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Alt-Texte: Mensch-Roboter-Kollaboration: Vorteile von Cobots in der Industrie

Human-robot collaboration – benefits of cobots in industry

Robots in industrial production can help human employees, lighten their workload, and indirectly even protect them. We take a look at these and other benefits of human-robot collaboration in this post.

Although it’s almost impossible to imagine our everyday lives without technical equipment, humans and machines are still often seen as rivals. However, this “either/or” mindset fails to consider the valuable third way of collaboration that is becoming ever more important in these days of digitalisation and Industry 4.0. We’re talking about human-robot collaboration. Closer examination reveals the huge potential of this simple approach. It combines the experience, judgement and flexibility of humans with the strength, stamina and precision of robots, taking the strain off employees and boosting production efficiency. One particular feature of human-robot collaboration is the fact that there is no safety barrier separating the two as they work. Instead, they occupy the same workspace and process the same components. The whole thing is generally implemented using special lightweight robots known as collaborative robots, or simply cobots.

Human-robot collaboration in assembly

A collaborative robot assembly system in use at item – can be operated without special knowledge and implemented using the existing infrastructure. Find out more details about the benefits of these systems, how to implement them and the response of staff members.
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Benefits of cobots – less monotony, fewer errors, high reliability

Unlike industrial robots, which are mostly designed for specific tasks, cobots are all-rounders. Their form and functions are reminiscent of a human arm. The benefits of cobots therefore include the relatively small space they require and their versatility. They are capable of taking on many tasks. Primarily, these are the monotonous, repetitive tasks that bore human staff members in the long term and make them become tired quickly, leading to high error rates. Cobots can assist in this case, as an example from Miami shows. Creating Revolutions was tackling a two-digit error rate in the production of a special pager device for the hotel and hospitality sector. Having transferred some selected work steps – ones that nonetheless require a huge amount of precision – to cobots, the error rate plummeted to less than one percent. Another advantage of cobots is that, if required, they can provide large volumes of data for use in predictive maintenance and other big data applications, for example.

In human-robot collaboration, great value is placed on the safety of the human member of staff.

When humans and robots work in proximity to one another, special measures and precautions are necessary to ensure the safety of staff members. DIN ISO/TS 15066 sets out the relevant safety requirements for collaborative industrial robot systems and working environments. Among other things, this defines the upper limits for the maximum amount of force a robot can bring to bear on contact with a human. These forces must therefore be limited to a safe level. To meet these requirements, cobots need suitable sensors that use ultrasonic and radar technology, for example, to detect people and obstacles in their environment. Some cobots are even equipped with a touch-sensitive surface that enables them to “feel” contact with people and immediately cease any movement that may be under way. When it comes to human-robot collaboration, the safety of the human members of staff has top priority.

Human-robot collaboration for more ergonomics

However, when it comes to human-robot collaboration, there is more to safeguarding the physical well-being of staff than ensuring workers are not hurt by their robot colleagues. Quite the opposite, in fact. Cobots frequently step into the breach for humans and take on physically demanding, unergonomic tasks for them. In the BMW Group’s Dingolfing plant, for example, cobots help install side windows in cars. Before the windows are fitted to the bodywork, adhesive must be applied to them in a precise process. This was previously done by hand, by a worker walking around the window. A cobot now takes care of this difficult, unergonomic task, with a human then installing the windows afterwards.

Another advantage of cobots is they can lift heavy loads effortlessly.

There are more benefits to cobots than simply their ability to take over tasks that involve body postures that are tiring or unhealthy in the long term, however. Human-robot collaboration also has an answer when it comes to lifting heavy loads. Cobots such as the Universal Robots UR16e are capable of lifting loads up to 16 kg in weight. To put things into perspective, a 16-inch steel rim for a car wheel (without the tire) weighs around 8.5 kg. If a robot can take care of this kind of load rather than human workers, there are not only physical benefits – they can get ready to process the next component, for example, while the cobot moves the previous one to the side. So you see, humans and robots do not need to be rivals – instead, combining their strengths can optimise value creation.

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