Experts in the automation industry all seem to agree that collaborative robots are improving daily. The market is expected to grow over the next ten years, and growth will likely continue. Manufacturers of robots are quickly changing to meet customer needs. Some of the hardest problems that engineers face are being solved by automation.
Collaborative robots are a unique type of robot because they can work with and around people. Safety mechanisms are highly prioritized when robots work with humans. Collaborative robot are excellent at taking over tedious, dirty, or dangerous tasks so that people can do more exciting work.
Current Collaborative Robot Innovations
Improvements have been made that make it possible for collaborative robots to work alongside humans. Most cobots don’t need safety barriers because their sensors, cameras, and built-in vision are getting better. Cobots can slow down, stop, or change how they move when people are around.
With the help of the Industrial Internet of Things, cobots can now connect to the machines around them. By extension, adding connectivity makes it easier to see what devices are doing, analyze data, and do better preventive maintenance. Because of this link, we can be more precise, flexible, and efficient.
Testing has become much easier with the help of cobots. Thanks to improvements in sound, camera, and other sensor technologies, these robots can take the place of human users when it comes to testing a device’s operation and putting it through rigorous input and output tests. In this regard, humans can do more interesting work and leave repetitive tasks to collaborative robots.
Future Cobot capabilities
Many people believe that programming robots is a challenging task. However, cobot technology broke the mold with its user-friendly teaching pendants. Many anticipate that this simplification is here to stay. Complex programs may be created by robot operators using straightforward smartphone apps. Manufacturers anticipate the development of collaborative robots that can be used by someone with very little training or experience.
With their constant access to artificial intelligence and big data, collaborative robots may one day perform unrestricted motions on their own. This development will increase their viability in less systematic manufacturing environments.
Collaborative robots are becoming more popular because companies want to automate more and more of their work. It’s easy to see why cobots could be a valuable addition to the workforce in the future. The cost of labor is going up, and labor is diminishing. The main question is, will cobots start working alongside people? How will they contribute to or change the market for traditional industrial robots?
In 2017, Universal Robots was the biggest maker of collaborative robots, with nearly half of the world’s cobot sales. The Danish company has done a great job cornering this market by making robots that are easy to integrate and easy to program. Many companies are now emerging to manufacture and get a fair share of the collaborative robots market.
In 2017, the cobot industry was valued at less than $400 million, but in 2018, it was worth nearly $600 million. Also, growth sped up as collaborative robots became more widely available from major industrial robot vendors, SMEs learned more about them, and major OEMs used them more. By 2027, it is projected that sales will reach $7.5 billion and makeup 29% of the market for industrial robots.
Collaborative robots have been used in a wide range of industries and applications. This is likely to continue but can change in ways t that industrial robots have changed, with electronics and cars being the two most prominent vertical applications.
Pick-and-place, assembly, and material handling are where collaborative robots are expected to be used the most. In the next five years, 75% of all revenue generated by collaborative robots will come from these three tasks.
Even though 5 kg payloads have been the perfect balance for collaborative robots, many products have been launched above and below this weight range. Several products are made for pick-and-place and assembly tasks that weigh less than 1 kg and can do repetitive tasks very efficiently.
Universal Robots now approve Sensors Integration to integrate its systems. Robot engineers sell the robots to businesses and offer free installation services for new users. Companies can choose from four types of robots based on the type of services they need. They include:
Easy Programming
Patented technology makes it easy for people who have never programmed before to set up and run cobots using intuitive 3D visualization. You can easily move the robot arm to the waypoints you want or use the easy-to-use arrow keys on the touch-screen tablet.
Fast Set-Up
Universal Robots have changed the way cobots are set up. It used to take weeks to deploy a robot, but now it only takes a few hours. The average amount of time it takes to set up is half a day. Unpacking the cobot, assembly, and programming usually takes less than an hour for a person who has never done it before.
Flexible Deployment
Dedicated robotics will no longer hold you back, thanks to continuous technological advancements. Universal Robots are lightweight, take little space, and are easy to maneuver to different tasks without changing the production layout. You can quickly and easily move the cobot to new jobs. This allows you to automate almost any manual task, even those with small batches or quick change-overs. The cobot can use the same programs to do recurrent tasks.
Safe and easy to work with
Now you can use machines to do dirty and dangerous jobs that used to be done by people. This will cut down on repetitive stress injuries and other accidents. After a risk assessment, 80% of the thousands of robots used around the world don’t have any safety barriers and work right next to human operators. A secure and healthy work environment not only keeps workers from getting hurt or sick, but it can also lower the costs of injuries and illnesses. It cuts down on employee absences and turnover, improve quality and productivity, and boost morale. In other words, safety makes business better.