Collaborative Robotics and Today’s Manufacturing Startups

Collaborative robots are quickly gaining popularity in the manufacturing world, particularly with startup companies. These robots are designed to work safely alongside humans and provide many benefits over their larger, more dangerous industrial counterparts, depending on the application.

Overall robotics spend will climb to $13 billion in 2025. Much of this growth will be fueled by increasing demand in collaborative robots. As a portion of all robot sales, collaborative robots will grow from 3% in 2016 to 34% in 2025.

Collaborative robots are not suited to perform the heavy-duty tasks of industrial robots, however, they are smarter and feature advanced technology to perform more complex tasks, which is a major reason why they’re gaining popularity so quickly.

There are other reasons though, especially when you view the benefits of collaborative robots through the eyes of a manufacturing startup.

Collaborative Robots in Startups

Collaborative robots are particularly useful in most startup settings. They provide great opportunities for small companies to start competing with their larger competitors who have drastically higher production capabilities.

They do this several ways. Here are the major reasons collaborative robots are so popular amongst manufacturing startups:

1. Low Initial Investment

Collaborative robots are far cheaper than industrial robots, but can provide similar productivity gains. Not only does this help startups justify the cost of automation, but it also helps these same startups realize quicker ROI once they do implement robotic solutions.

2. Short Integration Period

Avoiding downtime is important for any manufacturer, and it’s no different for startups. A collaborative robotic solution can be implemented very quickly, sometimes in as little as 5 days. This keeps integration costs low – the cost of a robot and the cost of integration are two separate things.

3. Easy to Use

Collaborative robots are notoriously easy to use. You don’t need highly trained programmers on the floor to use a collaborative robot – another way in which collaborative robots are cheaper – and they can be “taught” different skills quickly and easily.

For manufacturing startups, collaborative robots make sense more often than industrial robots do. The productivity they provide, along with their low costs, allow small companies to scale production quickly without a major upfront investment.

A great example of the role of collaborative robots in manufacturing startups is the partnership between Robotiq, a robotic systems integrator, and Lowercase, an eyewear startup located in the U.S. To learn more about collaborative robots and startups, read the case study here.

Robotics in the Construction Industry

Robots are primed to revolutionize the construction industry. Construction is one of the least digitized, least automated industries in the world, positioning robots as an attractive solution for construction companies.

Since 1945, productivity in manufacturing, retail and agriculture has grown 1,500 percent, but it has barely gone up in construction. How will robots be used for productivity in construction? Why are construction companies adopting robots now?

Construction Companies are Understaffed and Over Budget

Construction is a $10 trillion global industry, but it’s plagued by inefficiency. The U.S. construction industry has nearly 200,000 unfilled positions. On average, 98% of construction megaprojects go over budget.

Inefficient processes, major potential savings from productivity gains, and widespread labor shortages – construction is an environment ripe for automation.

Robotic Applications in the Construction Industry

Currently, construction processes are heavily reliant on manual processes, but there are a number of exciting new applications just around the corner.

For example, Komatsu has built a multi-purpose drone and bulldozer automation system. The drone flies above a construction site, monitoring deliveries, inventory and overall progress. Additionally, the drone creates a 3D map of the construction site, which it then feeds to an unmanned bulldozer – the information is used to direct the bulldozer without the need for a driver.

Another exciting example is the combination of a 3D printer with a robotic arm by Chinese company WinSun. The robotic arm controls the motion of the 3D printer, allowing it to create large structures at once. The company claimed to have made 10 single story houses in one day with their robotic 3D printing equipment.

Robotics Improve Construction Safety

Construction is an inherently dangerous job. Robots can improve worker safety in construction environments by taking over some of the more dangerous tasks and allowing human workers to complete more cognitive tasks.

In a $10 trillion industry, even small differences in operating expenses can mean huge savings. Fewer workplace incidents translates to lower operating costs, which can end up saving construction companies a lot in the long run.

Construction is ready for automation. Productivity needs to improve, and labor shortages need to be addressed. Robots and advanced automation systems hold the key to solving some of these problems, while at the same time making construction a safer industry.

Industrial Robots: 3D Vision a Driving Force of Innovation

3D vision capabilities are driving rapid innovation in industrial robotics, broadening their potential applications. New vision technology provides flexibility for robotic systems, allowing them to perform functions they never could before.

Industrial robots themselves are an incredible innovation in manufacturing, but "blind" versions of robots have had their limitations. So how are 3D vision guided robots different than traditional robots?

Why 3D Vision is Important

First, there were "blind" robots. These provided great benefits over manual labor for boring, repetitive tasks, but their lack of vision limited them to these tasks. "Blind" robots had to be programmed to complete a single task at a time, and there is no way to account for variations in this task without reprogramming.

