Next Shift

The Cobot Is Moving Into the CNC Control

For most of the last decade, putting a robot on a CNC machine meant two controls, two programs and an integrator in between. That is changing, and the change is happening inside the machine control, not the robot.

A Robot Inside the Lathe

In 2020, Cutting Tool Engineering described a lathe with a robot arm parked above the spindle, inside the machine. The operator entered the part size and gripping points through a conversational screen. The robot planned its own collision-free path, loaded the part, and when the cut was done, swapped its gripper for a high-pressure coolant nozzle and flushed the chips out of the work zone.

That was Okuma's ARMROID. By 2021, Production Machining reported, Okuma America was selling it packaged with two machines, the LB3000 EX II lathe and the MULTUS B250II, with the robot programmed and run through Okuma's OSP control. Besides loading, Okuma says it can hold support rollers against the part to fight chatter and clean the machine between cycles. An Okuma applications engineer told the magazine it is best suited to medium-batch production.

The detail that matters is not the arm. It is where the program lives. On the ARMROID, the machinist runs the robot from the same control that runs the lathe.

Why Robots Stalled at the Door

Our Universal Robots Brand Profile covers how the collaborative robot, or cobot, became a category: a lighter arm that senses force and can work near people. Cobots made the robot cheaper and less scary. They did not make it simpler to connect to a CNC machine.

A typical cell still needed a robot program on the robot's pendant, a CNC program on the machine, and signals between the two for door open, chuck clamp, cycle start and cycle complete. Someone had to write that handshake, usually an integrator. When the part changed, someone had to change both programs. For a job shop running small lots, that was the real cost of automation, and it is why many robots never left the brochure.

Cutting Tool Engineering put it plainly in the same 2020 piece: many job shops avoid robots because of integration and programming difficulties. The machine builders noticed.

Three Builders, One Idea

Here's the part most shops miss: the big builders are no longer just selling machines that a robot can tend. They are selling the robot, and putting its controls inside their CNC.

Haas Automation sells HC-series cobot packages rated from 5 to 30 kg, plus larger industrial robot packages. Haas says the packages are set up and controlled from the Haas control, with no extra M-code outputs or complex PLC connections from a third-party integrator. Its HC-30 package, rated at 30 kg with an 1,800 mm reach, ships with dual pneumatic grippers, protective barriers, a parts table and a part flip station, and Haas lists it for medium and large VFs, ST-30 and ST-35 lathes and UMCs.

Mazak builds the Ez LOADER line of cobot cells. When Mazak released the Ez LOADER 30 in October 2023, Japanese trade press reported that a dedicated Ez LOADER app built into the machine's operation panel takes its motion data from the CNC, so the robot runs without manual teaching. It also changes between single and double grippers on its own, for high-mix work.

Okuma goes furthest, putting the ARMROID inside the machine and running it from the OSP control, with a separate Standroid cell for mills and heavier parts.

What Comes in the Box

A builder package is not just an arm. It is the parts of a cell that used to be custom work. Haas's published contents give a good picture of what that means.

The HC-30 cobot package includes the cobot, dual pneumatic grippers, protective barriers, a parts table, a part flip station and the hardware and cables to connect it, according to Haas. Haas's HRP-2, a 25 kg industrial robot package rather than a cobot, includes the robot, a mounting pedestal, a parts table, a software interface, an electrical interface box, safety guard fencing and a gripper. Haas lists the HRP-2 for medium VMCs, UMCs and ST-20 through ST-35 turning centers.

That table is our summary of the difference, not a product comparison. Packages vary by builder and model, and an integrator can still do things a package cannot, such as tending machines from different builders or handling unusual parts.

The trade-off is flexibility. A builder package is made for that builder's machines and for common parts: round stock for lathes, prismatic blanks for mills. Mazak's answer to part variety is automatic changes between single and double grippers. Okuma lists different stockers for chucking parts and shaft parts. If your parts fit the package, it saves weeks. If they do not, the integrator is still the answer.

What Moves to the Machinist

When the robot runs from the CNC, three things change on the floor.

The programmer changes. The person who knows the part, the machinist at the control, sets up the robot, instead of a robot specialist or an outside integrator.

The changeover changes. On a small-lot job, the robot setup is part of the machine setup, not a separate project. That is what makes a cobot worth having on 50-piece jobs, not just 5,000-piece ones.

The support changes. One builder supports the machine and the robot interface. When something goes wrong at 2 a.m., there is one phone call to make, not two.

That is our read of where this is going, not a forecast with numbers behind it. Builders publish product claims, not adoption rates, and we found no independent count of how many shops run builder cobot packages.

What It Does Not Change

A cobot that is easier to program is still a robot moving parts. Safety belongs to the whole application, not the arm. Our Next Shift on the used-robot wave covers how the robot safety standard now frames this, and it is why Haas ships its HC-30 package with protective barriers.

The workholding still has to work without a person. Our Next Shift on robot-ready workholding covers why the fixture, not the robot, often decides whether a machine can run unattended. A cobot that loads a part into a vise someone has to crank is not automation.

And the machine still has to be reliable. A robot will not fix a spindle that drifts or a tool changer that misses a pocket. It just finds the problem faster.

What It Means for a Used Machine

Builder cobot packages are sold for specific machines, so compatibility matters more than it used to. Before you buy a used machine with automation in mind, check four things.

Is the machine on the builder's list? Haas, for example, lists which VF, ST and UMC models each package fits.

Is the control new enough? Builder integration lives in the control software, so the control generation can decide whether a package will run at all. Ask the builder or your dealer before you count on it.

Does it have the options a robot needs? An automatic door, the right signal outputs and air at the table are common requirements.

Is the workholding robot-friendly? Plan for a powered vise or a zero-point system, not a hand crank.

Some machines come with the cell already built. We have two Haas VF-2SS machines with robot cells on the floor, including one with a 5th-axis trunnion. Our VF-2SS Meet the Machine explains why a fast tool changer and a robot are a natural pair. Confirm what the cell includes and how it is controlled with our team before you buy.

The Next Shift

The first wave of cobots made the robot friendlier. This wave makes it part of the machine. When the robot lives in the CNC control, the machinist who runs the machine can run the robot too, and small shops get a version of automation that fits small lots.

Expect more of it. Every builder that sells a cobot package has a reason to make its own machines the easiest to automate, and a reason to make the next control generation do more of the robot's work. For a buyer, that means the control on a machine matters more than it used to, new or used.

Resell CNC Take

If automation is in your plan, buy the machine with the robot in mind: a builder that offers a cobot package, a control new enough to run it and a table a robot can load. The cheapest machine is not a bargain if it cannot take the robot you will want in two years.

Frequently Asked Questions