Cobot

The World Robotics 2021 Industrial Robots report shows a record of 3 million industrial robots operating in factories around the world – an increase of 10%. Sales of new robots grew slightly at 0.5% despite the global pandemic, with 384,000 units shipped globally in 2020. This trend was dominated by the positive market developments in China, compensating the contractions of other markets. This is the third most successful year in history for the robotics industry, following 2018 and 2017.

Bad timing can botch a repetitive task that requires interaction between a robot and a human, a new study reports. Human participants in the study were less efficient at completing a pick-and-place task when their robot collaborators sent a signal to participants who were about to pick up an object, but fared much better when the robot provided the same cue shortly after participants had picked up an object and were about to put it down. 

The past year OnRobot unlocked several new markets with its collaborative robot solutions. The pandemic led to new industries discovering robotics, food with disrupted supply chains to pharmaceuticals with increased production combined with enhanced safety. Rocking Robots talked to Vikram Kumar, General Manager DACH & Benelux at OnRobot about the strategy of his company.

Despite the challenges facing the wider manufacturing industry during the coronavirus pandemic, collaborative robots continue to attract attention and investment, due to their ease of use, redeployability, and convenience to end-users who struggle to afford more traditional forms of automation.

Universal Robots’ best-selling robot UR10e is launching with an increased payload, enabling the cobot to serve even more applications and handle heavier items while improving overall productivity for customers. Universal Robots (UR) is launching an enhanced UR10e with an increased payload of 12.5kg (27.55lbs), creating new possibilities for applications such as palletizing, machine tending, and packaging.

The two-day Machine Tending Expo, February 23-24, focuses on deploying cobots to tend machines such as CNC, press brakes, injection molding machines or 3D printers. In live demos, keynotes and interactive booth sessions with exhibiting partners, Universal Robots shows its solutions on how to implement cobots, tackling the labor shortage, while improving crucial machine uptime.

Collaborative robot solution manufacturers are leveraging the convergence of several enabling technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine vision, and advanced gripping technologies in robots making them safe to work with thereby disrupting traditional robotic solutions as well expanding robotic use cases to laboratories, healthcare, semiconductor wafer handling, and assembly.

Collaborative robots – or cobots – remain the fastest growing segment of industrial automation, projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 30.37% during 2020–2025. Cobot market pioneer Universal Robots (UR) solidified its frontrunner position today by selling the 50,000th UR cobot, which was purchased by a German manufacturer to enable higher productivity and better employee safety.