What are the advantages of collaborative robots?

In industrial manufacturing, industrial robots emerged in the 1960s. Driven by automation technology, they are more flexible safer. Under the premise of ensuring the personal safety of workers, they can work closely with workers to complete tasks. They are favored by many companies, so collaborative robots are born, with advantages such as high flexibility, low cost, fast investment recovery. It is estimated that in 2027, the sales of collaborative robots will account for 30% of industrial robots. At the same time, they will help companies to upgrade their digital transformation move towards production automation intelligence.

The beginning of the robotics industry

The development of every industry is full of rich colors, so is the robotics industry. At a cocktail party in 1956, Joseph Engleberger, the father of robotics, met George Devol to discuss the robotic arm invented by Devol. They became business partners greatly changed the future of robots. Three years later, based on the robotic arm, the world's first industrial robot was born, so the two jointly founded the world's first robotics company, Unimation. At the General Motors plant in New Jersey, the United States, the first robot was installed to assist the hot die-casting machine. Subsequently, Unimation continued to develop various types of robots, which were widely used in the automotive industry to assist welding other fields. In 1966, Unimation authorized Nokia of Finland Kawasaki of Japan to manufacture market Unimate, allowing the use of programmable robotic arms to expand to the global market.

According to Part 1, robots are general-purpose machines for moving materials. Engelberger Devol believe that there is a huge market space for manufacturing. In fact, moving materials is one of the applications of industrial robots. Currently, the largest application market is the automobile manufacturing industry. Industrial robots are penetrating into industries such as electronic assembly, life sciences, food beverage, metal plastic manufacturing. Collaborative robots have subverted traditional industrial robots. They do need safety fences to block them can work closely with workers to complete collaborative work.

Significant differences

Compared with traditional industrial robots, collaborative robots are more flexible automation tools that can be used for the production of a small number of diverse products. They are easy to program can be quickly converted. A single collaborative robot can perform a variety of tasks. It only ensures the safety of workers close to it, but also improves work efficiency helps companies reduce costs increase efficiency. In practice, due to the advantages of collaborative robots such as high flexibility, low price, fast return on investment, general companies can recover their costs within 3 to 4 months, which has significantly increased business in my country, Brazil, India, Mexico other regions, provided an effective solution for companies that must customize operations.

In addition, as the replacement of humans with machines accelerates, people are worried about their jobs, but in fact, this worry is short-lived. At first, with the introduction of collaborative robots, companies do need so much labor, replace them with more professional technical talents, let people focus more on higher-end work, so that people can have more energy to engage in more efficient work, achieve continuous innovation, empower the company. Therefore, a long-term development perspective, collaborative robots help companies develop towards high quality.

The necessity of demand

Currently, the collaborative robot market is growing explosively. In 2018, the market grew by more than 60%, with global sales approaching US$500 million. Among industrial robots, collaborative robots are the fastest growing. It is estimated that by 2027, the global annual sales of collaborative robots will reach US$5.6 billion, accounting for 30% of the total industrial robots.

Taiwan is one of the top 10 regions in the world for automation. Industries with relatively weak automation development include automotive parts, LCD manufacturing, semiconductors, metal processing, plastic injection molding. The reason for this is the widespread use of collaborative robots.

As robot technology continues to improve, assistant robots are no longer limited to the manufacturing industry, their application scope has expanded to the people's livelihood consumer industry, such as unmanned stores, automated catering, etc., to create an innovative business model that combines technology, fun interaction.

In the era of Industry 4.0, collaborative robots are gradually penetrating into all walks of life, serving people's lives corporate production, creating more value for society, leading people into the "era of collaborative robots."