Feature: Industrial electronics


For NexCOBOT, collaboration between humans and robots shines a light on functional safety


By Kaushal Vora, director of Strategic Partnerships & Global Ecosystem, Renesas Electronics What’s often lost in the conversation,


or at the other extreme, sentient android overlords bent on human destruction. T e reality, of course, is a lot more practical. Collaborative robots, more commonly


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known as Cobots, are already making inroads into the industrial manufacturing landscape thanks to a shortage of skilled labour, rising labour costs and increasingly complex logistics and supply chain considerations. The global industrial Cobot market is


expected to balloon from $771 million in 2022 to more than $1.66 billion in 2029, according to data from Industry Research, as adoption rates accelerate due to advances in artificial intelligence, digital transformation and a new, post- COVID manufacturing mindset.


s captured in the popular imagination, the concept of robot assistants conjures up visions of docile mechanised servants,


however, is how best to incorporate measures that allow humans and Cobots to work together safely and harmoniously, in particular as these industrial partners operate in ever closer physical proximity.


Educating the Market on Cobot Functional Safety NexCOBOT initially launched a program to educate network partners, universities and technical colleges with a robot kit and training courses for industrial robotics design. That regional effort laid the groundwork for a global market expansion that today includes a complete industrial control platform with design specifications, as well as EMC and signal isolation requirements mapped out for machine builders and robot designers to follow. NexCOBOT’s FuSA portfolio now extends across a range of


12 September 2024 www.electronicsworld.co.uk


hardware, including industrial robot and EtherCAT motion controllers, remote safety digital IOs and software development kits. An expanding array of use cases includes AI-enhanced semiconductor wafer inspection, defect detection, object recognition and conveyor belt tracking, working side by side with humans in green-waste recycling applications. ‘The initial challenge we overcame


was to find the right way to offer our product series in a modularised format,’ Shern says. ‘Some of our customers need hardware design expertise. Some of them just need the software piece. Others require hardware plus integrated software design, while still others need documentation, functional safety training and consulting services. With this comprehensive approach, we’re able to offer an open platform and the flexibility and scalability of a modularised design.’


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