Why Choose a Collaborative Robot for Your Workspace

Collaborative robots are equipment designed to interact in a physical way with people in a work environment, being able to share a collaborative space, so work and communication between robots and humans is easier.

Cobot concept. What are cobots?

The emergence of these robots was in the 90s, being nicknamed as cobots due to the union of words “collaboration” and “robot”. This new word defined that cobor is a robot designed to collaborate. In recent years, advances in sensors and automation technologies, as well as the emergence of the so-called industry 4.0, has increase the presence of these robots in industries.

Differences between cobots and industrial robots

The robots that we traditionally know, called industrial robots, are designed to work autonomously, while cobots are specifically designed to work in collaborative work with humans. Therefore, human presence is the biggest difference between these two types of robots.

Main advantages of collaborative robots

The main advantages that collaborative robots have are the security, their ease of use and its price. This characteristics are promoting their installation in factories. 

As we have said before, the advances produced in sensorics has made safer this type of machines. Some of the most outstanding sensors are those of force and vision to avoid collisions.

Its simplicity,  both installing and using them, make that many companies look for these types of robots. This creates a trend in small and medium-sized companies which previously had no special interest in incorporating robotics into their production chains, but now, they have installed this robots and have obtained great results.

Regarding the price , we highlight how economical they are because they do not require security zones, fences and how compact they are. These types of robots have functional flexibility, which allows us to assign them multiple applications without just making modifications. Regarding cost, compared to industrial robots, is lower and in general, in most cases, it is amortized in less than a year.

Another benefit that cobots provide us respect to industrial robots, would be its ease of transfer, since the traditional ones are installed in a fixed place and the collaboratives can be moved from one site to another depending on the needs of the company.

Common applications of cobots

Cobots free people from performing the most dangerous, repetitive and heavy tasks, so injuries and casualties that occur in the company are reduced. Some of the most common applications of this type of machines could be:

• Mold release: providing the tool with suction cups parts of an injection mold can be collected.
• Pick and place: one of the tasks where this type of robot is used the most, since it allows us to automate in a very simple way the repetitive tasks of picking up and storing the different pieces.
• Bonding, dispensing and welding: this type of process is carried out getting high quality finish.
• Other common applications could be: screwed, polished, quality control through computer vision …

As we have seen throughout this blog, the increase of collaborative robot installation in the industry increases considerably, and from ATRIA we are ready to help your company to take this step, contact us! Here you can know some of the collaborative robotics projects we have carried out:

• Picking with vision and collaborative robot with two arms
• Pick & Place from tape with UR and vision after injection
• Function testing with MIR + UR at high temperatures
• Function testing at the end of the line with collaborative robots
• Connection of batteries with artificial vision

Related Posts:

• Robotics, artificial intelligence and the future of employment
• Industrial robotics for the future factories
• Application of Industry 4.0 in different sectors
• The role of Cobots in Industry 4.0
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