An explosion-proof collaborative robot is only one part of a safe painting installation. A Thai factory also needs to define its coating materials, spray equipment, ventilation, grounding, workpiece handling and human access. FANUC featured a high-mix, low-volume concept using its CRX-10iA/L Paint in its September 30–October 2, 2026 Coating Japan programme. This guide turns that example into a practical procurement brief: what to establish before requesting quotations, how to set the application-specific safety boundary, and what evidence to require at acceptance. For the broader automation picture, start with our painting robot guide.
Define the job before selecting an explosion-proof painting cobot
Start with workpieces and the process boundary, not a robot model. Document the largest and smallest parts, geometry, material, coated surfaces, coating and solvent, drying conditions, target film thickness, appearance criteria and frequency of product changeovers. “Small parts, high mix” is not enough to determine spray-gun angle, stand-off distance or reach. Include a representative part and a difficult part with recesses or hidden faces.
Map each activity: loading, fixturing, recipe selection, colour change, spraying, flushing, drying transfer and inspection. Specify which activity the robot performs and which remains with an operator or another machine. Automating only the arm path does not remove a bottleneck in colour change or fixture loading. Conversely, a simple repetitive path may not require a vision system or fully integrated conveyor from day one. A clear boundary also makes responsibilities between the robot integrator, booth supplier and factory visible.
FANUC’s 2026 exhibition announcement described two different arrangements: a conventional painting robot with a cobot for loading and unloading, and an explosion-proof collaborative robot in a high-mix, low-volume painting system. Do not combine them under the vague label “cobot painting.” Show where each robot is installed and which one actually sprays. That determines where explosion protection is required. FANUC exhibition announcement.
CRX-10iA/L Paint: published figures and quotation-specific facts
FANUC Japan currently lists a 10 kg payload, 1,418 mm reach, six axes, ±0.04 mm repeatability and 47 kg robot mass for the CRX-10iA/L Paint. The page identifies floor, ceiling and angled mounting, direct teaching, and IECEx/ATEX conformity. These figures are screening inputs, not proof that every coated face is reachable at the required gun angle. Validate an effective work envelope with the actual gun, hoses, fixtures and booth walls. Repeatability of the arm does not compensate for inconsistent workpiece positioning. FANUC product page.
Ask bidders for the exact supplied robot variant, controller, software, pendant, cable, explosion-protection control unit, spray gun or atomizer, hoses, valves, paint supply, sensors and grounding components. Verify certificates, markings and installation conditions for the specific equipment supplied to Thailand. Certification language for the arm must not be assumed to cover every accessory. The older FANUC America announcement and the current Japan page also differ in their published mass figure; use the current product documentation and request a configuration-specific datasheet.
FANUC’s CRX Paint brochure specifies placing the controller in a non-hazardous area. Include the external cabinet, explosion-protection unit and cable penetrations in the layout, not just the arm inside the booth. The brochure excludes the J1 wiring box from its IP67 statement. Verify protection scope against the delivered configuration instead of applying a short catalogue headline to every component. FANUC CRX Paint brochure-02.pdf).
Explosion protection requires a separate site decision
Before choosing equipment, collect the coating safety data sheets, solvent composition, operating temperature, spray volume, ventilation measurements, cleaning procedure and credible abnormal releases. A competent specialist must classify the hazardous areas and document the basis. The classification drawing and each item’s certificate scope should match. A product description saying “explosion-proof” does not establish the zone, gas group, temperature class or permitted installation conditions for a particular booth.
IECEx/ATEX statements do not by themselves grant Thai installation approval or satisfy an insurer or customer audit. Check applicable Thai requirements, authority expectations, insurer rules and customer specifications with qualified local parties. Obtain current certificates and nameplate data for the exact configuration. This article does not classify any factory’s hazardous area.
IECEx itself notes that additional national approvals may be required in some jurisdictions. Determine Thai acceptance from the applicable local requirements rather than inferring it from an international mark. IECEx FAQ.
A protected arm does not complete a protected cell. Review the spray gun, electrostatic high-voltage system if used, pumps, solenoid valves, sensors, cameras, lights, wiring, exhaust fans, filters and grounding separately. Put every component on a layout that shows its hazardous-area location. The US OSHA spray-finishing rule provides an example of detailed ventilation and electrostatic controls, but is US law, not Thai law. Use it as a source of engineering questions, never as the governing legal rule for Thailand. OSHA 1910.107.
Does “collaborative” remove the need for guarding?
Only the cell’s risk assessment can answer. Contact-sensing features address some robot-arm contact hazards. They do not remove solvent inhalation, overspray, electrostatic voltage, spray-gun hazards, pinch points at fixtures, slippery floors or residual pressure during maintenance. A manufacturer statement about fence-free cooperation cannot be treated as approval for unrestricted human presence during spraying.
For production without a person inside the booth, define loading and spraying boundaries, doors, openings, exhaust and start-permission interlocks. For teaching or cleaning, specify the sequence for stopping spray, isolating paint, releasing pressure, disabling electrostatic power, maintaining necessary ventilation, selecting a safe robot mode and restarting. The choice is not simply “fence or no fence”; protective measures depend on the task and operating mode.
