Kassow says its collaborative robots deliver accuracy, effectivity, and customization to allotting duties. | Supply: Kassow Robots
Collaborative robots are being adopted throughout manufacturing flooring as a sensible solution to automate particular duties inside current manufacturing constraints. Producers want to enhance their processes throughout a number of dimensions, akin to making them extra constant, decreasing pressure on staff, and maximizing the area they’re working with.
On the identical time, producers need to keep away from pausing manufacturing or redesigning complete strains to attain these objectives. In these conditions, cobots supply a sensible path ahead when they’re built-in with a transparent understanding of how the road already operates.
Including a force- and power-limited robotic to a longtime manufacturing line isn’t so simple as putting a robotic at a station and urgent “Begin.” Present strains have a rhythm formed by operator routines, bodily layouts, and upstream and downstream dependencies. Introducing a robotic with out accounting for these realities can create extra inefficiencies as a substitute of resolving current ones.
Nevertheless, when deliberate fastidiously cobots may also help stabilize cycle time, cut back variation, and assist operators with out forcing main modifications to surrounding processes.
Begin with the suitable collaborative job
Activity choice is among the most vital preliminary choices. Collaborative robots are inclined to ship probably the most worth when assigned work that’s repetitive, predictable, and bodily demanding.
Frequent examples embrace loading or unloading components, tending machines, transferring parts between stations or dealing with routine inspection steps. These duties usually contribute disproportionately to operator fatigue and course of variability over the course of a shift, regardless that they don’t require important problem-solving.
Integration efforts usually battle when automation is layered on prime of an inconsistent job. If operators routinely compensate for fixture variation, alter half placement, or work round tooling limitations, these points won’t disappear as soon as a robotic is added. In lots of circumstances, automation makes these inconsistencies extra seen. Addressing them first permits the cobot to strengthen the station relatively than inherit its issues.
Work inside bodily constraints
Cobots are supposed to be simply reprogrammed and tailored to totally different duties. | Supply: Kassow
Area constraints are one other main issue. Many current manufacturing strains have been by no means designed with robotics in thoughts. Stations could also be tightly packed, tools placement could also be fastened, or operator stroll paths could go away little room for added {hardware}. In these environments, a robotic’s capacity to succeed in a number of interplay factors from a single mounting location turns into extra vital than uncooked pace or payload capability.
Cobots with prolonged attain and versatile joint configurations usually strategy components and machines from angles that will in any other case require format modifications. A further joint past a conventional six-axis design can present larger freedom of movement, permitting the robotic to navigate round fixtures or tooling whereas sustaining exact positioning. This flexibility allows aspect mounting or offset placement relatively than positioning the robotic instantly in entrance of the station, which helps protect entry for operators and upkeep groups whereas preserving the general footprint compact.
Compact bases and slender mounting options additional assist integration in space-constrained environments, notably in older services the place ground area is already at a premium.
Protect operator entry and materials stream
Even when a collaborative robotic automates a part of a job, operators nonetheless load parts, take away completed components, carry out changeovers, and reply to alarms. If a robotic’s placement forces operators to succeed in awkwardly or work round it, any good points in consistency are shortly misplaced. Profitable integrations permit the cobot to work alongside individuals with out interrupting how they transfer by way of the station.
Materials stream deserves equal consideration. A robotic could possibly attain all its programmed positions, but when its movement disrupts the pure path of components or introduces extra dealing with steps, total throughput can endure.
In lots of circumstances, delays usually are not brought on by the robotic’s cycle time, however by how its actions work together with the stream of fabric between processes. Cobots that may service a number of interplay factors from a single base assist keep stability and cut back pointless handoffs.
Shield cycle time and line rhythm
Kassow cobots have sensors that detect overload, making certain that they’ll function safely in shared workspaces. | Supply: Kassow Robots
Cycle time alignment is one other frequent problem. When a robotic performs its job reliably, it should function at a tempo that matches the station it helps. Manufacturing strains usually run at an outlined tempo, and introducing a robotic that operates sooner or slower than surrounding processes can create new bottlenecks.
Reviewing the handbook course of earlier than programming usually exhibits {that a} cobot doesn’t want to finish a complete job so as to add worth. Automating probably the most repetitive or time-sensitive portion of the work is commonly sufficient to enhance total station efficiency.
How the cobot strikes is equally vital. Clean, predictable motion helps operators perceive what the robotic will do subsequent and reduces hesitation when working close by. This additionally applies to how cobots resume operations after a stoppage. Operators ought to be capable to resume manufacturing shortly after interruptions with out navigating advanced reset sequences or counting on specialised assist.
Design for collaborative change over time
Cobot integration choices must also account for a way the manufacturing line could evolve. Product mixes shift, volumes fluctuate, and stations change over time.
Mounting approaches and programming methods that permit a robotic to be adjusted or redeployed present a stronger return on funding past the preliminary software. Techniques that permit a cobot to assist a number of positions from a single base can present flexibility when necessities change with out requiring a full reinstallation.
Collaborative robots are inclined to ship probably the most worth when they’re handled as a part of the prevailing manufacturing system relatively than an add-on. Integrations that respect operator routines, bodily constraints, and line rhythm are extra possible to enhance consistency with out disruption.
As producers proceed to stability productiveness calls for with restricted area and getting older infrastructure, cobots will stay a sensible instrument, not as a result of they change individuals, however as a result of they’re designed to work alongside them.
Concerning the writer
Dieter Pletscher is the worldwide gross sales supervisor at Kassow Robots. He has over a decade of expertise promoting robotics, and beforehand labored for Common Robots.
