Feature: Cobots
Building safe, secure, connected cobots
By Ian Ferguson, Vice President, Marketing and Strategic Alliances, Lynx Software Technologies F
actories are increasingly expected to be nimble and adept. Instead of creating hundreds, thousands or even millions of the same thing, the new move is toward
flexibility, allowing swift reconfiguration of equipment to support different builds. This might involve information that is extremely sensitive, which could result in OEMs writing some or all of the associated manufacturing software themselves. For the company whose robot is building a specific product, it needs to be able to integrate the OEM’s software and ensure it doesn’t interfere with the robot’s underlying control software. Facing a real opportunity to
revolutionise certain factory workflows and generate new ‘as a service’ revenue streams, robotics is at an extremely exciting point right now. The traditional industrial robotics sector featuring companies like Mitsubishi, ABB Robotics, Omron and Fanuc needs to adapt to
Facing a real opportunity to revolutionise certain factory workflows and generate new ‘as a service’ revenue streams, robotics is at an extremely exciting point right now
the new trend, as it will face both new opportunities and new competition, addressing diverse additional use cases that demand more mobility and new sensor technologies and price points. We are seeing a new level of dexterity in the way robots handle delicate or oddly- shaped objects. Emerging robots will have consolidated designs with multiple features sharing a heterogeneous multicore chip, and be connected.
Cobots to the rescue The emergence of collaborative robots, or cobots for short, is all about interaction and joint work with people
in the workplace. Cobots stand in stark contrast to traditional industrial robots which work autonomously, with operator safety guaranteed through isolation. Cobots currently are a very small percentage of the overall robotics market, but are an area expected to grow rapidly in the next five years, especially in manufacturing, healthcare and retail. The Covid pandemic has accelerated
this trend, leading to more acceptance of increased digital transformation and automation. Environments where six feet of separation between people are challenging will make good use of this technology. Large companies
www.electronicsworld.co.uk September/October 2020 37
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