons, one for upper limb and one for the lower limb. They are both passive exoskeletons, so they are nothing powered. And they use a spring mechanism to reduce the muscle stress that the operator have on the field. The one on the upper limb can help operator that work with a long period of time with raised arm. And the one for the lower limb help instead operators that, for example, they need to raise a box.
[00:06:41] Speaker C: And how do I just imagine your customers who are looking for an exoskeleton, what are their requirements or how does that work?
[00:06:50] Speaker A: So exoskeleton is still a new market. Also, customers are still understanding when they need it and what they need most of the time is discussion that we have together to explain them what are the advantages and how this can impact their operators.
There are still a lot of lack of regulmentation in this field, so it's really evolving and we are discovering with the customers what are the use of the exoskeleton also in markets where comao is not usually present, for example, we sold in the past and we are still doing it. Exoskeleton for camera operators, for filmmaking.
[00:07:26] Speaker C: What are you hearing from your customers that they are needing from robotics? Or is it coming from Kamau internally saying, we're going to be doing this like with these new robots that you're showing?
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Okay, so this is a very complex question, but we need to differentiate the broader automation field and robotics. So I can say that in the broader automation, for sure, big investment and needs are connected to whatever is happening in the world of electrification and batteries. At the moment, the market is 80% represented by automotive. Batteries are becoming much more relevant for the energy in terms of energy storage.
And also we talk about batteries in electric and electronics field, even if at the moment is a smaller portion of the overall investment. And what are they requiring, especially for automotive? Of course, we are mature enough to manage and we are trained enough to manage complex projects, even for batteries in the entire value chain. Beside, of course, the mining. That is not on our own shoulders, but whatever goes from cell preparation and sell assembly. We go and arrive until the modules and the packs, and we can manage the entire cycle of automation. What is the challenge in this sense? That the market is booming, and we recognize that. But of course, there are still many, I would say, question marks about how it is going to evolve, which will be the prevailing technologies, because at the moment, of course, lithium stays and will remain solid, but we need to prepare and be prepared, automation wise, to the next generation cells with a different dimension. So you can have pouch cells, you can have cylindrical one, et cetera. So there is a great degree of uncertainties under the technical point of view, but also on the market point of view, because in order to boom in a consistent way, still many investments are required, still many ads from the governments are required. And you know that these kind of policies are not stable on time, so can fluke to wait. And so there is sometimes this wait and see behavior of many of the key customers. Then another factor is that in the world of batteries, you can find big automation, automotive players, the traditional oems, but you can find a lot of newcomers, so those that have been entering the market due to the electrification, or you can have a lot of startups that were founded just five years ago. So also the approaches to the market are very different. So we need really to accompany the clients to mix up the approaches from a startup point of view, tight specs clients, as a traditional OEM can be. And our advantage is that we are able to work with really everyone and to mix a little bit the approaches and provide a high level of flexibility that is at the moment required. The fact that we are expert in welding is another example, because welding was born in automotive, but now is required in a lot of different applications. And I don't know if it is commonly known, but welding is one of the core activities, even if there are very few welders, because it's a kind of task that not many people want to do anymore, that is deeply connected to the GDP, even of the western countries. And so we are trying to mix the welding capabilities to other application outside automotive, in heavy industry, like naval, like mining, et cetera, Dallas, and so on, with our educational robots that can really mix digital oriented trainings with this kind of historical competencies for up and reskilling all the workers in robotics. And then also Alessandro can complete. We have a lot of trends connected to democratization of programming. So the fact that the programming should be ease and agnostic.
[00:11:46] Speaker C: So Alexander, I wanted to ask you a little bit about where the robots are made.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: So in Comao, we make our robots and we do most part of engineering and design in Italy. So all our robots are still today produced in Italy and then shipped all around the world, both from software point of view and from other point of view, as I said. Also the engineering side is done in Italy.
[00:12:12] Speaker C: And how many people at Kamau Comao.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: Right now has a little bit less than 5000 employees around the world, distributed around the different sites that Stefania mentioned before.
[00:12:23] Speaker C: And you're based here in North America, right?
[00:12:25] Speaker A: No, I'm actually based in France right now.
[00:12:28] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: But during my career I was also in North America and in India, in Italy. So I travel a bit for Como.
