Five reasons why you should invest in cobots

Robots are playing an increasingly important role in modern industry. They increase productivity and flexibility, relieve people of monotonous tasks and are becoming increasingly versatile. The latest innovations in this area are collaborative robots - so-called cobots.

While classic industrial robots are already established in many areas, the development continues: collaborative robots - known as cobots - are designed to work directly with humans. They share the same workspace and open up completely new application possibilities that were previously unthinkable.

Technology is not standing still, and cobots are now more versatile and flexible than ever. Companies in the manufacturing, processing and assembly sectors can benefit significantly from their use.

Michael Finke, Robot Product Manager at Mitsubishi Electric, gives five reasons why companies should consider installing cobots. Cobots not only enable more efficient production, but also more flexibility and seamless collaboration between man and machine.

When a new technology comes to market, it can disrupt established ways of thinking or spark interest in an area that has previously escaped people's attention.

Key elements that spark this interest include visual programming, direct teach-in, collision detection, integrated vision and advanced safety features, allowing cobots to be used in applications that do not require physical protection. This allows collaborative machines to reach the level of industrial robots, increasing productivity on the factory floor and supporting data-driven, intelligent workflows where the information generated by cobots can provide actionable insights to maintain peak performance.

Add to this their good looks with a sleek design without bottlenecks or sharp corners, and they are an attractive option for any application.

It's not just the cobots that are user-friendly. Add-on devices such as vision systems and grippers are designed to offer the same level of user-friendliness. In particular, many components offer 'plug-and-play' functionality so that they can be easily connected to the robot arms.

There are no cables to run and no adapters to design and manufacture, further simplifying the overall automation infrastructure while promoting flexibility. In fact, users can easily interchange components to support a variety of different applications.

Die oben genannten Vorteile, insbesondere die Einfachheit der Programmierung, Installation, Nutzung und Ausstattung von Cobots, führen auch zu hochflexiblen Produktionszellen und Maschinen. Unternehmen können die Funktionsweise und das Verhalten der kollaborativen Roboter in wenigen intuitiven Schritten ändern. Außerdem können ihre Greifer sehr schnell ausgetauscht werden.

Diese Fähigkeiten sind äußerst vorteilhaft, da die Cobots schnell von einer Aufgabe zur anderen wechseln können. Auf diese Weise lassen sich hochflexible und agile Systeme einsetzen, die bei der Automatisierung von gemischten Produktbaugruppen und Kleinserien helfen. Da die Nutzer die Programme der Cobots im Laufe der Zeit anpassen und optimieren können, ist es mit diesen Lösungen außerdem sehr einfach, die Produktivität kontinuierlich zu steigern und so Strategien zur kontinuierlichen Verbesserung zu verwirklichen.

With all the advantages that a cobot can bring, the question arises as to whether this means that a conventional industrial robot is no longer needed.

The answer, of course, is no. If, for example, speed is important, then the industrial robot is still the best choice. However, cobot technology is having an impact on the development of industrial robots. For example, many of the safety features previously found on collaborative robots are now standard on the industrial versions. As collaborative robots are often used on the same production lines as industrial robots, it is very important to choose a supplier that can offer both, such as Mitsubishi Electric.

The right choice of robot should offer all the programming capabilities already described, but also have more complex features, such as an advanced scripting language, so that the applications used by the robot can become increasingly complex and sophisticated as the user's knowledge increases.

It is clear that robot technology is developing at a rapid pace and that industry will also adopt this technology. The question is not whether to use collaborative robots or industrial robots, but whether to merge the two and match the right technology to the right application. If this is successful, the continued use of robots in industry is inevitable, and humans will either collaborate with robots as part of their job or be used for less mundane tasks elsewhere in the process.