Page 46 - Packaging News magazine Jan-Feb 2022

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INDUSTRY 4.0 & IIOT | www.packagingnews.com.au | January-February 2022
Universal Robots debunks cobot safety threat
Misconceptions continue to linger as workers still view advanced automation as a threat to their employment, however, James McKew, regional director for Universal Robots Asia-Pacific, believes that this couldn’t be further from the truth.
COLLABORATIVE robots, as their name implies, are not designed to be a threat to human labour. Indeed, as James McKew points out, cobots help to enhance the quality of pro- duction and the ability for humans and robots to collaborate on the
production floor.
“The fear of robots taking over is
natural. However, in the manufac- turing environment, their purpose is to guide people who are capable of managing production processes, and get them to manage robots that do the dull, dusty, monotonous and non-cre- ative aspects of production processes.”
He adds that cobots should not be confused with industrial robots, as cobots are “designed to be human- friendly, they have systems on-board that can detect humans, and they do not need to be caged”.
“Cobots will not hurt humans whereas industrial robots may. They are easy to use, easy to program and lightweight. In fact, even operators with limited programming skills can become cobot programmers,” says McKew.
Universal Robots said that now, in a time of ongoing lockdowns, border
closures and heightened concerns around health and safety, cobots allows for “business as usual” – even in the most unprecedented of times.
Adding to this, according to Universal, is the reliance on a global supply chain by local manufacturers who are changing their production over to bring manufacturing home and ensure business continuity.
“Cobots act as a lifeline for local businesses that need to accelerate local manufacturing. Cobots ensure enhanced productivity, reduced errors and improved efficiencies,” explains McKew.
“In addition, cobots allow produc- tion workers to master robotics and train cobots to do the dull, monoto- nous jobs that talented and dexterous humans shouldn’t be doing.
ABOVE: Cobots allow production workers to master robotics and train them to do the monotonous jobs that skilled humans shouldn’t be doing.
“Also, with an ageing population in the manufacturing sector, and fewer young people wanting to do man- ual factory tasks, cobots are helping to transform this space into a more attractive working environment for the younger workforce.”
WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
McKew sees robot cell operators enhancing processes and adding value to human-machine operators, as they can be tended by several cobots, while a human is left in charge of managing all of these.
“They program them, optimise them and determine if there are more creative ways that the cobots can be used to enhance production output,” McKew says.
McKew believes the opportuni- ties are immense for countries to resume production. In Asia Pacific, Universal Robots has seen a strong uptick in demand for cobots. He contends that cobots, along with talented manufacturing workers, provide companies with massive opportunities for efficient reshor- ing in the post-pandemic world. ■
Cobots act as a lifeline for local businesses that need to accelerate local manufacturing.”