Collaborative Robot (Cobot)

A cobot is defined as a robot that actually works in conjunction with a human being in a joint operating environment. Unlike most conventional industrial robots, which are typically located in restricted and enclosed zones to prevent contact with people, cobots feature state-of-the-art detection devices, software, and safety measures that enable them to recognize people and work alongside them safely and effectively.

Cobots are embedded with sensors, software, and safety measures that enhance collaboration between human and robots. Such features can help cobots to be responsive to the nature of a shared working area, detect the presence of co-workers and respond to it correspondingly. Compared to traditional robots, many features of cobots include force feedback, advanced vision systems, and artificial intelligence, whereby these cobots are programmed to stop, slow down or change course if they identify any possible danger to human workers.

While organization consultants may work in the same building as those they are consulting, collaboration extends beyond this. Cobots are very autonomous and are usually taught through the direct demonstration by the human operator, that is, through what is referred to as “lead through programming,” no complicated robotic languages are used. This intuitive design enables any company to train cobots and bring them into an environment and create little disturbance within operations.

The history of collaborative robots or cobots therefore is a long history that encompasses key highlights and changes in the direction of applying robotics in manufacturing and other more sectors. The evolution of cobots also embodies the evolution of the concept of robots from early bulky machinery concepts to the sleek, adaptive machines of today: the how, why, when and what of cobots also illustrate a paradigm shift regarding the ways in which humans and robots can coexist and work alongside each other in a shared factory floor.

Starting early the twentieth century, the word “robot” was first used by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play in 1920 in R.U.R. which is short for Rossum’s Universal Robots. This term originating from literature paid prior homage to the age of machines which where designed to undertake tasks that were solely administered by people. However this concept started germinating only in the middle of the twentieth century and in its form, contemporary to today’s acknowledgement. The main steps of the conceptual evolution of robotics are the following: In 1948, the first robotics application for welding was invented; in 1954, George Devol patented the first industrial robotic arm called “Unimate”. It first found a buyer in the automotive industry in General Motors, which led to industrial automation.

Information on the development of industrial robots was identified and some of the improvements in the types from the 1960s to the early 2000s are as follows. At first, these machines were enclosed to minimize exposure of the operators in an attempt to maintain safety while they carried out repetitive operations in manufacturing for example the automobile industry. As technology advanced, a new need emerged: to build actual robotic human interfaces that are safe to use without the need for containment walls. This desire for innovation was the main reason that cobots emerged on the market.

Collaborative robotics as a contemporary concept was launched in 1996 by two professors at the Northwestern University, J. Edward Colgate and Michael Peshkin, who suggested the idea of a robot that is physically integrated into the working environment and interacts with people. As compared to standard industrial robots that needed to be contained to function safely, these tools were designed for human interaction. Another researcher in the university named brent Gillespie proposed another term known as cobot, meaning a new era in the operation of robots will be collaboration not competition. The idea was further established in 1997 when a patent in the United States defined cobots as existing as tools for direct interfacing of a person with a computer-controlled manipulator. General Motors pressed for this invention because the use of robotics needed improvements in the automotive field to make processes safer and more efficient.

At the beginning, cobots were often independent moving platforms without their own motors and requiring a human operator to guide them. The main objective of these devices was to allow for computerized motion control for accuracy during operation with human personnel. This focus on human-robot collaboration gained attention and by 2000 the term ‘cobot’ had become distilled and had become popular enough for The Wall Street Journal to select it as one of “The Words of the Future.” The prerequisites for cobots to become part of the overall automation scheme were set.

There has been a lot of development in the early 2000s. In 2004 the German robotics pioneer KUKA released the LBR3 – the first lightweight robot for collaborative work which has its own built-in motor power supply. This development made a paradigm shift, because from this point cobots changed from being docile objects that required human force to operate, to an independent operating, self sufficient objects. As acknowledged in the previous sections, these were still rudimentary but they paved way for a second generation of collaborative robots.

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Universal Robots was established in 2005 by three members of a research team from the University of Southern Denmark who sought to create versatile industrial robots simpler for use. This ambition brought into reality the UR5 in 2008 and dubbed as a revolution in the robotic evolutionary scale. The UR5 was the first collaborative robot that can work side by side with people without barriers and is both affordable and appropriate for SMEs. This has made robotics accessible to more individuals thus enabling small businesses enjoy the privities that comes with automation but at a cheaper and much affordable cost than industrial robots.

Subsequently, over the years, the concept of collaborative robots was further developed even further. By 2012, Universal Robots introduced the UR10 working robot , which was an enhanced version of the company’s first working robot, and was capable of handling bigger loads in a more flexible manner than its counterparts while possessing all the desirables safety features synonymous with collaborative robotics. It will be seen that the emergence of cobots was established between 2013 and 2016 when the term ‘Collaborative Robots’ became a phenomenon in the automation business. In this period, Universal Robots got a large market share and solidifying its/self as supreme in collaborative robots. Subsequent, the creation of new standards, such as the ISO 10218 guidelines, made the usage of cobots in many different sorts of industries even more legitimate in terms of safety and functionality.

