3 ways cobots are changing manufacturing forever

Collaborative robots (Cobots) don’t get sick. They don’t take the long way to get to tools, they don’t have an after-lunch crash, and they don’t have bad days.  Cobots meet a daily standard that is not only fixed, but also efficient and laser-focused enough to understand and define every metric.

Unrivaled Consistency and Increased Productivity

Cobots working on the industrial floor can be deployed for a wide range of duties. Although the highly automated car manufacturing sector remains the most utilized industry for electro-mechanical machines, cobots and other forms of automation are now entering other sectors like the food and beverages industry.

Currently, about 15% of businesses use AI, but 31% plan to add support for it over the next 12 months. In addition, the industrial robotics market is predicted to grow by 175% over the next decade.

They’re Safe… And they will do the jobs humans cannot

At one time, traditional workers were sure robotic applications would take over the workplace, and perhaps the world. However, collaborative robots are working alongside their human counterparts in every sector of manufacturing and doing jobs where humans have been maimed and even killed.

Robotics used in manufacturing are subject to two ISO standards; Robots and Robotic Devices-Safety Requirements for Industrial Robots and Robot Systems and Integration

Cobots are installed with force-limitations, rounded edges and are covered with non-pinching joints. They are also lightweight, portable and ideal for various tasks within a factory.

They’re Versatile

Service cobots can be used for information in public spaces, transporting goods or providing security, while industrial cobots have several applications including pick and place, packaging and palletizing, assembly, machine tending, surface finishing, quality testing and inspection.

Cobots can be used all over the factory floor in a variety of production functions including:

1. The manual pick and place position is one of most repetitive tasks performed by human workers today.
2. Machine tending demands a person stand for long hours in front of a CNC machine, injection-moulding machine, or another similar device and tend to its operational needs.
3. Packaging and Palletizing is the derivative of pick and place.
4. Process tasks require a tool to interact with a workpiece including gluing processing, dispensing, or welding.
5. Quality Inspection involves full inspection of finished parts, high resolution images for precision machined parts, and part verification against CAD models.
6. Finishing tasks performed by human operators require a manual tool and large amounts of force that can cause injury to the operator.

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About The Author: Jacob Burgess is a graduate of Tri-County Technical College and attended Erskine College in the Business Administration program. Currently, Jacob is the Business Development Manager at Daedalus Industrial in Easley, South Carolina.