ABB Robotics wins red dot "best of the best" design concept 2011 award

Zurich, Switzerland, Dec. 21, 2011 – ABB’s design concept for a small parts assembly robot, nicknamed FRIDA (Flexible Robot Industrial Dual Arm), has won the prestigious red dot "best of the best" product design award within the workplace category at this year's awards ceremony in Singapore. The annual red dot award is a competition for design concepts and prototypes held annually in Singapore. The award is an internationally renowned seal of quality, judged by design industry heavyweights. The prestigious red dot "best of the best" award is presented to only the most outstanding design concepts.

This year, 3,536 projects from 54 countries were presented to the jury. After due deliberation, 252 concepts were awarded the red dot – 43 were honoured with the “red dot: best of the best” for outstanding design quality.

"Winning a red dot award is tremendously prestigious for us and we are honoured to receive this recognition of our work,” says Per-Vegard Nerseth, manager of ABB’s Robotics business unit. “ABB prides itself on developing leading edge and disruptive technologies. Our vision was to design a safe high-tech robot with innovative design features that allows it to work closely with humans. This global recognition of the ABB team's achievements fully endorses this approach and we will continue to work on developing this concept.”

For further information on the ABB Small Parts Assembly Robot Design Concept (FRIDA) visit: www.abb.com/technology.

Pictures and videos of the FRIDA concept robot can be found here.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 130,000 people.