ABB's New Digital Journey: Empowering Global Green Transformation with New Productivit

In March 2026, ABB made frequent moves in the fields of automation and digitalization, from winning industry awards to releasing groundbreaking technologies, from the deep integration of AI and robotics to its deep involvement in global green transformation, demonstrating the innovative vitality and strategic resolve of this century-old industrial giant.

ABB Wins Multiple CAIMRS Awards, Identifying the Essence of "New Quality"

On March 20th, the 2026 China Automation + Digitalization Industry Conference (CAIMRS 2026), themed "Breaking Through to New Heights, Expanding Globally," was held in Nanjing. ABB, with its solid technological strength and continuous innovation capabilities, won nine awards across three categories: Industry Leader, Product Innovation, and Application Innovation, and was selected as one of the Top 50 Brands in Automation + Digitalization for the year.

In this selection, several ABB innovative products won the "New Quality" award: the ABB SACE Infinitus solid-state circuit breaker won the "New Quality" award for power distribution products; the ABB iWise intelligent management platform won the "New Quality" award for digitalization; and the ACS280 series frequency converters, AXW water-cooled permanent magnet motors, LV Titanium VSM frequency converters, ABB's intelligent manufacturing solutions for cold rolling processes, and the PoWa collaborative robot series also won awards in their respective fields.

Among them, the SACE Infinitus solid-state circuit breaker, ABB's first global solid-state circuit breaker compliant with the IEC 60947-2 standard, focuses on empowering safe and energy-efficient DC power systems. Compared to traditional circuit breakers, this product detects and responds to short-circuit faults 1000 times faster, has a 100-fold longer service life, releases no energy during the breaking process, and has a near-zero probability of dangerous arcing. This technological breakthrough effectively ensures the safety of equipment and personnel in scenarios such as photovoltaics, energy storage, ships, and data centers.

The ABB iWise intelligent management platform integrates advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, and artificial intelligence to build an integrated system encompassing energy data acquisition, real-time power monitoring, energy efficiency analysis, optimized scheduling, and carbon management, creating core value for enterprise users through cost reduction, efficiency improvement, risk mitigation, and added value.

At the annual meeting, Cao Yang, Vice President of ABB Electric China, delivered a speech entitled "Innovation and Evolution, Breaking Through the Curve and Moving Forward," systematically elaborating on ABB Electric's strategic layout: "With the unfolding of the national '15th Five-Year Plan,' the transformation and upgrading of industries, as well as high-quality development through digitalization and greening, will bring more opportunities. ABB will reshape product strength through technological innovation, expand value boundaries through business model innovation, and reconstruct industry relationships through ecosystem innovation."

ABB and NVIDIA Collaborate to Overcome the "Sim-to-Reality Gap" in Robotics

In the robotics field, ABB and NVIDIA have entered into a significant collaboration, integrating NVIDIA's Omniverse simulation technology into ABB's RobotStudio software platform to launch the RobotStudio HyperReality solution. The core objective of this collaboration is to address the long-standing "Sim-to-Real Gap" challenge in the robotics industry.

By integrating NVIDIA Omniverse technology, engineers can complete robot program development, production line layout design, AI vision training, and automated process verification within a digital twin factory. ABB states that the difference between robot behavior in the virtual environment and that of a real robot can be reduced to approximately 1%, meaning robots can be trained in a virtual environment and then directly deployed to real factories.

This technological breakthrough results in significant efficiency improvements: production line setup time can be reduced by up to 80%, engineering costs by approximately 40%, and new product launch time shortened by approximately 50%. Currently, manufacturing companies such as Foxconn have begun testing this system for automated assembly on consumer electronics production lines.

“By combining RobotStudio with the physically accurate simulation capabilities of the NVIDIA Omniverse library, we are closing the long-standing ‘simulation to reality’ gap in technology, marking a major milestone in deploying industrial-grade precision physical AI for real-world customer applications,” said Marc Segura, President of ABB Robotics.

ABB Launches New Generation Robot with Comprehensive Performance Upgrades

ABB simultaneously launched the new generation IRB 1200 robot, equipped with ABB's OmniCore controller, achieving industry-leading motion control capabilities. Even when multiple robots are simultaneously operating at high speeds of 1600 mm/s, it maintains a repeatability path accuracy of 0.03 mm and a repeatability positioning accuracy of 0.011 mm.

The new generation IRB 1200 series offers four high-performance versions with payloads of 5 kg, 7 kg, 8 kg, and 9 kg, providing class-leading payload capacity. With a simpler design, the new generation robot is 20% lighter than its predecessor, reducing base installation requirements and energy consumption. At the same time, cycle time is reduced by 5%, significantly improving production efficiency.

Deeply Engaged in the China Development Forum, Discussing Green Transformation

From March 22nd to 23rd, the China Development Forum 2026 Annual Meeting, themed "China in the 15th Five-Year Plan: High-Quality Development and New Opportunities," was held at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. ABB Group CEO, Matthias Matheson, attended the forum and delivered a speech at the thematic seminar on "Global Green and Low-Carbon Transformation and Sustainable Development."

Matheson pointed out that China's leadership and remarkable achievements in the global green transformation are inspiring: China has built the world's largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system, with renewable energy accounting for over 60% of total installed power generation capacity.

He shared three examples of green solutions integrating AI and digital technologies:

Yangzhong Zero-Carbon Industrial Park: ABB, in cooperation with Jiangsu HNA Electric Technology, implemented the first zero-carbon industrial park project in the area. Utilizing ABB's "AI + Power" solution-enabled smart energy management system, clean energy now accounts for 90% of the park's total electricity consumption.

Qingdao Special Steel: ABB's smart manufacturing solutions integrate digital twins, data analytics, and a safety management platform. Through AI technology, they provide equipment status early warnings and data analysis, helping customers predict equipment failures and optimize energy consumption.

Marine Industry: ABB permanent magnet shaft generators help ships improve energy efficiency, reduce system installation space by approximately 20%, and lower fuel costs by up to 4%.

Ma Teng emphasized that ABB is continuously contributing to green transformation through three pathways: improving efficiency, accelerating electrification, and ensuring safety and reliability. He also stated, "China is ABB's second largest market globally, and ABB will continue to focus on local growth needs, responding to China's 'dual carbon' goals and market opportunities with innovative technologies."

Continuous Innovation, Empowering the Future

From winning the CAIMRS Award to strategic cooperation with NVIDIA, from next-generation robots to deep participation in global green transformation dialogues, ABB is continuously driving the digital and green transformation of industries, with the integration of electrification, automation, and artificial intelligence technologies at its core.

As Cao Yang stated at the annual meeting, “ABB’s breakthrough logic is essentially ‘hedging market uncertainty with technological certainty.’ Leveraging global R&D resources and local innovation capabilities, we continuously advance technological iteration and launch more innovative products and solutions tailored to the needs of the Chinese market.”

From technological breakthroughs to ecosystem building, from deep cultivation in the local market to global expansion, ABB is working with customers and partners, with new quality productivity at its core, to accelerate towards a cleaner, leaner electrified future.

ABB is committed to empowering a sustainable and efficient future through electrification and automation technologies. By integrating engineering experience with digital technologies, ABB helps industries improve energy efficiency and productivity, achieving excellence and pursuing excellence.