|
Hearken to this text  |
Common Robots companions mentioned and confirmed cobot purposes at its Boston open home. Supply: Common Robots
BOSTON — As soon as dismissed as not succesful sufficient for industrial use, collaborative robots are simply starting to assist producers and provide chains. At an open home at its U.S. headquarters yesterday, Common Robots A/S confirmed about 400 attendees that cobots are prepared for manufacturing work at outlets of all sizes.
Collaborative robots are smaller and lighter than some industrial robotic arms, and so they embody sensors, software program, and different options to make them simpler to program and to work alongside folks. Previously few years, they have turn out to be extra highly effective, extra exact, and even simpler to make use of, famous Common Robots.
The unit of North Studying, Mass.-based Teradyne Inc. demonstrated a number of cobot purposes with choose companions throughout its open home. Every one mixed a UR arm with sensors corresponding to these from SICK, finish effectors from OnRobot and Schunk, and Common Robots’ personal controllers. In contrast to typical industrial robotic workcells, the reveals didn’t require security cages.
Common Robots additionally supplied displays all through the day, discussing matters starting from a buyer use case and threat assessments to the way forward for work. Listed below are 5 takeaways from the occasion:
1. Collaborative robots are prepared for palletizing
Placing containers or instances on pallets will be strenuous, repetitive work. Bigger cobot arms, advances in movement management, and Common Robots’ give attention to purposes moderately than know-how for its personal sake led to a veritable explosion of automated palletizing demos at this yr’s commerce reveals, corresponding to Automate, ProMat, and PACK EXPO.
Robotiq confirmed its Robotiq Palletizer, which included a UR10 arm. Ryan Weaver, vp, business, mentioned how “lean robotics” greatest practices may also help corporations get began with automation.
“We had talked lots about lean robotics earlier than the [COVID-19] pandemic, however now it’s time to assist corporations with adopting robots,” he informed The Robotic Report.
On show was the UR20 mannequin, which is now delivery. It could deal with payloads of 20 kg (44 lb.), making it appropriate for palletizing, welding, and different duties as soon as the province of commercial robots.
Different Common Robots companions round palletizing included techniques integrator Flex Line, with its boxEZ Field Erector.
Cellular Industrial Robots, which can also be owned by Teradyne, confirmed its MiR 250 autonomous cell robotic (AMR). Brian Dillman, gross sales director at Odense, Denmark-based Cellular Industrial Robots, talked about how logistics can go “from good to nice utilizing AMRs.”
Many AMR customers have gone from “kicking the tires” to eager to scale their robotic fleets inside and throughout services, Dillman stated. He supplied steering on how you can handle such rising fleets.
2. Cobots provide flexibility for machine tending
The precise mixture of machine imaginative and prescient, software program, and UR cobots can facilitate CNC machine tending. Nonetheless, implementation could be a problem, noticed Tyler Bouchard, co-founder and CEO of Flexxbotics.
Flexxbotics gives assist for cobot machine tending, and the corporate claimed that its FlexxCORE software program connects robots with different gear for duties corresponding to deburring. With an edge field and cloud-based platform, it’s simple to use programming throughout cells, famous a Flexxbotics consultant on the open home.
Precision Cobotics, one other Common Robots companion, demonstrated its laser marker for choosing operations.
3. Common Robots continues to develop its ecosystem
“We initially anticipated solely 200 folks,” stated Zach Tomkinson, regional supervisor for East U.S. gross sales at Common Robots.
Attendees got here from as far-off as Georgia and North Carolina for the one-day occasion. They included a mixture of potential finish customers, integrators, engineers, startups, and college students, in addition to organizations corresponding to MassRobotics. A number of informed The Robotic Report throughout networking that they had been on the lookout for options to frequent business challenges.
Whereas Common Robots has specialised in collaborative robotic arms, it stated its rising UR+ companion ecosystem allows customers to seek out the correct mix of already-compatible applied sciences for his or her wants.
As an example, Kane Robotics displayed its GRIT-ST system for precision floor ending, and ESTIC America demonstrated an automatic nut runner for meeting. New Scale Robotics confirmed its Q-Span system with a UR cobot for automated gauging.
Greater than 400 folks attended UR’s open home. Supply: Common Robots
4. Automation is changing into accessible to outlets of all sizes
Power-torque sensors present a way of contact, and rising integration of imaginative and prescient techniques is permitting robots to maintain choosing autonomously moderately than surrender after a single attempt, defined Andrew Pether, principal innovation analysis engineer at Common Robots.
Together with demonstration studying and streamlined person interfaces, outlets that don’t have robotics experience can now undertake automation, he stated.
Vermont Creamery defined the way it journeyed from “analysis to FAT” (manufacturing facility acceptance take a look at) as a UR buyer. Rick Bart, director of operations; Chris Freeman, operations supervisor; and Eric Duncan, supervisor for environmental well being and security, supplied the end-user perspective on a profitable deployment.
Vectis Automation confirmed its Cobot Welding Instrument for fabrication outlets, and Cobot Techniques displayed its Laser Welder. Hirebotics additionally presents built-in welding automation together with UR cobots.
Along with its open home, Common Robots hosted coaching classes at its headquarters as a part of its “UR Academy.”
5. Don’t worry robots and AI — they’re right here to assist
Regardless of widespread stories warning of job losses on account of robotics adoption, such a correlation hasn’t been confirmed, stated Julie Shah. She is a professor on the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how’s Pc Science and Synthetic Intelligence Lab (MIT CSAIL).
“Our lab prefers to give attention to ‘positive-sum automation’ moderately than a ‘zero-sum’ stalemate,” she stated in a session on the way forward for work. Shah stated her analysis is engaged on computing at augments human functionality.
As well as, small and midsize companies characterize 48% of U.S. manufacturing and make use of 43% of producing staff, Shah added. If solely one-tenth of automotive suppliers are utilizing robots and all complain of a dearth of expert staff, automation is a part of the answer of upskilling labor, she stated.
Shah divided industrial automation into three phases. From 1962 to about 2010 was the “Don’t go there” stage, with heavy robots caged away from human staff.
2011 to 2021 was the “Get out of the best way” part, with cobots and collaborative cell robots studying to maneuver or cease round folks, based on Shah.
On a associated subject, Chris Savoia, head of strategic enterprise growth at Common Robots, coated how and why to conduct threat assessments for cobots in a separate session. Collaborative robots are designed to be safer to function round people, however customers should nonetheless take workspaces, payloads, and processes into consideration, he stated. Fortuitously, there are greatest practices and requirements to assist, Savoia stated.
From 2022 into the longer term may very well be the period of “optimistic sum automation,” stated Shah, as robotics builders overcome challenges corresponding to when a robotic freezes fully in proximity to a human co-worker.
Mild curtains, a spread of sensors and software program, and synthetic intelligence to foretell human movement can all assist robots turn out to be extra conscious, she stated. Such predictive talents, together with extra correct simulation and measurement, can result in higher integration and take a look at, Shah stated.
Whereas it’s nonetheless early days for generative AI and human-machine interplay, Shah stated one of the best productiveness outcomes are doubtless not from “lights-out,” totally automated factories however from sensible collaboration between people and robots.
