TLDR: ABB Robotics has unveiled a new generative AI assistant integrated into its RobotStudio® software, marking a significant step in its ‘Autonomous Versatile Robotics’ (AVR) strategy. Announced at Automatica 2025, this innovation aims to simplify robot programming, enable robots to interpret natural language instructions, self-generate code, and dynamically adapt to complex industrial environments, enhancing flexibility and efficiency across various sectors.
Munich, Germany – September 25, 2025 – ABB Robotics today announced a pivotal advancement in industrial automation with the integration of a generative AI assistant into its flagship RobotStudio® software. This strategic move, revealed at Automatica 2025 in Munich, is a cornerstone of the company’s ambitious ‘Autonomous Versatile Robotics’ (AVR) vision, which seeks to redefine the capabilities of industrial robots.
Marc Segura, President of ABB Robotics, characterized this development as a ‘steeping moment’ in robotics innovation. He articulated ABB’s philosophy as ‘Engineer to Autonomy’ – a fusion of disruptive technology with industrial-grade performance. The core objective is to enable robots to operate with unprecedented independence and adaptability, seamlessly transitioning between diverse tasks without human intervention.
At the heart of this transformation are generative AI and large language models (LLMs). These technologies will empower future ABB robots to interpret instructions conveyed through natural language, such as speech or video, and translate them into precise logical sequences. This eliminates the need for explicit programming, allowing robots to autonomously generate code and dynamically adjust to variable conditions, including changes in lighting, object positioning, or production parameters.
The newly introduced AI assistant within RobotStudio®, ABB’s comprehensive design and simulation suite, functions as an intelligent copilot for engineers. It is trained on extensive robotics-specific data, enabling it to assist with application development by checking for faults, rewriting, and combining code, thereby significantly enhancing the software’s accessibility and ease of use.
ABB’s AVR vision is underpinned by six core capabilities: advanced AI vision, precision, speed, dexterity, mobility, and sophisticated robot-human interaction. This includes no-code programming, lead-through, and speak-through teaching methods. The strategy also emphasizes enhanced sensing and perception through the fusion of various sensors and AI, autonomous reasoning for planning and re-planning task sequences, advanced motion control with collision-free path planning, and precise localization, mapping, and navigation using Visual SLAM technology.
Further demonstrating its commitment to AVR, ABB showcased other innovations at Automatica 2025. These include the Flexley Mover P603, an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) with a 1500-kilogram capacity and market-leading ±5 mm accuracy, and the enhanced Item Picker, which combines visual AI and force sensors for autonomous grasping of unknown objects in unstructured environments. The AMR Studio, a no-code interface for managing mobile robot fleets, was also highlighted for its role in simplifying commissioning.
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Segura underscored that many of these AI-driven capabilities have evolved from years of research, citing the Item Picker’s co-development with MIT in 2017 as an example. He reiterated ABB’s unwavering focus on delivering commercially viable, high-performance systems that adhere to stringent industrial standards for reliability, safety, and serviceability, thereby expanding the application of robotics beyond traditional manufacturing into fast-moving sectors like logistics, healthcare, and food and beverage.
