FEATURE Robotics
Robotics build resilience
Professor Phil Webb, Royal Academy of Engineering and Airbus Chair in Industrial Robotics and Assembly, Centre for Robotics and Assembly,
E
ven with the traditional advantage of low labour costs, Chinese manufacturers have invested heavily into automation and
robotics. By comparison, the UK — with relatively high labour costs — has lagged behind. A 2019 study found the UK was ranked outside the top 20 in the world for the number of robots per 10,000 workers. With the ongoing labour and skills shortages in the manufacturing sector and industry, there’s no logic to the lack of investment into A&R — instead there is businesses, especially small and medium- sized enterprises, have been unwilling to risk the major investments needed to make the leap into A&R-based operations. And that’s a critical barrier for UK manufacturing, given that SMEs make up 99% of the sector, and 58% of its jobs.
Finding practical ways for more businesses to adopt A&R will create a virtuous circle, not just in terms of competitiveness and encouraging market innovation, but more widely for levels of productivity and economic growth for the UK as a whole. The recent Catapult report (2050 vision for automation and robotics in UK manufacturing), spelt out the nature and extent of the opportunity: how we already have a foundation of academic expertise and research in A&R, especially in the automotive, aerospace and defence sectors; a wealth of start-up enterprises with innovative
34 November 2024 | Automation
tech; and how increased onshoring has meant more scope and potential need for extending report as being the low levels of technology adoption, inadequate capital investment short-term goals among businesses, and no government-led strategy to stimulate the investment needed for transformation. and Birmingham Universities has led to a practical means of breaking the cycle of risk and reluctance. The major challenge involved with implementing A&R is the set- up phase, given the complexity and costs of establishing IT systems and re-programming any necessary changes as and when they’re needed. The units of hardware in themselves can be made available, such as robots and controllers, but the code that gives them their functionality has to be pieced together and tested manually. Consequently, automation cells have usually only been created to production role — making the investment look viable.
The new software platform being
proposed provides a ‘no-code’ alternative. In addition to providing a low cost means of initially setting up an A&R system, responsiveness to changing needs. A manufacturing operation should be in a position to adapt to meet evolving demand
Robotics build resilience
and variable types of product rather than be environment, a manufacturer needs only to outline the tasks required from A&R, along with the hardware available, using CAD and process data — the robots, cameras and grippers etc — and the software encodes the of integration and communications. Some aspects of the software are modular, drawing on blocks of standard operations, but the needs and conditions of each business. The safe and legally compliant, and has the built- in adaptability to allow for the intervention of human operators when necessary. The result is automatic interoperability. The demonstration software is to be tested in a live assembly facility at the University then be available for free use by systems developers, manufacturing and industry businesses. Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, manufacture’ project has been delivered by a consortium consisting of University of Birmingham, Loughborough University, users such as Airbus, Cosworth Racing, Loop Technology and BAE Systems. tool will be a powerful means of building resilience into UK manufacturing as a whole, particularly among the mass of smaller businesses: opening up access to the rapid uptake of A&R, increased competitiveness and lower costs, as well as reduced reliance on specialist skills in the workforce.
automationmagazine.co.uk
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