Modern manufacturing enterprises are facing rising labor costs and shortening product delivery cycles to meet customer requirements and competitive needs. According to data from the United States Department of Labor, wages and salaries in the United States increased by 5.3% year-on-year in 2022, the largest increase in labor costs since 2001. Therefore, many companies are adopting technological innovations such as collaborative robots to reduce the repetitive manual tasks that workers need to complete. Statista's report states that the global robot solution market will achieve a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 26% by 2025.
Compared to traditional robots, collaborative robots perform roughly the same tasks, but:
• Smaller volume
• More lightweight
• Ability to work safely with workers
• More flexible
Collaborative robots are efficient and advanced robotic systems that employ the latest technology and can easily complete various complex tasks. Collaborative robots often complete work tasks with workers.
Working together with robots can accelerate the production process and increase productivity. Robots and workers can accomplish a wide range of tasks together, such as sorting or transporting products in distribution centers.
Many manufacturing and logistics enterprises have many limitations, and adding more personnel often does not solve the problem of insufficient capacity. For example, space constraints sometimes hinder them from increasing their production capacity. Their challenge is to balance costs while meeting expected sales and throughput targets. Collaborative robot solutions can work with existing workers to achieve higher productivity while occupying less space.
The advantages of collaborative robots include security and a collaborative human/robot interaction environment
Collaborative robots have all the advantages of advanced robotics and automation technology, but their programming costs, startup time, and security requirements are lower than traditional robots.
Other important advantages of collaborative robots include:
• Improving security - Collaborative robots create a hybrid work environment that improves the security of various tasks in various industries. When workers and robots work together, built-in features such as collision sensing can greatly reduce safety risks. When deploying collaborative robots in an industrial environment, risk assessments can be conducted to maximize safety and performance.
• Accelerated return on investment - When industrial enterprises transform their facilities into intelligent factories, the efficiency advantages of collaborative robots help to recover investment costs faster. Using this technology usually requires only minor adjustments to the existing production layout. The smaller footprint, shorter setup times, lower operating costs, and ease of integration with existing systems of collaborative robots all contribute to improved ROI.
• Simplify operation and maintenance - New digital twin software tools enable collaborative robot solutions and systems to complete virtual design and testing before being installed in a real-world environment. The digital twin model enables users to test control logic in a virtual design and debugging environment. This approach helps optimize design and minimize potential errors that can affect overall safety and performance in real-world operations. It also allows for easier identification of efficiency opportunities, validation of solutions, and lower cost maintenance of collaborative robot assets for enterprises.