Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd has selected ABB Robotics' innovative PixelPaint technology for its new electric vehicle (EV) paint facility. M&M will be the first original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in India to utilise PixelPaint for painting contrasting roofs and pillars, with serial production set to begin in 2025.
PixelPaint features a paint head with over 1,000 tiny, individually controlled nozzles, mounted on an ABB robot like the IRB 5500 paint series. This setup, combined with ABB’s 3D vision system and coordinated by ABB’s RobotStudio planning and programming software, ensures that 100 percent of the paint is applied precisely to the vehicle body, eliminating overspray and airborne misting. This technology removes the need for labour-intensive masking and repeated trips through the paint shop, resulting in zero waste and precise reproduction of intricate details.
In response to the growing demand for personalised vehicle options, PixelPaint offers Mahindra a significant advantage in the luxury segment. This deployment builds on ABB and Mahindra’s existing relationship and includes 42 robots from the IRB 5500 family.
Complex and time-consuming operations such as interior painting and sealing are performed entirely autonomously with PixelPaint. The accuracy of ABB’s systems ensures that paint is applied precisely and only where needed, eliminating the need for manual masking, thus saving time and materials. Furthermore, ABB’s RB1000i digitally-enabled paint atomizers improve transfer efficiency by 10 percent and reduce waste by over 30 percent, ensuring minimal paint is lost to the air.
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