ABB Cobots for CNC Machine Tending

For most of the 20th century, a lathe or milling machine needed an operator standing at it all shift. In 1942, machinists clamped each blank, set the cut, watched it run and swapped in the next piece. The skill was in the setup, but most of the hours went to loading and waiting.

A lathe operator at work in 1942. Photo: Howard R. Hollem / Library of Congress (public domain)

CNC controls let machines cut without a hand on the wheel, yet someone still had to open the door, pull the finished part and load a new blank. Many small shops run expensive machines for only one shift for that reason, while big plants built fenced robot cells with pallet systems.

A CNC mill with robot loading in a small German machine shop. Photo: EGU-Metall / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Collaborative robots changed the math for smaller shops. At METEC, a German maker of CNC turned parts, an ABB GoFa cobot with two three-point grippers loads raw blanks, removes finished parts and blows off metal chips before the next cycle. ABB says it helped METEC double its capacity.

An ABB GoFa cobot tending a CNC machine at METEC in Germany. Photo: ABB

Several exhibitors at IMTS 2026 in Chicago this month focused on machine tending. Mitsubishi Electric showed pre-engineered tending cells for mills and lathes, and RoboTrex introduced a new version of its compact system for small medical parts. Most of the pitch was about faster setup, so a shop without a robot engineer can get a cell running.

The GoFa's twin three-point grippers let it swap a finished part for a blank in one visit. Photo: ABB

ABB's version is the OmniVance Collaborative Machine Tending Cell, built around a GoFa 12 cobot on a portable base with a tray system and gripper. ABB says it installs in a day, and a web app lets non-experts program a tending sequence in minutes. For higher volumes, ABB's FlexLoader M cells let one operator look after up to 10 machines.

A worker guiding an ABB GoFa cobot by hand. Photo: ABB

For many shops the goal is lights-out machining, with cells running unattended overnight. Desktop CNC mills are already common among hobbyists. A small cobot loading one at home is still a stretch, but so was a cobot in a five-person machine shop not long ago.

A desktop CNC mill of the kind hobbyists use at home. Photo: Creative Tools / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

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