Your new colleague - the robot out of the cage

When asked how to imagine a robot, most people would think of large, cumbersome robots working in the fenced areas of large factories or future armored warriors who would mimic human behavior.

However, there is a new phenomenon that is actually happening between the two: it is the emergence of a so-called "cooperative robot." This new type of robot can directly work side-by-side with human employees without using security fences to isolate them. . This type of cooperative robot is expected to fill the gap between fully manual assembly lines and fully automated production lines. So far, some companies, especially SMEs, still believe that robotic automation is too expensive and complex, and therefore never consider the possibility of application.

Traditional industrial robots are generally large in size and work behind glass protective covers. They are widely used in the automotive industry and other large assembly production lines. In contrast, collaborative robots are lightweight, highly flexible, easy to move, and can be reprogrammed to solve new tasks, helping companies to adjust to achieve higher-level processing of small batches of production to meet the short-term production challenges. In the United States, the number of robots used in the automotive industry still accounts for about 65% of total market sales. The American Robotics Association RIA cited observer data that only 10% of companies that have benefited from robots have installed robots.

Reduced access threshold

The reason why this figure is so low lies in the three major challenges of cost, user friendliness and applicability, which have now been successfully solved by new collaborative robots. Let us first look at the financial aspects:

The next generation of complex products requires a high degree of adaptability, accuracy, and reliability. Even where labor costs are affordable, this goes well beyond the skills of human workers. According to traditional rules of thumb, the cost of a robot is equal to the salary of a human worker for two years. But the cost of a collaborative robot is only close to a quarter of this cost. Coupled with the faster turnover of the new robots and the rapid development of robotics technology, all of these indicate that the production shift has lost its reasonable commercial significance.

On the contrary, the new type of robot becomes a high-tech currency and it is turning salary wars into a competition for improving product quality and accelerating the turnaround time.

Plug and play robot

In terms of traditional robots, the robot's own cost of capital accounts for only 25% to 30% of the total system cost. The remaining costs are related to robot programming, installation, and dedicated shielded work rooms. The "out-of-box experience" of collaborative robots is usually less than one hour. This is actually the time it takes to unpack, install, and write the first simple task program.

Why collaborative robots are user-friendly: No need to rely on skilled programmers, this new robot is equipped with a tablet-size touchscreen user interface, and the user can manipulate the robot arm by indicating movements on the screen. Or, by holding the robot arm with ease, show it the required path of motion. This interface meets the standards of most industrial sensors and programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Writing a new task program is very simple, and Oticon, a manufacturer of Danish hearing aids, is well aware of this. The new cooperative robot has intuitive and highly accurate user guidance, which has left a deep impression on Audi. Oticon needs highly mobile robots to help it realize the economic benefits of short-term production. With the rapid development of medical engineering, the production process has also continued to improve, and hearing aid models are more extensive, which requires companies to use robots to achieve smaller-scale mass production.

The hearing aid manufacturer Oticon used the UR5 robot arm to perform various tasks in the foundry, and the suction tool was replaced with a pneumatic jig that could be used to handle more complex castings. The six-axis robot has a working cycle of 4 to 7 seconds and can complete the tilt and tilt operations that are not possible with traditional two- and three-axis robots from Audi.

Accurate handling

Traditional robots used by Oticon have not been able to solve problems related to applicability and portability. With the new robot, all this is solved. The parts of modern hearing aids are getting smaller and smaller, and they are usually only a millimeter in size. Hearing aid manufacturers are always looking for a solution that can suck small parts out of the mold. This is totally impossible for manual operation. Similarly, "old-fashioned" two-axis or three-axis robots that can only perform horizontal and vertical movements cannot be achieved. If, for example, a small part is stuck in a mold, the robot must be able to tip the part out.

Oticon installed the robot in its molding shop in just one day to meet new tasks. The new robot can be securely mounted above the mold of the Injection Molding Machine. The specially designed vacuum system sucks the plastic components, while the more complex molded components are handled using pneumatic clamps. Thanks to the six-axis design, the new robot is highly mobile and can be quickly removed from the mold by rotating or tilting. The working period of the new robot is 4 to 7 seconds, depending on the scale of the production operation and the size of the components. Due to the optimization of the production process, the payback period is only 60 days.

At the Oticon plant, the UR robot is firmly mounted on the injection molding machine and can move over the mold and pick up plastic components. This operation is done using a specially designed vacuum system to ensure that sensitive parts are not damaged.

Can work in limited space

At the Cascina Italia factory in Italy, a collaborative robot working on the packaging line can handle 15,000 eggs per hour. This robot is equipped with a pneumatic clamp that can complete the packing operation of 10 egg trays. Since each carton contains 9 layers of 10 egg cartons, this work requires very precise handling and careful placement.

At first, Cascina did not expect to be able to use the robot to complete the work, but after watching the robot's field demonstration in his own factory, the egg company quickly realized the benefits of using a robot. After 90 days, the new robot officially worked on the assembly line of the factory. This robotic colleague is only 11 pounds in weight and can easily move between different packaging lines, and this is crucial for Cascina because the company has four different sizes of egg products that require robots to be able to closely follow each other. Human employees work in extremely limited space beside them.

Cascina Italia uses the robot robot UR5 from Ultrium Robotics, and its automated packaging line can handle 15,000 eggs per hour. Company employees can quickly reprogram the robot and work next to it without using a security fence. Since the Cascina factory floor layout did not anticipate the need to accommodate separate robotic automation equipment at the beginning of planning, a portable robot that can move quickly between different tasks is crucial to the Italian egg distribution company. .