ISO 10218-2:2025 covers integration and operation of industrial robot applications and cells. Its publicly stated scope explicitly excludes hazards from potentially explosive environments. Treat robot-cell safety and explosion/spray-process safety as related but separate assessments. A citation to ISO 10218-2 alone does not close the explosion-protection question. ISO 10218-2:2025. For general cobot planning, see our collaborative robot implementation guide; this article adds the coating-specific controls.
What a “teaching-light” high-mix cell must standardise
FANUC’s 2026 exhibition describes a “teachless” high-mix system concept. It does not promise that any unfamiliar part will emerge correctly coated without setup. To reduce changeover work, standardise fixture location, workpiece coordinates, surface classes, target gun distance, traverse speed, overlap, colour-change procedure and inspection criteria. Require the vendor to say which steps are generated automatically, which need operator input and which require expert approval.
Direct teaching can shorten the first path capture or small adjustments, but a hand-guided path is not automatically a validated coating recipe. Check spray start and stop timing, offsets, rotation synchronisation, hidden faces, thickness and appearance after curing. Link each saved recipe to a fixture, coating, gun settings and inspection record; a recipe name alone is weak traceability.
In a proof of concept, include the hardest recess, the most frequent colour change and the part most sensitive to fixturing error. Measure initial setup and subsequent recall separately. Test user permissions, recipe edits and recovery after interruption. Preserve the part drawing, process settings, samples and inspection evidence so they can later be used at acceptance.
Freeze interfaces between booth, gun and robot
The robot should be allowed to request spraying only when exhaust and airflow or differential pressure are acceptable, doors are in the intended state, grounding is confirmed, the fixture is clamped, paint supply is ready and the gun reports the expected state. Define what happens first when one condition fails: gun shutoff, paint isolation, robot stop, ventilation continuation and restart approval. “The robot stops” does not define the safe sequence for the coating process.
Clarify the material path from tank through pump, regulator, flow device, colour-change valves and gun. Assign responsibility for supply, flushing and leak detection. Model hose routing through the full motion envelope, including cleaning and maintenance access. Check abrasion, tension and collision with the booth or part. An arm reach diagram alone cannot reveal those integration failures.
For each signal, record its sender, receiver, normal state, fault state, response expectation, reset condition and test. Separate safety-related signals from production reporting. Production systems may receive workpiece ID, recipe ID, start/end times, result and stop reason. A network status field must never stand in for a verified safety function.
Write an RFP that makes quotations comparable
Attach booth drawings, measured ventilation, hazardous-area classification, coating SDS, part drawings and samples, quality requirements, operating hours and utilities. Mark missing inputs as open items. Distinguish a budgetary estimate from a firm quotation based on a site survey. Ask each supplier to list its assumptions and exclusions rather than hiding them in a headline price.
| RFP area | Factory input | Required supplier response |
|---|---|---|
| Parts | Geometry and representative samples | Reach study, fixtures, inaccessible surfaces |
| Quality | Film thickness, appearance and measurement rules | Gun, path and inspection method |
| Hazardous area | Classification, SDS and ventilation | Certificate and installation conditions per device |
| Operations | Changeover, cleaning, teaching and service | Recipe method, permissions and time measurement |
| Controls | Existing booth and paint-system signals | Interlocks and responsibility matrix |
| Acceptance | Parts, test conditions and pass criteria | FAT/SAT procedure and evidence templates |
Compare scope before price. One bidder may quote only robot and programming while another includes booth modification and exhaust controls. Break out equipment, installation, piping, controls, commissioning, training, spares and annual support. State who will respond locally in Thailand and how. Do not use an invented market price or ROI percentage to fill a missing quotation. Give more weight to a supplier who names unconfirmed conditions, certificate limits and needed site measurements than one who merely promises “explosion-proof, fence-free and teachless.”
Make the explosion-protection evidence matrix item by item
Do not judge a stack of certificates by its thickness. For each device, record manufacturer, model, serial or lot, installed location, hazardous-area classification, nameplate marking, certificate and revision, approved accessories, temperature conditions, wiring method and reviewer. Include the gun, valves, sensors, lighting, cable penetrations and grounding parts alongside the robot. If an item is located outside the hazardous area, state that and show the position on the layout.
At quotation, a model number may be provisional; at delivery it may have been replaced. An oral claim of equivalence is insufficient. Recheck the replacement’s certification scope and drawing impact. Update the matrix before FAT for the approved design and before SAT for the delivered hardware, retaining the change and approver. The record will also support later audits and spare-part substitutions.
Assess risk by task, not just by machine
Separate normal production, changeover, manual teaching, cleaning, blockage removal, maintenance and power restoration. A cleaner reaching into the booth faces hazards that may not exist during automatic production. For each task, identify the person’s location, credible error, energy sources, protective measures, residual risk and verification. Record who owns each action and when it must be closed.