Since that year, 2014, a separately German-based TÜV Nord certified the Universal Robots’ models to confirm that they met the high safety standards of interacting with human beings. This taken as a breakthrough that made cobots safer than their counterparts thus allowing them to be deployed in other fields. In 2015, Universal Robots introduced a new model of cobot that is small enough to sit on a table for operations. A year later the guidelines for safety in ISO/TS 15066 were released, offering guidance on how cobots were to safely operate in space where human safety was of essence.

In the present time, the cobots are one of the crucial components of the automation system where a human mind and hands are combined with the robotic mind and muscles. They are no longer limited to enormous scale industries however are adopted with manufacturing small scale industries, research laboratories, and even hospitals. Their growth has therefore been pegged on flexibility, affordability and safety as they revolutionize how industries adopt automation and cobotics. Top of Form

Source: universal-robots

Applications in Key Industries

1. Manufacturing

Collaborative robots are transforming traditional manufacturing by increasing productivity, enhancing safety, and enabling flexible production processes. Below is a detailed breakdown of cobot applications in manufacturing:

Logistics

Cobots are increasingly used in warehouses and logistics centers to improve efficiency, safety, and accuracy.

Key Patents in Cobots are:

Hexagon Technology Center GmbH – Intelligent Mobile Vehicle System for Flexible Manufacturing in Smart Factories

Problem Addressed
Most traditional industries have static setups and require human interaction in areas such as quality checking or supervisory functionalities. This makes it hard to adapt to change especially in applications where there is dynamic or custom operation such as in production lines. Today’s systems are inflexible, not very adaptable and need to be reconfigured through programming by professionals every time there is a problem or a change in existing processes. Also, the mobile autonomous vehicles in such environments are largely restrictive in terms of spatial precision and interaction.

This patent (US11282013B2) proposes a system of intelligent mobile vehicles in relation to a smart factory where the vehicles are self-driving. The devices in these vehicles include the sensing devices, computing devices at the edge, and the communicational interfaces, which all allow the system to coordinate tasks and make adjustments in real-time. It can be a temporary local reference so as to enable other measurement vehicles carry out their accurate tasks. This solution is designed to provide a more flexible, accurate, and highly efficient manufacturing process, minimum down time, and the removal of endless manual strategies, in the coordinated human/machine ambience.

Arxada AG – System and Method for Environmental Monitoring Using Collaborative Robots (Cobots)

Environmental monitoring particularly in defined areas such as the hospital or manufacturing facility has in the past been a complex process that has entailed a number of different stages. They can be sporadic and less efficient, which results in such issues as delayed detection of contaminants in processes and inefficient coordination of monitoring activities. The previous approaches suffer from low accuracy, as the random errors or irregular pattern of marking can easily neglect the critical zones and data disorder hinders constant check for safety.
This patent (US20190331701A1)  proposes to establish a centralized system which utilizes robots and cobots for monitoring environments. It is an automated system that does collection of samples, analyzes them as well as providing on-the-spot report. It contains information about personnel, robots, products as well as sensors thus enabling it to dynamically allocate schedules and alert where contamination has occurred. This integrated approach results to higher levels of accuracy, increased capability to identify problem areas and tracks them and most importantly, safety in all monitored areas in that all the information is well managed under one platform.

Sisu Devices LLC – Remote Robotic Welding Using a Handheld Controller for Enhanced Precision
Conventional robotic weldings involve hard scripting and control of the robot because of many degrees of freedom that correspond to complex control sequences and time consuming programing. For welding, the orientation needs to be change by operators every turn, which is time-consuming and increases the chances of producing wrong angles. Yet, this setup does not provide well thought out and easy to enact control to allow operators to change the welding path easily and particularly where the environment is complicated.
The patent (US11992949B2) presents a concept of remote robotic welding system with a portable interface for simplifying the programming and control. The instrument itself obtains points and temporal paths within space and space-time; the user can then drive the robot using natural hand movements. These movements are converted into correct robotic instructions that allow for live modification and flawless completion of welding operations. It greatly reduces the time that is required to set up the welding equipment; minimizes the programming errors that may occur; and enhances the ability to perform flexible and productive welding in areas that may have low production capacity or volatile environments.

Dextrous Robotics Inc – Robotic System for Accurate Object Manipulation in Constrained Spaces
Teleoperation of conventional robots has also proved to be a challenge with respect to the ability of the robots to grasp objects that have distinct shapes or are made of dissimilar materials within environments that are congested or contain clutter. This limitation occurs because most conventional robotic systems cannot handle dynamic scenarios and are designed for specific conditions. High variety, and complexity of the object, positions, and the environment clutter hinders fine and accurate manipulation in interactions, reducing the efficiency during operations that include pick and place of objects. This patent (US20220274256A1) describes a robotic system with a multi-body model database for precise object positioning as presented in a previously described patent. This system employs data from the sensors about objects and environment in enclosed area to recognize objects and find out the ideal manner of grasping them. Indeed it involves the use of advanced algorithms to synchronize the robot joint and the manipulators from the real time data collected. This process makes it easier for robots to orient themselves around various objects and the resulting framework gives increased flexibility and robustness to robotic operations.