COVER STORY | COBOTS
RISE OF THE COBOTS The emergence of collaborative robotics has
revolutionised the robotics market, increasing
the presence of robots on the shop oor – and
the technology is developing fast.
There is nothing particularly
new about robotics in
industry. Robots have been
operating on shop oors for
decades now. What is new, however,
is the ability of those robots to work
alongside and interact with human
workers.
For many years, industrial robots
meant large-scale production robots
operating in isolation, safely caged
off to prevent any accidents. Today,
however, with advances in technology
and the ability to scale robotics down
both in terms of size and cost, it has
become common to see smaller
robots forming an inherent part of
production lines.
The rise of these collaborative
robots (cobots) has been so rapid
that it is estimated that by 2025
cobots will comprise 34% of total
robot sales. Much of this growth is
anticipated to occur from those SME
companies who, operating in High-
Mix/Low-Volume (HMLV) production
environments, realise the exibility
and productivity-boosting potential of
collaborative robot technology.
Much of this potential lies in
cobots’ ability to perform repetitive,
monotonous or error-prone tasks -
freeing-up time for an operator to
devote to more complex, creative
and value-adding tasks. According to
Peter McCullough, product manager
at Doosan Robotics: “Although
cobots operate at lower speeds and
payloads than industrial robots, their
(relative) low cost, inherent safety
and exibility, easy integration and
operation and ‘collaborative’ nature
means (application-dependent
of course) that they can deliver
signi cant
productivity
improvements
and a fast return
on investment…
The capability
and acceptance of
cobots is clearly
increasing, and as
countries emerge
from coronavirus lockdowns and
work restrictions, it is likely that
adoption and use of the technology
will grow exponentially.”
Barry Weller, product manager at
Mitsubishi Electric, says: “Cobots are
ideal when machines need to handle
and hold parts while humans work on
them. The ergonomics of a cobot arm
are very different to that of a human;
reach and repeatability are better, as
is holding still for long periods. In this
situation it can make a task far more
comfortable for a human to complete,
using robot assistance. This not only
improves the working environment
but is also a bene t for quality and
productivity.”
Another factor in the increasing
popularity of cobots is the fact that
innovation comes not just from
system manufacturers, but also from
accessory, software and end-of-arm
tooling suppliers has widened their
appeal and application potential.
Widely acknowledged as a
pioneer in this eld is Universal
Robots (UR), which developed the
world’s rst commercially viable
cobot as far back as 2008. Today, UR
has more than 37,000 cobots on the
job around the world.
This was largely achieved by
the development of the UR robot’s
10 WWW.EUREKAMAGAZINE.CO.UK | JULY 2020
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