The continued advancement of new technology inundates factory robots with a constant influx of trends. It is now necessary to stay on top of the trends to keep your production line globally competitive. Manufacturers can expect to see the following trends on the rise.

1. Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT): The "Industrial Internet of Things" is leading to even newer levels of productivity, precision, flexibility, and efficiency on the production line. It is creating ways to integrate the physical world into our computer-based systems, providing improved efficiency, accuracy, and economic benefit.

The IIoT will tie everything together through advanced sensors and networking while producing capabilities to capture, share, and act on real-time data that is constantly being generated and immediately available. This combined with the additional options of A.I. and cognitive computing on the rise will produce an incredibly efficient automation system for the future.

2. Cybersecurity: Cybersecurity threats for automation systems go beyond data breaches and production delays, it can also raise some serious safety concerns. Industrial robots are powerful and determined creatures so ensuring they stay on their specific mission at all times is imperative.

With the advancing software and connected data network, addressing cybersecurity sooner rather than later will stay on top of vulnerabilities to continue safe and reliable production.

With the convergence of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT), cybersecurity is no longer “somebody else’s problem.” In this age of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility. Threats can penetrate all the way to the shop floor.

3. Big Data Analysis: As more things continue to jump online, it is important to find ways to organize and analyze all of the information available. Big data is analyzed computationally revealing patterns, trends, and associations. Making sense of the data and linking it to the physical actions helps to provide better floor optimization techniques.

4. Virtual Solutions: This helps to provide a virtual representation of robotic systems for proof concepts. Offline programming creates a graphical representation of the entire work space, including all of the robots and machines connected to it. This helps allow for the programming of robots outside of the production without any stoppage; ultimately reducing downtime from at least 1/10 or from 40 hours to less than 4 hours.

5. Collaborative robots: Many robotics manufacturers, including Fanuc, KUKA, Motoman, Universal Robots, and ABB, are taking advantage of new technologies that enable humans and robots to collaborate, doing away with the safety barriers. Collaborative robots (cobots) have been designed with multiple advanced sensors, software, and EOATs that help them swiftly and easily detect and adapt to any sort of intrusion into its work envelope. This helps to improve the overall application functionality, while also decreasing the amount of space necessary for a robotic unit.

You can expect to see these trends bringing some of the most impactful advances in robotic automation. Industrial robots have become commonplace on production lines, bringing a consistent increase in productivity and profitability and continuing to change the way we manufacture. Automation systems have been a revolutionary technology that will continue to transform the industry.

For more information, contact Robots.com experts online or at 877-762-6881.