Stopping the arm may leave pressure in the paint line, electrical energy in electrostatic equipment, inertia in a rotating fixture or vapour in an enclosed space. Turn the required isolation and restart sequence into an actual operator procedure. Define when a coating, gun, fixture or recipe change triggers reassessment. Review the same layout with EHS, paint engineers, the integrator, booth supplier and Thai compliance advisers.
Use the PoC to test coating and changeover performance
“Robot completed a cycle” is not an acceptance criterion. Define film-thickness points and method, sample count, acceptable range, appearance defects and whether inspection occurs after drying or curing. Identify reworked pieces separately. Version a recipe whenever test conditions change.
Time every element of a product change: fixture replacement, colour-change flush, recipe selection, trial spray and first-piece approval. Initial teaching and repeat production must be measured separately. Record the part, coating, operator and measurement interval next to any time figure. Compare paint use and rework against the current process only under a consistent method. An early PoC should identify variation and unknowns rather than claim a guaranteed saving.
FAT, SAT and the handover evidence pack
At factory acceptance testing (FAT), demonstrate the supplied equipment, path, signals, stops and recipes on agreed representative parts. List what cannot be validated until the Thai factory’s actual booth, coating and utilities are available. A successful vendor-site test is not automatically a site coating-quality pass.
At site acceptance testing (SAT), test with the real exhaust, paint supply, doors, grounding, fixtures and conveyors. Plan safe fault simulations for airflow loss, open door, low paint pressure, gun fault, power loss and restart, under competent supervision. Record expected response, observed logs, failures and retests; do not deliberately create a hazardous condition merely to demonstrate an interlock.
The handover pack should include classification basis, certificate and nameplate evidence, bill of materials, wiring and piping drawings, interlock matrix, risk assessment, FAT/SAT records, recipe backups, spares list and training records. Agree on file formats, owners and revision numbers. Local operator instructions may be in Thai or English, while design files may serve regional engineers in English or Japanese; keep the versions aligned.
For a failed acceptance item, preserve the initial reading, cause, adjustment, retest conditions and new reading as one history rather than replacing the original result with “pass after adjustment.” If film thickness is out of range, record whether gun distance alone changed or viscosity and ventilation also changed. For an interlock discrepancy, record the software revision, other stop conditions affected and signals retested. Keep unresolved items on a corrective-action list with owners and deadlines, and agree before contracting that production cannot start while critical safety items remain open.
A practical implementation sequence for a Thai factory
Survey the actual booth, access route, ceiling clearance, maintenance space, exhaust duct, coating store, utilities and fire protection. Resolve discrepancies between drawings and the site. Study reachability and process feasibility separately, then overlay the hazardous-area plan. If a robot type cannot yet be confirmed, list the missing measurements and keep the alternatives open.
Use three decision gates. First, establish process facts: representative parts, coating SDS, quality limits and changeover demand. Second, establish safety facts: area classification, ventilation, human access and maintenance method. Third, establish verifiable evidence: reach study, certificates, interlocks, quality tests and acceptance protocol. Assign an owner, measurement method and deadline to every open item. Bring legal, insurance and customer requirements into the contract before order placement.
Plan for future part introductions as part of the project. Decide whether factory staff may create fixtures and recipes independently or need integrator support. Define approvals, backups, training and a reassessment trigger if a new path brings the gun or hose near a wall or person. After start-up, track good parts, first-piece approval time, changeover time, coating use, rework and fault causes against the factory’s own baseline. These are management measures, not performance promises from this article.
Frequently asked questions
Can CRX-10iA/L Paint operate without a fence inside a painting booth?
That depends on the application risk assessment. Evaluate human access during spray, vapours, electrostatic equipment, gun, fixtures and residual energy during service. Collaborative features alone do not approve fence-free operation for an entire paint process.
Does IECEx/ATEX conformity mean the system can be installed in Thailand as-is?
No automatic conclusion follows. Verify the exact certificate and equipment marking against the classified area, accessories and installation instructions, then confirm Thai legal, authority, insurer and customer requirements locally.
Will a “teachless” system create recipes for every new part automatically?
Treat this as a system concept whose scope must be specified. Ask what inputs, fixtures, path generation, human review and first-piece checks are required. Measure a representative new-part introduction rather than assuming zero setup.
What should the first robot-painting RFP include?
Part drawings and samples, quality criteria, coating SDS, booth drawings, measured ventilation, area classification, utilities and control signals. Ask for certificates, a scope matrix and FAT/SAT plan. Identify any missing data explicitly and include its investigation in the bid.
Conclusion
Use CRX-10iA/L Paint’s published specifications as the start of a cell-level investigation. A high-mix operation needs proven changeovers and recipe controls; a safe operation needs distinct assessments of collaboration, explosion protection, ventilation and spray hazards. An RFP built around representative parts, area classification, interfaces and acceptance evidence makes proposals comparable and protects the commissioning schedule.
If your Thai factory is considering a painting-cell upgrade, contact TOMAS TECH while the workpiece and booth information is still being assembled. We can help define the process boundary and the evidence to request before making a purchasing decision.
