Fabmatics

Since 2013, we have had a successful collaboration with Fabmatics, a specialist in the automation of material flows in semiconductor factories and high-tech production environments. The HERO FAB, an omnidirectional mobile manipulator, is one of Fabmatics' flagship products. This mobile manipulator is built on top of the Neobotix OmniDriveModule.

The main function of the HERO FAB robot is to autonomously transport wafer cassettes in the clean room facilities of big semiconductor factories. There are two versions of the HERO FAB, designed to handle 200 mm and 300 mm wafer cassettes.

In addition to the flexibility provided by the OmniDriveModules, we have taken care of the complete motion planning pipeline of the HERO FAB, including localization, mapping, path planning, and control, through our proprietary software PlatformCtrl. Starting from 2022, PlatformCtrl is being gradually replaced by PlatformPilot.

Working in a cleanroom is exceptionally demanding and stressful, both for humans and for robots. While the employees suffer above all from the unfamiliar lighting, the dry air and the special clothing, the machines are required to be extremely reliable.

The autonomous mobile robots must be able to determine their location in the huge fabs at any time and find their way through narrow and winding corridors, between priceless machines and equipment and in interaction with highly qualified specialists. In addition to the OmniDriveModules, which ensure the smooth and vibration-free movement of the HERO FAB in every situation, the robots developed by Fabmatics also contain special battery and charging technology, a wide variety of robot arms, comprehensive sensor and safety technology and a complex sequence and fleet control system.

Thanks to their performance, more than 100 of the HERO FAB omnidirectional robots are now in use at all the major players in the semiconductor industry worldwide, from Dresden to the USA and Taiwan.

Find out more about Fabmatics at www.fabmatics.com