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Universal Robots companions mentioned and confirmed cobot purposes at its Boston open home. Source: Universal Robots
BOSTON — Once 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, Universal 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 individuals. In the previous few years, they have turn into extra highly effective, extra exact, and even simpler to make use of, famous Universal Robots.
The unit of North Reading, Mass.-based Teradyne Inc. demonstrated a number of cobot purposes with choose companions throughout its open home. Each one mixed a UR arm with sensors akin to these from SICK, finish effectors from OnRobot and Schunk, and Universal Robots’ personal controllers. Unlike typical industrial robotic workcells, the displays didn’t require security cages.
Universal Robots additionally provided displays all through the day, discussing subjects starting from a buyer use case and danger assessments to the way forward for work. Here are 5 takeaways from the occasion:
1. Collaborative robots are prepared for palletizing
Putting bins or instances on pallets could be strenuous, repetitive work. Larger cobot arms, advances in movement management, and Universal Robots’ deal with purposes relatively than expertise for its personal sake led to a veritable explosion of automated palletizing demos at this yr’s commerce exhibits, akin to Automate, ProMat, and PACK EXPO.
Robotiq confirmed its Robotiq Palletizer, which included a UR10 arm. Ryan Weaver, vp, industrial, mentioned how “lean robotics” finest practices may help corporations get began with automation.
“We had talked a lot about lean robotics before the [COVID-19] pandemic, but now it’s time to help companies with adopting robots,” he advised The Robot Report.
On show was the UR20 mannequin, which is now delivery. It can deal with payloads of 20 kg (44 lb.), making it appropriate for palletizing, welding, and different duties as soon as the province of business robots.
Other Universal Robots companions round palletizing included techniques integrator Flex Line, with its boxEZ Box Erector.
Mobile Industrial Robots, which can be owned by Teradyne, confirmed its MiR 250 autonomous cell robotic (AMR). Brian Dillman, gross sales director at Odense, Denmark-based Mobile Industrial Robots, talked about how logistics can go “from good to great using AMRs.”
Many AMR customers have gone from “kicking the tires” to desirous to scale their robotic fleets inside and throughout services, Dillman mentioned. He provided steering on the way to handle such rising fleets.
2. Cobots supply flexibility for machine tending
The proper mixture of machine imaginative and prescient, software program, and UR cobots can facilitate CNC machine tending. However, implementation is usually a problem, noticed Tyler Bouchard, co-founder and CEO of Flexxbotics.
Flexxbotics gives help for cobot machine tending, and the corporate claimed that its FlexxCORE software program connects robots with different tools for duties akin 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 Universal Robots companion, demonstrated its laser marker for selecting operations.
3. Universal Robots continues to develop its ecosystem
“We originally expected only 200 people,” mentioned Zach Tomkinson, regional supervisor for East U.S. gross sales at Universal 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 akin to MassRobotics. Several advised The Robot Report throughout networking that they have been searching for options to frequent business challenges.
While Universal Robots has specialised in collaborative robotic arms, it mentioned its rising UR+ companion ecosystem permits customers to search out the correct mix of already-compatible applied sciences for his or her wants.
For occasion, 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.
More than 400 individuals attended UR’s open home. Source: Universal Robots
4. Automation is turning into accessible to outlets of all sizes
Force-torque sensors present a way of contact, and growing integration of imaginative and prescient techniques is permitting robots to maintain choosing autonomously relatively than surrender after a single strive, defined Andrew Pether, principal innovation analysis engineer at Universal Robots.
In mixture with demonstration studying and streamlined consumer interfaces, outlets that don’t have robotics experience can now undertake automation, he mentioned.
Vermont Creamery defined the way it journeyed from “evaluation to FAT” (manufacturing facility acceptance check) 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 Tool for fabrication outlets, and Cobot Systems displayed its Laser Welder. Hirebotics additionally affords built-in welding automation together with UR cobots.
In addition to its open home, Universal Robots hosted coaching periods at its headquarters as a part of its “UR Academy.”
5. Don’t worry robots and AI — they’re right here to assist
Despite widespread studies warning of job losses on account of robotics adoption, such a correlation hasn’t been confirmed, mentioned Julie Shah. She is a professor on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (MIT CSAIL).
“Our lab prefers to focus on ‘positive-sum automation’ rather than a ‘zero-sum’ stalemate,” she mentioned in a session on the way forward for work. Shah mentioned her analysis is engaged on computing at augments human functionality.
In addition, small and midsize companies symbolize 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 mentioned.
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 way” section, with cobots and collaborative cell robots studying to maneuver or cease round individuals, in keeping with Shah.
On a associated subject, Chris Savoia, head of strategic enterprise growth at Universal Robots, lined how and why to conduct danger 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 mentioned. Fortunately, there are finest practices and requirements to assist, Savoia mentioned.
From 2022 into the longer term may very well be the period of “positive sum automation,” mentioned Shah, as robotics builders overcome challenges akin to when a robotic freezes fully in proximity to a human co-worker.
Light curtains, a variety of sensors and software program, and synthetic intelligence to foretell human movement can all assist robots turn into extra conscious, she mentioned. Such predictive talents, together with extra correct simulation and measurement, can result in higher integration and check, Shah mentioned.
While it’s nonetheless early days for generative AI and human-machine interplay, Shah mentioned the very best productiveness outcomes are doubtless not from “lights-out,” totally automated factories however from sensible collaboration between people and robots.