Robotics

The Future of Collaborative Robotic Manufacturing Today the deployment of industrial robots is becoming commonplace in many manufacturing environments, especially in automotive plants which account for an estimated 40% of the current industrial robotics installed base. But the full potential of  robotics  technology in manufacturing has only just begun to be realized, and it’s about to change at an unprecedented rate, according to many industry projections—with investments in advanced industrial robots likely to accelerate significantly over the next decade, from today’s average annual growth rates of 2% to 3%, to over 10% by 2025. One of the keys to this potential transformation is the integration of a number of advanced new technologies into today’s  robotics  systems. Rather than just being used for the pre-programmed picking and placing of things, they now feature a host of advanced new functions and capabilities—from touch sensing, computer vision, and spe...

Present and future robot control development—An industrial perspective Robot control is a key competence for robot manufacturers and a lot of development is made to increase robot performance, reduce robot cost and introduce new functionalities. Examples of development areas that get big attention today are multi robot control, safe control, force control, 3D vision, remote robot supervision and wireless communication. The application benefits from these developments are discussed as well as the technical challenges that the robot manufacturers meet. Model-based control is now a key technology for the control of industrial robots and models and control schemes are continuously refined to meet the requirements on higher performance even when the cost pressure leads to the design of robot mechanics that is more difficult to control. Driving forces for the future development of robots can be found in, for example, new  robotics  applications in the automotive industry, especia...

Automation, robotics, and the factory of the future The robotics industry creates 3 million additional jobs between 2014 and 2020, led by consumer electronics and the electric vehicle industry.* By 2020, robotics is a $100 billion industry, equivalent in size to the worldwide medical tourism industry in 2012.** The rehabilitation robot market grows 40-fold between 2014 and 2020, fueled by advancements in rehab/therapy robots, active prostheses, exoskeletons, and wearable robotics. Between 2017 and 2020, the use of robotics generate 2 million additional job positions 2020 sees robotics gain momentum and become vital components in a number of applications. From swarms of “microbots” to self-assembling modular robots to strength-enhancing robotic exoskeletons, applications using robotics cut across industries and transform the way work is done. Robots paired with AI perform complex actions and are capable of learning from humans, driving the intelligent automation ph...

Automate Showcases Future of Industrial Robotics, And It’s Remarkable The Rise of Robots As many in automation are aware, robots are becoming an increasingly popular answer to completing dangerous or repetitive tasks: grinding, deburring, bin-picking, part inspections, etc. Several manufacturers and esteemed integrators assembled elaborate booths displaying various robot capabilities, many currently in use and others as possible future applications. This alone is indicative of the rise of robots, but it is only the beginning. The leading robot manufacturers all appear to be focused on making robots simpler to program/configure and easier to integrate with technologies that create incredible functionality. The result: collaborative robots. The show floor featured a number of collaborative robots performing a wide variety of tasks from part handling to packaging, some even bagged candy to hand out or served ice cream in a cone. Using various sensing technologies,...