February 2020

50 n ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATED MANUFACTURING February 2020 www.drivesncontrols.com Two-armed cobot banks on a new role as an ATM tester A BB’s two-armed cobot (collaborative robot) YuMi has found a new role: testing bank ATMs (automated teller machines) – known colloquially as hole-in-the-wall machines – to help keep them up-to-date with the latest software. ATMs typically receive software updates every six months to ensure that they incorporate the latest developments in security, thus ensuring that banks customers’ transactions stay safe and secure. However, before any new code can be released for the machines, it must undergo rigorous and repetitive testing to ensure that it complies with strict global and local specifications for reliability, usability and security. This testing has traditionally been performed by human operators who have had to spend hundreds of hours in front of the ATMs. This method of testing also raises the risk of human errors. Now, a Swiss payments software provider, Abrantix, has commissioned a YuMi robot to automate the testing of Diebold Nixdorf ATMs. Software instructs the cobot to test common ATM operations, such as inserting cards, entering PIN codes, and withdrawing and inserting money, just like a human. The prototype dual-armed, ATM-testing cobot was developed at Abrantix’s global headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. The company believes it is a game-changer for ATM software testing. It has been programmed to deliberately make human- like errors, such as inserting money held together with a paperclip, to ensure the ATM software can deal with a wide range of issues. “Previously, the test cycles could become bottlenecks and even risks in the critical path of a release,” explains Abrantix CEO, Daniel Eckstein. “With the new YuMi-based solution, this is much more under control and employees can now focus on improving test cases and procedures or even develop new software features, while YuMi is testing the ATMs.” During the day, developers create new ATM software features that are then tested automatically overnight by the robot. Feedback is checked the following day, freeing up time for testers to perform more important tasks. “The ATM testing system developed by Abrantix is exactly the sort of precise, collaborative process that our YuMi robot was designed for,” says Marc-Andre Zingg, ABB Robotics’ business line manager in Switzerland. “With YuMi, Abrantix is not only assured that the robot will safely share tasks with their employees, but their skilled software developers now have more time to devote to other more valuable tasks, while YuMi works away in the background on repetitive, but highly important tests, 24 hours a day.” The two-armed robot was originally designed for small-parts assembly operations. Its tireless ability to tackle precise, repetitive operations – often referred to as the “three D's,” for tasks that are dirty, dull and dangerous – frees human workers to focus on more meaningful, specialised and intelligent tasks. Outside of the factory, the robot has proven its versatility by solving Rubik’s Cube, making sushi and brewing coffee. It has even conducted a symphony orchestra during a 2017 live performance in Italy with the tenor Andrea Bocelli. n ABB’s twin-armed collaborative robot YuMi is being used to test new software for bank cash dispensers. The application is claimed to improve dramatically the speed and reliability of this testing, which was previously done by hand. The two-armed robot can test ATMs tirelessly, avoiding any risk of human errors.