Creating a Better (Safer) Robot and Human Partnership
Each year the robotic technology continues to advance and increase the precision and repeatability on the production line. Industrial robots bring a lot of strength and humans have the ability to now safely and collaboratively work together. Collaborative robot technology is helping to improve the productivity on the production line and bring the human and robot relationship closer.

Robot technology is on the brink of yet another major advancement. The goal is increased cooperation between robotic and human workers. Find out what this will mean for robot technology and robot users.
Reasons for Heading in the Direction of Collaboration:
Robots and humans bring different strengths to the table. Industrial robots are capable of performing with precision and repeatability. They are also extremely strong. Humans, on the other hand, offer the ability to reason and to adapt to ever changing scenarios and challenges.
If robots and humans can work together safely, their respective strengths will definitely compliment one another. Such collaboration will open up new horizons for manufacturing. Thanks to advancements in technology, it won’t be long before this dream of robot and human cooperation becomes a reality.
Previously, the technology has not been sufficiently advanced to accommodate safe robot and human collaboration. Robots have been restricted to heavily safeguarded cell enclosures (workcells).
A safer, adaptive industrial robot will be able to work alongside a human — feeding parts back and forth, holding something steady while it is worked on, etc. Plus, programming could become more adaptive and quick if humans could interact directly by physically guiding the robotic arm to teach it.
How the Robot Will Evolve:
Changes to the robot manipulator, tooling, sensors, programming, software, and vision hardware, will be necessary before robots can work alongside humans. Some of these developments have already taken place.
Already, several robot manufacturers have developed safer robots capable of working in closer proximity with humans. KUKA Robotics created the LWR (lightweight robot) and ABB Robotics built FRIDA, a dual-arm robot. It’s just a matter of time before other robot manufacturers create additional manipulators. Researchers at the Technical University at Munich have made significant headway with a project called JAHIR: Joint-Action for Humans and Industrial Robots.
In addition, advancements in EOAT, such as the Robotiq Adaptive Gripper, are leading the way to more versatile robotic abilities and human-robot collaboration. A number of different vision hardware and software options have appeared on the market recently (for example: Motoman’s MotoSight 3D).
For more information contact the experts at Robots.com today online or at 877−762−6881.
Related Articles
You might be also interested in:

- Featured
Latest Advancements in Material Cutting Robotics
Read about the latest technological advancements in robotic material cutting.

- Featured
Emerging 3D Vision Technologies for Industrial Robots
Learn about the emerging 3D vision technology that businesses are using for industrial robot applications.

- Featured
Most Popular Industrial Robotic Applications for 2021 and Projections
Explore the most popular application trends of 2021 and what to expect in the future.