Cobotics For Industrial Applications.

Source: Wikipedia

“Cobotics” is a new coined word formed by the “Collaborative” and “Robotics” term. It has been used for the first time in 1999 by Peshkin and Colgate to design the direct Interaction between a robot and a human on a dedicated workstation (Peshkin and Colgate, 1999). A Cobot is defined as a robot that has been designed and built to work alongside with human employees. A workstation includes a robot and human working together is called a Cobotics System. The automotive Industry has been the early adopter of Cobotics. BMW and Volkswagen first implemented these robots with an aim to reduce physical strain on human employees.

Difference between Robots and Cobots:

Cobots are designed to collaborate with human employees while robots work in place of employees. Industrial robots are designed to automate the manufacturing process entirely without any human intervention. On the other hand, a cobot can assist human employee in work without eliminating the factory jobs. Robots cannot identify if a human enter their space which can be dangerous, on the other hand cobots are equipped with sensors, camera that allow them to detect humans in their space and pause their work. Cobots are easily programmable than the Industrial robots and safe enough to work around the people. Cobots are helping to solve labour shortage and efficiency challenges. They are designed to enhance and co-exist with human production, not replacing them by taking their jobs.

Benefits of Cobots:

1. Cobots can help with difficult, repetitive, dangerous task that can sometimes puts workers at risk for injury. This can help in keeping the employees safe as a result employees can concentrate on more complex tasks that can add value to the company.
2. As compared to traditional Industrial robots, cobots not only allows human to be a vital part of the workflows but also provide freedom to do more complex tasks by doing the work itself which are better suited for machines. This increases workflow efficiency and robust the company’s growth.
3. Robotics solutions are becoming promising options for packing and palletizing operations as cobots provides increased speed and greater flexibility which is required in recent fast-paced marketplace.
4. Unlike their traditional industrial robotic counterparts, cobots are designed to work safely along with the humans which results in safe and more productive tasking. They can perform different task simultaneously which is difficult for human to do.
5. Intelligent and flexible cobots are helping to augment workforce operations efficiently moreover with their inbuilt sensors and cameras, cobots are showing better anticipation of human needs.

Since cobots are designed to help humans to do their job better not replacing them so there is acceptance and enthusiasm in working with cobots. Companies are seeing more adoption with cobots working together with the humans. Cobots are integral part of the industry 4.0 evolution.  They are becoming increasingly key technology for enterprises, enabling them to adopt the advantages of automation and use the benefits of a closer and safer working relationship between humans and robots.

Source:(https://www.sealevel.com/2020/03/03/cobotics-for-automotive-humans-cobots-working-side-by-side/)

(https://www.grainger.com/know-how/business-operations/inventory-management/kh-automating-the-supply-chain-five-benefits-of-cobotics)

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