CIIF 2026: ABB Robotics introduces two new robots for precision manufacturing and expands OmniCore EyeMotion with AI Robot Trainer

ABB Robotics made two announcements at the China International Industry Fair (CIIF) 2026 in Shanghai.

First, the company said it is expanding the ABB industrial robot portfolio with two new compact, high-performance robots, the IRB 1700 and IRB 1700ID. ABB said that the new models deliver up to 20% shorter cycle times than comparable robots on the market.

Next, ABB announced an expansion of OmniCore EyeMotion with AI Robot Trainer, which the company said enables customers to train, deploy and continuously improve AI-powered robot vision applications faster and without needing experts to build AI models from scratch.

IRB robots meet growing demand for high-speed and precision manufacturing

ABB said that the new robots offer payloads from 6 kg to 12 kg across five variants and are powered by OmniCore controllers. The company said the IRB 1700 and IRBD 1700ID can improve uptime and reduce operating costs, with up to 15% lower power consumption and service intervals of up to 20,000 hours between oil changes.

“Precision manufacturing across sectors from electronics, automotive, to general industries is facing the pressure to produce more, while maintaining quality and reducing operating costs,” said Craig McDonnell, managing director, business line industries, ABB Robotics. “The IRB 1700 family addresses these challenges with a new level of speed, accuracy, reliability and energy efficiency. It gives manufacturers and system integrators a flexible platform for high-performance automation.”

ABB Robotics added that the IRB 1700 and IRBD 1700ID have precise path repeatability of down to 0.03 mm, and joint speeds of up to 700 degrees per second. The company said that these features make the new robots ideal for high-speed precision tasks such as material handling, arc welding, deburring, sanding and machine tending. ABB said that the high-performance robots are also suited to new electronics applications such as AI server rack assembly, meeting the surging demand for AI servers and computing.

The company said that the new robot offers a footprint 50% smaller than its predecessor, and for even greater packaging efficiency, the IRB 1700ID model features ABB Robotics’ Integrated Dressing (ID) design, routing cables and hoses inside the robot arm, which simplifies installation across industrial applications.

ABB Robotics said that the IRB 1700 family extends the company’s comprehensive mechatronics portfolio and continued development of more autonomous and versatile robotics (AVRTM). The IRB 1700 family comes with access to an expanding portfolio of programming and AI-powered software, including RobotStudio, AI Robot Trainer, OmniCore EyeMotion and automatic collision-free path planning.

Anyone can train, deploy and optimize AI-powered robotics applications

ABB said that OmniCore EyeMotion powered by AI Robot Trainer is designed for system integrators and automation partners to simplify deployment and scaling of AI-powered vision applications across multiple customer sites and production lines. The company said that this can reduce dependence on AI specialists while accelerating commissioning and adaptation to production changes.

Converting real shop floor images into deployable AI vision data, ABB said that the tools connect image acquisition, AI model training, deployment and continuous improvement in a single industrial workflow, and convert perception directly to robot motion through automatic collision-free path planning.

“Physical AI fundamentally changes what robots can do, where they can operate and the value they can create,” said Marc Segura, president, ABB Robotics. “Robotic AI vision is the vital bridge between robot perception and physical actions, enabling robots to see, understand, and act in real time. Customers need a complete workflow to create, deploy and continuously improve it. OmniCore EyeMotion and AI Robot Trainer work together, in a continuous loop of data generation, AI model training, deployment and optimization that advances AI-powered vision and makes physical AI a reality, across industries for both experts and newcomers to robotics.”

The company said that the integrated offering reduces commissioning time by up to 90% and cycle time by up to 50% when combined with automatic collision-free path planning. ABB said that users are led through the process by a simple guided workflow and AI chatbot, helping system integrators handle changing SKUs, lighting, layouts and object variations. The system combines synthetic and real-world image data with ABB Robotics’ industrial knowledge and is compatible with any brand of camera and sensor.

Together, ABB Robotics said that the AI Robot Trainer and OmniCore EyeMotion make advanced AI vision development accessible without specialized expertise, for vision applications from simple 2D pick and place to more complex 3D bin picking, quality inspection, sorting or assembly.