Industrial robots were introduced to factory lines in the late 1960s, helping manufacturers keep competitive on a global scale by ushering in industrial automation.
Fast forward to the 2020s, some manufacturers are still depending on manual labour to meet manufacturing needs—with industrial robots being dubbed as too big, expensive, and dangerous, while others have discovered collaborative robots on their journey towards automation, and benefitting from the implementations.
“In traditional ways of automating it’s really either zero or 100 for manufacturers,” said Adam Sobieski, Regional President Asia Pacific at Universal Robots (UR). “Adopting industrial robots is like jumping the deep end of a pool of automation, while continuing manual labour is equivalent to wading in the shallow end.”
“Collaborative robots (cobots) are a very manageable option for manufacturers looking to jump into automation, giving them incremental ways of automating without going straight to 100.”
Speaking along the lines of Collaborate APAC 2023—the largest cobot conference in the region hosted by UR, UR ecosystem partners shared their thoughts on automating through cobots and weighed in on their benefits along with their observations from the market.
Swiss Army Knife Flexibility
Compared to investing heavily in a conventional industrial robot, flexibility is a key trump card held by cobots over their larger relatives. The growing desire for quicker and more efficient product cycles is fuelling the requirement for increased adaptability on the manufacturing floor.
“Planning for automation takes a lot of time, and within that process, needs might change due to market dynamics, politics, and other unforeseen circumstances,” said Danny Yap, Sales Director Asia Pacific at Robotiq.
One of the key advantages of cobots is their ability to be relocated and reassigned to different tasks within a facility, serving to bridge any gaps in production lines or assuming responsibilities to facilitate the reassignment of human employees.
“Take a cobot palletising solution for example, which has a lead time of two weeks. If it’s not successful for certain reasons, it’s flexible–you can move it to any other line for other applications such as welding or machine tending,” added Danny. “Manufacturers can automate and pivot quick. I think that’s one key advantage cobots can provide manufacturers in staying ahead of their competition.”
Safety
Being big and bulky comes with its dangers. Typically, industrial robots require multiple safeguarding measures—including a fence that is installed to deter access to the robot’s work zone. On the contrary, cobots are designed to work alongside human operators in close proximity, with its smaller size and advancement in safety features key.
“Let’s imagine a robot is holding a knife, if you touch it, you could already be injured by the knife. That calls for a sensitive sensors for higher levels of safety,” said Irene Yang, Director of Asia, Oceania and Middle East at Mech Mind Robotics.
“3D vision and AI advancements equip robots with the ‘eyes’ and ‘brain’ needed to perceive and plan, along with facilitate higher levels of automation in various applications such as random bin picking, automated machine tending, depalletising, assembly, and more. This improves product quality, output quality, and working efficiency.”
Vincent Teo, General Manager at Schunk said: “Cobots are safer compared to industrial robots because of the speed of operation, but companies have increased the payload capacities of cobots over the last few years.
“As they gets heavier, safety will be something that cobot manufacturers have to continue considering carefully and we will work with the cobot industry players to ensure the safety of this application can be supported well.”
Automation Made Easy
Cobots have been designed to be significantly simpler than conventional industrial robots. One example of this is the user-friendly touchscreen tablet of UR cobots. An intuitive 3D visualisation interface allows users to effortlessly control the robot arm by either physically moving it to desired waypoints or using the arrow keys on the touchscreen.
Claudius Koldau, Sales Manager Southeast Asia and Pacific at Sensopart said: “Manufacturers only need simple training and guidance on how to use the controllers and the cobots can be integrated into the line. On the programming side, specific teams within a manufacturing floor can be taught how to maintain and repair the cobots.
“It is a growing market, especially in industries where you have high quality demand and where you have high salaries, it’s very attractive to have cobots integrated for simple tasks.”
In totality, it takes roughly 45-60 minutes to get operators trained through the multitude of scenarios a cobot can perform within a manufacturing floor. Simple set-up and easy-to-learn controls are enhanced by the fact that cobots can work 24/7, ensuring efficiency gains within a small footprint.
