In recent years, collaborative robots (cobots) have begun to lead the growth of the robot market. According to research data from BIS Research, the market sales of collaborative robots will reach 150000 units by 2021, with sales expected to increase to $2 billion. Some industries are beginning to introduce collaborative robots as a way to seek new automation futures.
There is a clear contrast between collaborative robots designed to work in collaboration with humans and traditional industrial robots. Fixed traditional industrial robots need to maintain a distance from humans when working independently. Due to the inherent safety of collaborative robots, such as the application of force feedback and collision detection, the safety of cooperation between humans and collaborative robots will be ensured. Collaborative robots equipped with sensors and safety functions to limit force and power make cooperation between robots and humans possible, thereby shortening production processes, improving productivity, reducing error rates, and making human work more efficient and valuable, But it has not replaced humans. It can be said that the reason why collaborative robots stand out is that they can play a role in the field of work that was originally entirely completed by humans.
In manufacturing, productivity is the key to success. The more productivity increases, the higher the profit of the enterprise, which is an unchanging principle. In recent years, more and more people have chosen collaborative robots. There are 7 reasons why manufacturers should consider investing in collaborative robots.
1. Collaborative robots are easy to program
Some new collaborative robots are designed to be user-friendly and easy to program, eliminating the need for engineers to implement. Some even have manual guidance functions, where collaborative robots can learn through examples and guide according to a series of actions required to complete their programming tasks.
2. Short setting time
The longer it takes to set up automation, the more expensive the initial investment. The high costs of employee training, production shutdowns, and the need to hire external service providers may prolong the time for investment returns. For small and medium-sized companies, these may pose significant problems.
When designing collaborative robots, this was taken into account, as well as the need for out of the box functionality. Pre programming software allows users to install robots themselves, so they can set them up in less than 30 minutes. In addition, the flexibility brought by the short setup time of collaborative robots improves productivity and return on investment.
3. Collaborative robots can be used for different applications
One of the main selling points of collaborative robots is flexibility. Programming collaborative robots for new tasks is simple and does not require external service personnel. This introduces versatility into the production line and makes it easy to set collaborative robots to perform a series of different tasks on the same day, or to specify work dates for certain tasks.
Collaborative robots can be easily integrated into agile systems because they enable users to quickly respond to design changes and reconfigure collaborative robots accordingly.
Collaborative robots in the current market can play many roles, usually in service and industrial roles. Service oriented collaborative robots are used to provide information, transport goods, or provide security protection in public places. Industrial collaborative robots have various applications, including but not limited to picking and placing, packaging and palletizing, assembly, machine maintenance, surface finishing, and quality testing and inspection.
4. Consistency of results
Robots never get tired, so their results are more consistent and accurate compared to those of humans doing the same job. This makes them particularly suitable for monotonous tasks, as they can repeat simple actions without compromising the quality of work. Once set up, collaborative robots can perform the same tasks with the same abilities.
5. Positive impact on employees
Manufacturing workers are generally concerned that they will be replaced by robots, as they have the advantages of being faster, more precise, and never tire out. But the fact is that the likelihood of this happening is too low. Especially in companies with high mixing capacity and small batch production, traditional industrial robots are typically used at high costs and low flexibility.
And this also opened the door to the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution now.
Information technology is used in intelligent manufacturing to enable collaboration between human and collaborative robots without the need to reduce personnel size. The workers were not replaced by machines. But by using collaborative robots, workers can eliminate repetitive processes and reduce their time, thus being able to handle more complex tasks and improving their daily experience.
Collaborative robots can support human employees in their work, taking over dangerous, dirty, and tedious tasks, thereby creating a safer and more enjoyable workspace environment.
6. Improve productivity and optimize processes
During the process of taking over human employees, collaborative robots make it difficult for employees to concentrate or maintain consistent performance for a long time, and the accuracy of robots reduces the likelihood of malfunctions and product defects to almost zero.
Quickly changing the tasks that collaborative robots need to perform helps workers optimize production lines and reduce costs while maintaining high standards of product quality.
7. Fast investment payback period
The cost of collaborative robots is lower than that of industrial robots, and the type of application used and the duration of use also determine that collaborative robots can recover investment costs in just 200 to 300 days.