Human Robot Collaboration and The Rise of the Cobot

Though most predictions about the roles of the robot (and by extension, the human being) in the workplace may see a future in which people are less and less needed, that’s not necessarily the case. The goal of full and absolute automation has so far proven elusive, even as industrial robots become more advanced. Today and into the foreseeable future, the real value of robotics in the workplace happens when human and robot teams work together in a shared workspace, collaborating to deliver efficiencies in the ways to which each is best suited.

What is Human Robot Collaboration (HRC)

Many of today’s industrial robots move large pieces at high speeds and present a safety risk to nearby workers. This is the reason that these robots are strictly ring-fenced while in operation, and why advanced manufacturing operations at facilities where robots are in use tend to task certain jobs to either all robots, or all human workers, with the two rarely working on the same piece at the same time.

With more advanced artificial intelligence and more advanced robotics technology available, today a new level of human and robot collaboration is possible, where assembly line tasks are shared to deliver greater speed than either is capable of alone.  A robot may do the heavy lifting while a human worker does detailed work, or one might perform final quality control checks while the other packs product for shipping. The combinations are practically endless, but collaborative robots (or cobots, for short), all offer fantastic advantages when the human-robot interactions are properly streamlined.

Maximum flexibility on the factory floor

Without the need for their own exclusive workspaces, collaborative robots can (and often need to be) positioned close to their human colleagues, saving floor space and enabling efficiency.

Improved Efficiency

Reduced downtime and higher load capacity means work is faster and more consistently timed, with these robots’ intelligent sensor capabilities giving business owners the means to improve plant complexity and efficiency in many areas of production.

Better Safety

Not only are employees no longer exposed to repetitive and strenuous movements that can cause injuries over time, but they are also equally protected from the potential dangers of robotic workers themselves. Robots designed for collaboration incorporate an inherently safe design, and Yaskawa cobots adhere to the highest standards of worker safety, with all robots undergoing a risk assessment before being deployed on the factory floor.

Wider business applications

There may be a stigma that industrial robots are only accessible to large manufacturers, but collaborative robots are equally suited to small and medium sized businesses as well. With wide industrial applications ranging from assembly, loading and unloading, dispensing, polishing and more, they can fit into teams of any size to streamline manufacturing affordably and deliver clear return on investment.

Easy Programming

Cobots and even more traditional robots used to require plenty of technical knowledge and time to programme actions perfectly, but more user friendly software and mobile applications mean this is changing fast. Today, new programmes can be quickly implemented and cobots can be programmed to perform more than one task, making them flexible and fast-learning additions to the assembly line.

Into the Collaborative Future Together

Cobots are designed to work with people, not to replace them. The idea of an entirely automated factory that operates 24 hours a day on a “lights-out” basis with no workers has proven time and again to be an impractical option. Cobots are the perfect compromise, taking the mindlessness of certain tasks out of human hands and improving productivity in the process. Combining the power and precision of robotic workers with the oversight of humans can enable more complex tasks and guarantee product quality for manufacturers and their clients.

As markets change faster than ever, there will always be a need for human ingenuity and adaptability on the factory floor, and cobots can help free their human counterparts to realise this potential.