ABB introduces Lite+, PoWa and new IRB 1200 robot families from Shanghai
Three locally manufactured families cover routine handling, collaborative work and precision manipulation.
ABB introduced three robot families on 2 July 2025, manufactured at its Shanghai Mega Factory and powered by the OmniCore controller platform. Lite+, PoWa and a redesigned IRB 1200 extend its range for electronics, consumer products and general manufacturing.
Lite+ targets routine material handling and pick-and-place work in China and Asia. PoWa is a compact collaborative robot for picking, palletising and machine tending, available in China. ABB specifies speeds up to 5.8 m/s and says its no-code programming and plug-and-play setup can make it operational within an hour of unpacking.
The new IRB 1200 is available globally for precision assembly, polishing and dispensing. ABB says it is approximately 20% lighter and more compact than its predecessor. OmniCore provides a shared control architecture and access to software including RobotStudio.
At the Shanghai launch, ABB also demonstrated natural-language robot teaching on PoWa, combining visual perception with spoken instructions to generate actions. The company said more than 90% of robots supplied to Chinese customers were already manufactured locally.