Shift Magazine - February 2020 - 20

Automakers such as BMW, here, Mercedes, Ford,
GM, PSA and Skoda are using collaborative robots,
or cobots, to increase production flexibility.

Cobots help these workers fit shock absorbers to Ford Fiestas, a task that
requires accuracy, strength and dexterity. Cobots, smaller than traditional
factory robots, are designed to work closely with humans.

F R I E N D LY N E I G H B O R H O O D

'COBOTS'

Smart, collaborative robots are working
side-by-side with humans in factories
BY JACK KEEBLER

I

magine R2-D2 from the "Star Wars"
movies. Friendly, compact, intelligent
and very handy. Like R2, there's a
new generation of small, user-friendly
"cobots," short for collaborative robots,
being integrated into supplier and car
plants.
Large, very powerful, traditional factory robots can cost up to $400,000. And
adding to costs are the protective barriers
required around them for worker safety.
Cobots - with people-friendly shut-down
sensors, soft surfaces, lower power and
shorter reach - are closer to $30,000.
And, critically, they're designed to work
closely with humans - even side-by-side.
Carmakers have found that to be
cost-efficient they must be more flexible.

20

shift * february 2020

Rare is the new factory devoted to a
single vehicle type. Automakers are building rear-wheel-drive, front-wheel-drive,
internal combustion and electric vehicles
in the same plant. So, companies hedging investment bets can get reasonable
EV volume and build flexibility with lower
costs, while they await more consumer
interest in electrics. Industry insiders say
this is particularly true at premium-vehicle makers, where customization is even
more critical.
For even greater production flexibility,
some cobot makers add artificial intelligence programs that allow the bots
to refine their assigned task to shorten
cycle times, reduce power consumption,
speed programming and add diversified

tasks based on using specialized vision
and pattern-recognition systems. These
allow the robot to add different kinds of
jobs with specific, even complex, processes based on the type of material or
parts being supplied.
Linked to inventory software, the robot
could order materials and even do qualitycontrol reporting.
BMW, Mercedes, Ford, GM, PSA,
Skoda and many others are using these
tireless little workers, even as they
reduce large-scale automation in order to
improve their ability to personalize.
ABB Robotics, Fanuc, Kuka Robotics
Corp., Yaskawa Electric and Universal
Robots are just some of the cobot
makers. ■
Shift Magazine - February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Shift Magazine - February 2020
