Everything You Need to Know About Cobots and how they Turned a Boon for Us

In terms of capability, robotics technologies are advancing at a breakneck pace, enhancing their potential and value.

FREMONT, CA: Collaborative robots, or cobots, are automated solutions that work with humans to complete tedious or physically challenging activities, making their jobs more straightforward. Cobots got designed to improve human-robot collaboration. Instead of replacing a person, a cobot may collaborate with people, resulting in greater productivity and overall efficiency.

Cobots get often characterized as stationary robotic arms meant to work naturally and securely close to people. However, the definition and applications of collaborative robots are growing. The word "cobot" encompasses not just arms but also mobile robots that collaborate with humans. When users combine these features with the addition of a robot arm to an autonomous mobile robot (AMR), users have a robust mobile manipulator with unrivaled flexibility and usefulness. Furthermore, combining these two technologies in a user-friendly manner would enable more workers to use robots in a larger range of applications.

Their versatility and ease of usage fuels cobots' popularity. Manufacturers and warehouses continue to discover new and inventive methods to employ robots in their operations as the capabilities of these automated devices evolve. In the industrial workspace, there are six developing cobot application trends.

Machine Tending

Human-machine tending entails feeding raw materials or parts into a machine for processing, then removing these pieces and sending them to the next manufacturing stage. Another excellent possibility for a person to assign tedious work to a robot exists here. Machine tending may be done by a robotic arm using a cobot, enabling workers to focus on more skilled tasks while improving speed and productivity. A factory stamping out components that must get examined by personnel regularly is an example of this. While employees examine parts as needed, a mobile manipulator with a cobot arm fitted onto an autonomous mobile robot may tend to the machine. During off-hours, the cobot may continue to extract components and set parts away for QA at regular intervals so that the completed parts are ready for testing at the start of the shift, allowing these machines to operate 24 hours a day seven days a week.

Packing, Packaging, and Palletizing

Packing and palletizing are two industrial processes that can leave workers exhausted and bored at work. It's where robots come in: they assist boost productivity while also ensuring the safety of workers rushing to deliver items to consumers. Collaborative robot systems, such as AMRs with robotic arms, conveyors, or lift tables are helping to enhance packaging and palletizing operations. Manufacturers and warehouses may adjust and alter their packaging processes without affecting operations using these automated solutions separately or jointly.

Materials Handling

According to the Robotic Industries Association, material handling collaborative robots can take the most physically challenging, dangerous, repetitive, and tedious jobs on a manufacturing line. A cobot with a large payload can enhance efficiency, provide higher-quality goods, and improve worker safety in manufacturing and warehousing environments. In addition, the best materials handling cobots work well with other automated systems in a facility, including packing or palletizing robots.

Automated Replenishment

Raw material replenishment is another repeated job that is ideal for a robot. Automated replenishment of components for workers conducting complicated assembly processes or post-process inspection using a robot, such as a mobile manipulator, may substantially enhance production speed. A factory with a machine that applies a coating or glue to a product, for example, would require someone to keep track of raw material levels and refill them as needed. A cobot may get configured to supply the required pieces on a timetable, ensuring minimal downtime and constant output while enabling the worker to focus on product inspection.