• Applications for Cobots

    What Do Collaborative Robots Do Best?

Packing and Packaging

Cobots are designed for repetitive motions, including packaging and case packing applications. A cobot can mimic a motion such as packing, moving similarly to a human, but they really shine with their ability to repeat the action over and over.

According to an online poll conducted by Packaging Digest in the beginning of 2016, only 40% of their respondents are aware of collaborative robots for packaging. read more. Which means that 60% of those polled are unfamiliar with cobots and their benefits for the repetitive jobs of packing products.

Sawyer at Work: Case Packing

April 5, 2016

Universal Robot, Packing – ACTECH MALAYSIA

October 3, 2013

Swisslog & KUKA: Automated Item Picking (AIP)

May 22, 2015

Machine Tending

Smaller manufacturing companies are now turning to implementing cobots for applications such as machine tending. The return on investment costs now make sense with easy programming without previous coding experience necessary, lower priced robots including implementation costs, and the rising cost of human labor.

How to do Machine Tending using a Collaborative Robot? – Robotiq & UR10

 

Machine Tending by a Collaborative Robot

ABB Robotics – CNC Machine Tending

Assembly

Automation of assembly of parts for products utilizes fastening or joining methods such as driving of screws, application of glue or other adhesive, welding, or other fastening applications including clips.

Screw Fastening with Universal Robots UR3

YuMi the dual-arm robot makes paper airplanes – ABB Robotics

LBR iiwa – Interactive Assembly

Cleanrooms

When looking for a robotic arm for cleanroom work look for the higher IP rating for protection from particles. Since the cleanroom robot is ideally designed to work in a cleanroom you will find they often work independently from humans, so the collaborative safety features may not be present.

Robot Yaskawa Motoman Clean Room

15 KUKA cleanroom robots

Motoman CR Cleanroom Robots

Palletizing

The process of palletizing or palletising automatically stacks cases of goods or products onto a pallet or flat structure that hold products for transport by a forklift or other loading device. Robotic palletizers were first used in the early 1980s.

FANUC’s New CR-35iA Collaborative Robot Palletizes Boxes Using 3D Vision

Collaborative Robot palletising

Baxter placing bottles

Work Assistant

Sure it’s fun to watch a robot to make your coffee, decorate a cake, but without the fences and with fast learning robots the ideas of having a “work assistant” who is a robot opens up new doors for possibilities.

KUKA work assistant @ AUTOMATICA 2014

July 24, 2014

P-Rob serves Coffee

June 2, 2015

Collaborative human-robot-interaction based on real-time, predictive 3D safety fields

April 28, 2016

Setting Up a Cobot

Most collaborative robots are designed for easy setup in under “one hour” with simple touch screen programming.

TECNALIA ICARO Collaborative Robotics Rzeppa Joint Assembly

May 27, 2014

Robotiq 3-Finger Adaptive Gripper with Collaborative Robot / ROBOTIQ

November 29, 2011

UNIVERSAL Robots – UR Setup

March 22, 2016