Why collaborative robots are so hot!

In recent years, collaborative robots (cobots) have begun to lead the growth of the robot market. According to research data BIS Research, by 2021, the market sales of collaborative robots will reach 150,000 units, sales are expected to increase to US$2 billion. Some industries have begun to introduce collaborative robots as a way to seek a new automated future.

Collaborative robots, which are designed to work with humans, are in stark contrast to traditional industrial robots, which need to keep a distance humans when working independently. Due to the inherent safety of collaborative robots, such as the application of force feedback collision detection, the safety of people working side by side with collaborative robots will be guaranteed, collaborative robots equipped with sensors safety functions that limit force power make collaboration between robots humans possible, thereby shortening production processes, improving productivity, reducing error rates, making human work more efficient valuable, but without replacing humans. It can be said that the reason why collaborative robots stand out is that they can play a role in work areas that were originally completed entirely by humans.

In the manufacturing industry, productivity is the key to success. The more productivity is improved, the higher the profit of the company, this is an unchanging rule. In recent years, more more people are choosing collaborative robots. Here are 7 reasons why manufacturers should consider investing in collaborative robots.

1. Collaborative robots are easy to program

Some new collaborative robots are designed to be user-friendly easy to program, eliminating the need for an engineer to implement them. Some even have a manual guidance feature the collaborative robot learns by example while being guided through the sequence of movements required to complete its programmed task.

2. Short setup time

The longer it takes to set up automation, the more expensive the initial investment. High costs for employee training, production downtime, to hire external service providers can extend the time it takes to see a return on investment. For small medium-sized companies, these can be very problematic.

Collaborative robots are designed with this in mind, as well as the need to have out-of-the-box functionality. Pre-programmed software enables users to install the robot themselves, so users can set it up in less than 30 minutes. In addition, the flexibility provided by the short setup time of collaborative robots increases productivity ROI.

3. Collaborative robots can be used for different applications

One of the main selling points of collaborative robots is flexibility. It is simple to program a collaborative robot for new tasks no external service personnel are required. This introduces versatility into the production line it is easy to set up a collaborative robot to perform a range of different tasks on the same day, assign days for certain tasks to work.

Collaborative robots can be easily integrated into agile systems as they allow users to quickly respond to design changes re-set the cobot accordingly.

Collaborative robots currently on the market can play many roles, usually service roles industrial roles. Service collaborative robots are used to provide information, transport goods provide security in public places. Industrial collaborative robots have a variety of applications, including but limited to picking placing, packaging palletizing, assembly, machine tending, surface finishing, quality testing inspection.

4. Consistency of results

Robots never get tired, so their results are more consistent accurate than those of humans doing the same job. This makes them particularly suitable for monotonous tasks, as they can perform simple movements repeatedly without reducing the quality of the work. Once set up, collaborative robots can perform the same tasks with the same ability.

5. Positive impact on employees

Manufacturing workers generally worry that they will be replaced by robots, after all, they are faster, more accurate never get tired. But the fact is that the probability of this happening is too low. Especially in companies with high-mix small-batch production, because traditional industrial robots are usually high-cost low-flexible.

This opened the door to what is now called the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Information technology is used in smart manufacturing to enable human collaborative robots to work together without reducing the size of the workforce. Workers are replaced by machines. Rather, by using collaborative robots, workers are able to eliminate repetitive processes reduce their time so they can handle more complex work, thereby improving workers' daily experience.

Collaborative robots can support human employees take over dangerous, dirty dull tasks, thereby creating a safer more pleasant workspace environment.

6. Improve productivity optimize processes

While collaborative robots take over tasks that human workers find difficult to concentrate maintain consistent performance levels for extended periods of time, the robots’ precision reduces the likelihood of malfunctions product defects to almost zero.

Quickly changing the tasks a cobot performs helps workers optimize production lines cut costs while maintaining high standards of product quality.

7. Fast payback period

Collaborative robots cost less than industrial robots, depending on which application they are used in how long they are used, collaborative robots can pay for themselves in as little as 200-300 days.

Universal Robots is one of the leading manufacturers of collaborative robots. The company recently released a white paper listing the most common application scenarios of collaborative robots.

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Manual picking placing is one of the most repetitive tasks for workers today. Boring operations can easily lead to worker errors, highly repetitive physical movements can easily lead to physical fatigue injury. Applying collaborative robots starting with pick place tasks is a good start to reducing workers' repetitive work. Pick place tasks refer to picking up workpieces placing them at another location. In actual production, this operation can be used to pick up items a pallet conveyor belt for packaging sorting. Picking a conveyor belt also requires advanced vision system support. Pick place collaborative robots require an end effector to grasp objects, which can be a clamp a vacuum suction cup device

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Equipment care requires workers to stand in front of CNC machine tools, injection molding machines other similar equipment for a long time to keep an eye on the machine's operating needs, such as changing tools replenishing raw materials. This process is time-consuming boring for operators. In this case, the use of collaborative robots only liberates employees, but also one collaborative robot can maintain multiple machines, improving productivity. Care-type collaborative robots require I/O docking hardware for specific equipment. These hardware prompts the robot when to enter the next cycle of production when raw materials need to be replenished.

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Packaging palletizing of products is a subcategory of the pick place category. Products need to be properly prepared for shipping before they leave the factory floor, including shrink wrapping, case assembly loading, case collation, pallet placement for shipment. This type of work is highly repetitive involves some small payloads, making it a good candidate for collaborative robots to replace manual labor. Rapid product changeover is critical to the business of batch production companies with a mix of high low production volumes. This application requires the use of conveyor tracking to synchronize the movement of the robot the conveyor. For products with inconsistent appearance, the application also requires the use of a vision system.

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Processing is any process that requires the use of tools to manipulate workpieces. Collaborative robots are often used in gluing, dispensing welding processes. Each of these processing tasks requires the use of tools to repeatedly complete a fixed path. If these tasks are used by new employees, they will need to invest a lot of time in training to achieve the finished product requirements. With collaborative robots, programming can be completed on one robot then copied to other robots. Collaborative robots also solve the problem of precision repetitive operations completed by workers. Traditional welding robot systems usually require operators to have very professional robot programming welding knowledge.

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Manual finishing operations must use hand tools are often strenuous. Vibrations the tools can also cause injuries to operators. Collaborative robots can provide the force, repeatability, accuracy required for finishing. The types of finishing that robots can perform include polishing, grinding, deburring. The robot can be taught to perform the corresponding actions through manual teaching computer programming. The force control system of collaborative robots makes the robot more durable. Finishing of parts of different sizes can be achieved through end effectors built-in force sensors.

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Finally, collaborative robots can also perform quality inspections on parts. This process usually includes comprehensive inspections of finished parts, high-resolution image inspections of precision machined parts, comparison confirmation of parts with CAD models. Fixing multiple high-resolution cameras on collaborative robots can automate the quality inspection process obtain inspection results quickly. Using collaborative robots for inspections can obtain high-quality inspections more accurate production batches. Completing the inspection requires the installation of an end effector with a high-resolution camera, a vision system, software.