[00:12:34] Speaker C: So you get around.
[00:12:36] Speaker A: Yeah, I spent, I think, the last eight years of my career outside of Italy also if I'm italian from origin.
[00:12:44] Speaker C: Well, it's very exciting times. Now, I noticed that you don't have a collaborative robot, an autonomous collaborative robot here, but you do have them.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: We have a Cobot onshore, it's a five kilogram robot. And the popularity of our cobot is that is a bit different from what the other competitor does.
We have a robot that is capable of switching between collaborative mode and industrial mode. So what? Whenever there is no one in close proximity to the robot, the robot can go in full performance and with high speed and high reachability, and then switch to completely safe mode when there is a human presence.
[00:13:24] Speaker C: Oh, that's great.
[00:13:25] Speaker A: We have also another collaborative robot that we are not showcasing here, automate. That is a very big collaborative robot with 170 kilogram of payload.
[00:13:34] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:13:36] Speaker A: That is the highest payload collaborative robot on the market.
[00:13:40] Speaker C: Well, that's.
You don't have room to put all the robots here because that's a lot.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: Of robots, that's for sure.
[00:13:46] Speaker C: So did we miss anything in our discussion today, guys?
[00:13:50] Speaker B: So maybe I would like just to stress what we do in education, because we have this robot that is connected to a specific set of trainings that can be applied to school from I will say elementary school up to high level post university masters. So we have also many cooperation with a lot of worldwide renewal university, but also can be applied in specifically upper skill in trainings for workers. And this is something that is particularly relevant also, if I think about the us market where there is really lack of skill workers in certain fields that can look very hardware based, but even if they are based now, they are requiring new competencies. It is also a way to create, I will say, new attention towards these sectors and this application from the new generation, from the millennial or Gen Z. Because if you can mix up traditional approaches or technologies with something that is digitalized or is connected with a robot, I think this is a right way to use robotics and permit people really to use robotics that is best, that is really connected to the fact of creating new opportunities for humans to work in different fields that are more evoluted in this sense, something that we are very proud of. Also our educational segment.
[00:15:28] Speaker C: Yeah, that's very so important today when we have to pass on all this to our kids. Right? And if somebody's listening out here and wants to find out more about Kemal robots, what do you suggest they do?
[00:15:40] Speaker B: Stefania so we are at first to have a look to our website that is www.comow.com. then we are present in the social so we are quite active. So we have a young team of marketers working with me on LinkedIn and Instagram. So we recently renew our pages so you can see our application, but also our stories of working life which we are very proud of. We are in automate here these days, so whoever wants to come and meet us, of course, more than welcome and also through the social, you will be able also to follow us and to see the next fair. So I will be present because we also like to talk directly with people and not only through screens.
And we are also going to launch through this platform some webinars where people can sign in and then also have direct chats with some of our experts. So looking forward in this sense.
[00:16:41] Speaker C: Thank you both for joining me today. Thank you. I look forward to seeing you again soon. I'll have a look at all the robots in display here at Kamau Booth in automate 2024.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: Thank you very much, Jim.
[00:16:55] Speaker D: Our sponsor for this episode is Earhart Automation Systems. Earhart builds and commissions turnkey automation solutions for their clients worldwide. With over 80 years of precision manufacturing, they understand the complex world of robotics, automated manufacturing, project management, delivering world class custom automation on time and on budget. Contact one of their sales engineers to see what Earhart can build for you and their
[email protected]. and that's spelled e h r h a r D t. Our co sponsor is anchor Danley. They are the leading manufacturer and distributor of robot and automation bases, high quality die sets, components blanchard ground steel plates and metal fabrications used in the production of tools, dies and molds for metalworking and plastics injection molding, mining, construction equipment and general fabrications. And I'd like to acknowledge a three the association for Advancing Automation. They're the leading automation trade association for robotics, vision and imaging, motion control and motors, and the industrial artificial intelligence technologies. Visit automate.org to learn more. And if you'd like to get in touch with us at the Robot Industry podcast, you can find me Jim Beretta on LinkedIn. Today's podcast was produced by customer Attraction Industrial Marketing and I'd like to thank my team, Chris Gray for the music, Jeffrey Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet, and our sponsors, Earhart Automation Systems, and anchor Danley.
