Cobots

- Overview

Collaborative robots, or cobots, are robots designed to work safely alongside humans in shared workspaces, handling repetitive tasks while people focus on complex ones, unlike traditional industrial robots that require isolation. 

They feature built-in safety features like force/torque sensors and rounded edges, allowing them to slow or stop on contact, making automation accessible and flexible for tasks like assembly, packaging, and machine tending in various industries. 

By working alongside people, cobots increase efficiency, improve safety, and make advanced automation more accessible across manufacturing, food & beverage, and life sciences.

1. Key Characteristics:

• Human-Robot Collaboration: Built for direct interaction, they complement human skills rather than replacing them entirely.
• Safety Features: Incorporate sensors, speed limits, and force limitation to prevent injuries, eliminating the need for large safety cages.
• Ease of Use: Often easily programmed through intuitive interfaces or by guiding the arm, making them suitable for small and medium-sized businesses.
• Flexibility: Lightweight, compact, and easily redeployed for different tasks, from welding and polishing to dispensing and quality inspection.

2. Key Aspects of Cobot Collaboration:

• Shared Workspaces: Cobots operate safely near humans, unlike traditional robots requiring isolation.
• Task Specialization: Cobots perform monotonous, precise, or physically demanding tasks (e.g., insertion, screw driving, inspection), while humans handle complex, creative, or strategic aspects.
• Enhanced Productivity & Quality: The combination of robotic consistency and human adaptability leads to higher output and fewer errors.
• Improved Safety & Ergonomics: Cobots reduce worker stress and musculoskeletal disorders by taking over strenuous jobs.
• Flexibility & Adaptability: Lightweight and easy to reprogram, cobots can be quickly redeployed for different tasks or locations, ideal for flexible manufacturing.
• Ease of Use: User-friendly interfaces and programming make them accessible for various operators, driving Industry 5.0 adoption.

3. How They Work: 

• Cobots use sensitive sensors and controlled motion to detect human presence and react safely, often stopping or slowing down if they encounter an obstacle or person.
• They take over dull, dangerous, or physically demanding tasks, freeing up human workers for problem-solving and complex processes.

4. Common Applications:

• Assembly: Assisting with precise component placement.
• Machine Tending: Loading and unloading parts from machines.
• Packaging & Palletizing: Stacking items or preparing them for shipment.
• Finishing: Performing polishing, painting, or screw-driving tasks.

5. The Future:

• Context-Aware AI: Developing cobots that predict human needs and understand environments like humans do for safer, smarter collaboration.
• Integration with AI/IoT: Enabling data-driven strategies and continuous improvement in smart factories.

- Types of Robots

Mechanical bots come in all shapes and sizes to efficiently carry out the task for which they are designed. From the 0.2 millimeter-long “RoboBee” to the 200 meter-long robotic shipping vessel “Vindskip,” robots are emerging to carry out tasks that humans simply can’t. 

Generally, there are five types of robots:

• Pre-Programmed Robots - Pre-programmed robots operate in a controlled environment where they do simple, monotonous tasks. An example of a pre-programmed robot would be a mechanical arm on an automotive assembly line. The arm serves one function — to weld a door on, to insert a certain part into the engine, etc. — and it's job is to perform that task longer, faster and more efficiently than a human. 
• Humanoid Robots - Humanoid robots are robots that look like and/or mimic human behavior. These robots usually perform human-like activities (like running, jumping and carrying objects), and are sometimes designed to look like us, even having human faces and expressions. Two of the most prominent examples of humanoid robots are Hanson Robotics’ Sophia (in the video above) and Boston Dynamics’ Atlas. 
• Autonomous Robots - Autonomous robots operate independently of human operators. These robots are usually designed to carry out tasks in open environments that do not require human supervision. An example of an autonomous robot would be the Roomba vacuum cleaner, which uses sensors to roam throughout a home freely.  
• Teleoperated Robots - Teleoperated robots are mechanical bots controlled by humans. These robots usually work in extreme geographical conditions, weather, circumstances, etc. Examples of teleoperated robots are the human-controlled submarines used to fix underwater pipe leaks during the BP oil spill or drones used to detect landmines on a battlefield. 
• Augmenting Robots - Augmenting robots either enhance current human capabilities or replace the capabilities a human may have lost. Some examples of augmenting robots are robotic prosthetic limbs or exoskeletons used to lift hefty weights.

- Robot Consistent Characteristics

Robot is a system that contains sensors, control systems, manipulators, power supplies and software all working together to perform a task. Designing, building, programming and testing a robots is a combination of physics, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, structural engineering, mathematics and computing. In some cases biology, medicine, chemistry might also be involved. 

While the overall world of robotics is expanding, a robot has some consistent characteristics:

• Robots all consist of some sort of mechanical construction. The mechanical aspect of a robot helps it complete tasks in the environment for which it’s designed. For example, the Mars 2020 Rover’s wheels are individually motorized and made of titanium tubing that help it firmly grip the harsh terrain of the red planet.
• Robots need electrical components that control and power the machinery. Essentially, an electric current (a battery, for example) is needed to power a large majority of robots.
• Robots contain at least some level of computer programming. Without a set of code telling it what to do, a robot would just be another piece of simple machinery. Inserting a program into a robot gives it the ability to know when and how to carry out a task.

The robotics industry is still relatively young, but has already made amazing strides. From the deepest depths of our oceans to the highest heights of outer space, robots can be found performing tasks that humans couldn’t dream of achieving.

- Robot Vision

Robot Vision is a technology that allows robots to "see" their surroundings by using cameras and specialized software to interpret visual data, enabling them to recognize objects, navigate spaces, and perform complex actions based on what they see, essentially giving them a perception of their environment similar to human vision; it's a key component in advanced robotics applications like manufacturing automation and autonomous vehicles. 

Key characteristics about robot vision:

• Components: Typically includes cameras (sometimes multiple), lenses, lighting systems, image processing units, and dedicated software to analyze the captured images.
• Function: The software analyzes the visual data to extract information like object shape, size, position, color, and movement, which the robot can then use to make decisions and execute actions.
• Applications: Industrial automation: Inspecting products for defects, picking and placing objects with precision, assembly tasks
• Autonomous vehicles: Navigation, obstacle detection, lane keeping
• Medical robotics: Surgical assistance, tissue analysis
• Service robotics: Object recognition for robotic assistants

In basic terms, robot vision involves using a combination of camera hardware and computer algorithms to enable robots to process visual data from the world. For example, your system might have a 2D camera that detects objects picked up by the robot. A more complex example might be using a 3D stereo camera to guide a robot in attaching wheels to a moving vehicle.

Without robot vision, your robot is essentially blind. For many robotic tasks this is not a problem, but for some applications robot vision is very useful or even essential.

AI provides robots with computer vision that can navigate, sense, and calculate their responses accordingly. Robots learn to perform human tasks through machine learning, which is also part of computer programming and AI.