Two Technology Trends Transforming Collaborative Automation

Summary

Collaborative automation–a term that encompasses collaborative robots (‘cobots’), lightweight industrial robots and their end-effectors, such as grippers and tool changers—is known for its flexibility, fast ROI and ease of use.

Unlike traditional industrial automation, collaborative automation can, following a risk assessment, be deployed next to humans without safety fencing or guarding. It’s also significantly easier to deploy than traditional automation. Additionally, cobots’ smaller footprint makes them easy to deploy in spaces that traditional industrial robots simply wouldn’t fit.

Small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have traditionally been reluctant to deploy automation due to the costs and programming complexities involved. The rise of collaborative automation has changed the game. Today, instead of looking on as larger companies enjoy the benefits of automation from 24/7 availability to improved consistency and increased productivity, SMEs can benefit from automation’s many upsides too.
And with companies of all sizes adopting collaborative automation, cobots have emerged as one of the fastest growing segments of the entire automation sector. Between 2022 and 2030, global cobot shipments are expected to grow from around 4,500 to 42,000.

The cobot market has its limitations, however. Most cobot solutions tend to be proprietary, which paints users into a corner if they want to mix and match different components from different brands. It can be done but requires many hours of robot hardware and software integration. That extra cost undermines the usability arguments that are made in favor of adopting collaborative automation in the first place.

So, what’s next? How can you plan for additional efficiencies and productivity improvements across your shop floor? How can you make sure you’re ready for new technologies without getting painted into a proprietary corner? And how can you keep your efforts (and budget) focused on your specific application and business needs rather than getting bogged down in all of the robotic integration hardware and software details?

The collaborative automation sector is evolving to address these challenges in two main ways. First, it is moving away from complex, proprietary deployments and towards open, plug-and-play solutions on the hardware side. Second, it is embracing “no-code” programming solutions.

Open, plug-and-play hardware systems mean that you can use peripherals from Brand A on a cobot from Brand B –no complex and time-consuming integration required. These advanced tool changers combined with integration software slash deployment times and allow users to truly enjoy the flexibility of cobot systems.

For example, a cobot that is deployed on machine tending tasks for the first shift can quite easily, with a quick change of end-effector, be deployed on a sanding task on the second shift. Using this new technology also means that users are not tied to a particular brand of cobot or end-effector–these new systems will detect the cobot and its peripherals and automatically integrate them for you.

Meanwhile, “no-code” programming is revolutionizing the deployment process for common manufacturing applications such as machine tending and palletizing. The International Federation of Robotics estimates that programming and integration account for between 50-70% of the cost of a typical robot application. It’s also one of the main reasons why SMEs have traditionally been reluctant to invest in automation. 

No code programming technology automatically discovers the installed hardware, including the robot arm and end-of-arm tooling. Instead of integrators or users having to program the robot motion for each application, the software generates the motion automatically, based on the obstacles and cell boundaries defined in the workspace.

Program logic, event handling, signals exchange and robot movement are automatically created for your application based on just a few inputs such as pick position, workpiece attributes and cell boundaries.
The difference this makes to deployment times is substantial. For example, using conventional programming methods an integrator would typically take up to 40 hours to deploy a typical palletizing cell.

Using “no code” programming, the same cell could be ready to go within just three hours --a massive 93% time and cost saving. Similarly, a manufacturer that would typically take 17 hours to redeploy a palletizing cell can do so in just 2.5 hours. The same effect on deployment and times is felt across applications. A typical CNC machine tending application takes around 36 hours to deploy using traditional programming methods, but with new “no code” technology that’s reduced to just six hours.

These emerging solutions speed automation deployments and enable greater flexibility and scalability for long-term ROI. That’s critical for manufacturers to maintain competitiveness and profitability, even in the face of ongoing labor and supply chain challenges.

Ultimately, as they develop, these new technologies and approaches will enable collaborative automation to be used on more robotic applications, more easily and with greatly reduced deployment costs.

_{Photo courtesy of OnRobot}