The Cobots role in Industry 4.0

Do you want to know more about the Cobots? We leave you the interview with our colabotiva robotics expert.
Today we are with one of our experts in collaborative robotics, Sergio Monzón, to tell us about the advantages of collaborative robots.

From your point of view Sergio, what collaborative robots do that do not make the industrial robots that we know?

The main and fundamental difference that Cobots have is that they allow operation closer to the operators, even to be able to interact with them without involving any risk.
This is due to the sensory technology and preparation to which they have been subjected to be partially or totally capable of working together with a person without needing as much and as voluminous protection as a traditional industrial robot requires.

Are collaborative robots a trend or a real need for the sector?

All the technological advances arise as an innate necessity to the evolution of the productive systems. While it is true that it may seem that it is simply a fad, the Cobots have proved very useful for tasks that had traditionally been integrated with a traditional robot, which was enormously oversized for simple tasks or very complicated both technically and for needs Of space.
The Cobots supply these needs, being highly capable of adapting to the needs and changes of the sector, as well as their technological evolution.

Now not only large companies can introduce cobots in their processes, but every time, more SMEs start using cobots to automate them. What can a cobot do today for a company of this type? Why are cobots also accessible to small businesses?

The main advantage in this regard is the rapid amortization of the equipment for the issues that have already been mentioned, as well as its ease of use that allows SMEs to use them without the need for highly qualified personnel.
Many SMEs have modest workshops or offices, in which installing a traditional robot is not viable either for space or for investment. On the contrary, a Cobot solves both scenarios by being much more compact and being able to evolve at the same time as the company does.

One of the aspects that most concerns today is the safety of workers. Is it guaranteed with the cobots?

Nothing is totally guaranteed. An example that clearly illustrates this would be to put a knife to a Cobot, would it be safe? Of course not.
Certainly they are safer than a traditional robot to incorporate all kinds of sensors and securities, but that does not mean neglecting the workers. It is always necessary to adapt them to the needs of the function they are going to perform, adding the necessary elements. In this way, we can say that they are safe for operators.

What can you tell us about the security of the data and the processes? Is there a risk of cyber attacks to advanced factories?

No element that is connected to the network is 100% secure, it is always susceptible to attacks. However, it should not delay progress in this regard, but we should place more emphasis on protecting and monitoring that this does not happen.
With regard to the theft of data, there are countless systems that allow a safe treatment of these, although many times we sacrifice it in order to save money.

And in terms of the long-term economic impact?

I am not an economist by profession, but if I had to predict something in this sense and speak from experience, it is proven that a Cobot is a very good investment, since it recovers quickly and thanks to its flexibility, saves us having to change them by others with the passage of time.
I believe that they will have a great impact, since more and more are being used for tasks that years ago had not been planned. This, in turn, increases the competitiveness of companies and the performance that they can get.

What potential do you think Deep Learning has, together with collaborative robotics?

There are 2 fields that in my opinion are totally linked. The Deep Learning will be of great help in the factories of the future (and not so future), since it allows real-time control of the processes and may be able to anticipate problems that may arise, being a very important predictive element. For example, we can feed the learning system with fault statistics based on a series of parameters, and can anticipate defective parts before it occurs.
This, together with the sensibility of the Cobots and their flexibility, allow their adaptation to the boundary conditions depending on what the Deep Learning indicates, being able to absorb these variations without the need for human interaction.

Do you think it is easy to integrate collaborative robotics with the PLCs that currently exist in the current production lines?

All systems must go hand in hand in their evolution for optimal integration. By this I mean that, although current PLCs have many