20 COLLABORATIVE ROBOTS AW NOVEMBER 2020
Collaborative Robotics Expand In Scope By David Miller, Automation World Contributing Writer
W
e all want to know what makes our co-workers tick and, perhaps, collaborative robots (cobots) are no different. Yet, for all the buzz about the growing prevalence of cobots in industry, there’s often a great deal of confusion over precisely how the term cobot is defined. Therefore, as companies look to increase productivity, circumvent labor shortages, and reduce human contact in their plants with the help of cobots, it’s time to ask, “What does it truly mean for a robot to be collaborative?” It’s important to note that there is no single, formal definition of what a cobot is. Rather, ISO standards 10218-1 and 10218-2 set forth four potential characteristics of collaborative robotic systems. These collaborative capabilities—safety monitored stop, speed-and-separation monitoring, powerand-force limiting, and hand-guiding—can all be achieved through the use of sensors, control systems, and peripheral devices, some
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of which may already be integrated within a robot upon purchase, where others can be retrofitted to a pre-existing industrial robot. "There is no hard line between collaborative and non-collaborative robots,” says Andie Zhang, global collaborative robots product manager at ABB. “Cobots are basically a subset of industrial robots with different features, and almost all industrial robots we provide have the possibility of becoming more collaborative. From the user's perspective, they should think about what the specific operational problem they want to solve is and what the best way to do so is. Picking an option always depends on your application."
Various approaches
Highlighting the variety of available cobots, ABB, for example, offers a multitude of different products. While the company’s YuMi robot, which is trumpeted as being “inherently safe,” may spring to mind due
to its small size, power, and force limiting capabilities, ABB also offers SafeMove, a software system that integrates with ABB’s IRC5 robot controller family to allow its pre-existing industrial robot lines to engage in both safety monitored stops and speed and separation monitoring. Simply put, by utilizing pressure-sensitive safety mats, light curtains, or laser area scanners as inputs, SafeMove enables industrial robots to either slow down or stop entirely when workers enter the cobot’s hazard envelope. The key distinction here is whether or not an application requires a human to work so closely to the robot that there is potential for a collision. If so, such as in a situation where task changeover is frequent or workers are required to continue processing parts after a robot has finished handling them, cobots like YuMi (which allows for hand-guiding and power-and-force limiting) may be the best option. However, because the laws of phys-
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