Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2021 - 16

Future of Automation
asking the question, " How close to the
future is current technology? " along
the way - note that cobots are not
the solution to every manufacturing
auto mation problem, especially when
extremely high speeds and heavy payloads
are required. And although growing
fast in popularity, cobots remain a
niche segment of the industrial automation
market.
Nevertheless, in terms of breaking
down barriers around affordability, usa -
bility, safety, and flexibility, the transformative
effect of cobots is being felt
across all types of robots and is shaping
the future automation landscape.
Safety
Usability is an essential feature of successful manufacturing automation. Here, an end user handguides
a cobot and gripper through various waypoints as part of an intuitive programming process
that breaks down the barriers to automation deployments, particularly for SMEs. (Credit: OnRobot)
skills gap in the United States alone
could see as many as 2.1 million jobs
remaining unfilled by 2030 at a cost of
USD 1 trillion to the national economy,
according to a recent study by Deloitte
and the Manufacturing Institute.
It's a pattern that is repeated worldwide
and it's driving growth in automation
adoption. A separate 2021 Deloitte
Global Resilience Report found that
57% of manufacturing respondents have
already used advanced technologies to
redesign job tasks including automating
previously manual tasks.
At the same time, manufacturers are
facing growing demand for their products,
driven by a booming e-commerce
sector. And on top of all this, customers'
demands are changing. There is a no -
table trend towards ever greater customization
of the final product, which
drives demand for flexible automation
that is quick and easy to reprogram and
redeploy. The related trend towards
high-mix/low-volume production is al -
ready here and is also set to grow into
the future.
Manufacturers will need more auto -
mation in the future. That's a given. But
as we shall see, they will increasingly
need automation with specific characteristics;
namely, automation that is high on
usability, safe, flexible, standardized, and
affordable.
16
Cov
Back to the Future
Twenty years ago, traditional industrial
automation was the only game in town
and only large companies were invited
to play due to the cost and complexity
involved. Traditional industrial automation
is best suited to low-mix/high-volume
production, requires expensive ex -
perts to program, and carries a large
footprint. It also requires extensive safety
guarding and fencing to protect
human workers.
Traditional industrial automation re -
mains the largest segment of the global
industrial robotics market. But the
fastest-growing segment of the industrial
robot market is collaborative robots (or
cobots) and here we get important clues
regarding the direction manufacturing
automation is headed.
Characterized by ease of use, low capital
investment, small footprint, flexibility,
and safe operability around humans,
the emergence of cobots and lightweight
industrial robots over the past 15
years enables small- to medium-sized
companies (SMEs) to benefit from auto -
mation for the first time. It has also
shown automation companies of all
types the importance of providing their
customers with solutions that are high
on safety, usability, and flexibility.
Before we dive into the key features
of future manufacturing automation -
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ToC
Current technologies such as light
curtains and proximity sensors allow
manufacturers to make almost any type
of automated cell safe to use around
humans (subject to risk assessments).
This means that safety is no longer the
sole preserve of collaborative robots
since it incorporates safe deployments of
traditional industrial robot cells, too.
When it comes to safe operation, the
future is already here.
Usability
Market analysts and experts are predicting
a boom in robot applications but
for that to happen, we have to minimize
deployment time on each application by
making automation easier to deploy.
On the software side, this means software
with intuitive interfaces that can be
deployed by operators with minimal
training, saving time and money on programming
and engineering. On the
hardware side, this means plug-and-play
features and easy interoperability be -
tween different types of robots and
robot components. It also means clickon/click-off
end-effectors and the de -
mise of tooling that is fixed in place
using 60 small screws.
All manufacturers of automation
products are thinking about these
things but there is a lot of variation
among the offerings available. For ex -
ample, it is already possible to find easyto-use,
ready out-of-the-box automation
components that can be deployed on a
wide range of different types of industrial
robot. But this type of " one-stop
shop " offering is the exception rather
than the rule.
In the future, these features will be
the rule for all automation offerings.
Tech Briefs, October 2021
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Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2021

Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2021 - Intro
Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2021 - Sponsor
Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2021 - Cov1
Tech Briefs Magazine - October 2021 - Cov2
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