Flexibility is a key driver of ROI in robotics. 3D vision capabilities have allowed robots to complete more than one task without reprogramming, as well as the ability to account for unforeseen variables in work environments. Further, 3D vision allows a robot to recognize what’s in front of it, to a certain extent, and react accordingly. All of this drives robotic flexibility, and thus quicker and better ROI.

How Industrial Robots with 3D Vision Change Automation Processes

There are a number of ways that 3D vision is currently being used for industrial robotics. One of the most prominent ways is in pick and place applications, which have traditionally been extremely hard for robots. "Blind" robots could only pick objects from a predetermined position and 2D camera systems could not pick out a part from its background.

3D vision achieved with laser triangulation is one of the most common methods of robotic vision in pick and place applications. Essentially, a CAD model is 'taught' to a robot so that it can recognize a part and its orientation in space. A laser is used for the robot to determine its own orientation in space in the x, y and z axes. Once the robot knows where itself and the part are at, it can pick up the part and place it.

While this may seem like a simple task, it is a revolution in the industrial sector. It saves time and money for the end user. With the simple introduction of CAD models, a robot can perform a variety of tasks.

3D vision, whether it's from laser triangulation or a different method, is a driving force of innovation. Pick and place used to be extremely difficult for robots, but now it is a commonplace operation.

Robotic Material Handling Market Set for Explosive Growth

A new report published by Allied Market Research projects the global market for robotic material handling will grow to reach approximately $39 billion by 2022. This number represents a wide range of robotic solutions, from conveyor systems to robotic arms, but nonetheless reveals explosive market growth for these products.

Europe is expected to be the main source of demand for these automated technologies to supply their growing manufacturing industries.

What's Driving this Growth in Robotic Material Handling?

Robotic material handling processes such as pick and place applications, machine tending, palletizing, and part transfer are needed in just about any process that involves production. The fact that these processes are so common is part of why this growth is happening.

However, another factor cited in the report is that new vision systems, such as embedded laser triangulation 3D vision systems, are enabling superior capabilities for robotic material handling. For example, pick and place used to be extremely difficult for robots before the advent of 3D vision guided robots. Now it is a commonplace application.

Why Use Robotic Material Handling?

If you're considering investing in robotic material handling, know that there are a few reasons it's becoming so popular with manufacturers across the globe. Here are a few benefits you may see from robotic material handling: 

• Productivity: robots are faster and more accurate than humans in most industrial applications, particularly the mundane, repetitive tasks like material handling.
• Quality: by nature, robots are highly repeatable, which reduces scrap and rework processes that comes with human error.
• Flexibility: vision guided robots can perform a variety of tasks once they’re programmed properly, making ROI easier to achieve than ever before.

Robotic material handling provides a number of benefits over manual processes, but the ones mentioned above are some of the most important.

The market for robotic material handling is set to explode. Given the benefits these automated processes provide, as well as the widespread need for them, it’s not a huge surprise.

Robotic Machine Tending for Beginners

Robotic machine tending is the automated process of tending a machine – typically a computer numerical control (CNC) machine. Usually this process is the loading of raw materials into the machine and unloading of finished parts out of the machine.

Robotic machine tending is differentiated from robotic material handling as the tending process involves more complexity. The robotic system often has to communicate with the CNC machine in one form or another, and has to perform a few different functions in a single application.

Common Applications for Robotic Machine Tending

Robotic machine tending is typically used for loading and unloading parts in the following applications:

• Grinding
• Milling and turning
• Injection molds
• Stamping, punching, trimming and forging
• Compression molds
• Welding

The specific processes a robotic system completes in each of these applications varies, but the common function is the loading and unloading of materials and parts.

Benefits of Robotic Machine Tending Systems

One of the main benefits of robotic machine tending is the drastically improved uptime when compared to manual loading and unloading. The only time the robot needs to stop is for regular maintenance, meaning the productivity of the machine being tended is not limited by manual labor. This gain in uptime leads to major productivity gains by boosting throughput.

On top of the increased uptime, robotic machine tending systems are more accurate and repeatable than manual loading and unloading. Not only can this increase the quality of parts produced, but it can reduce the amount of error in the machining process, maximizing throughput and minimizing wasted materials and time.

Robotic machine tending systems provide many benefits for manufacturers - chief among them are uptime and accurate repeatability. For anything from grinding to welding or milling and turning, robotic machine tending delivers productivity.

The Latest Technological Innovations in Autonomous Mobile Robots

Robots in the industrial sector are quickly evolving from powerful, stationary machines into sophisticated, mobile platfor

ms to address a broader range of automation needs. Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are one of the latest and most innovative automation solutions on the market.

AMRs differ from automated guided vehicles (AGVs) by their degree of autonomy – AMRs are far more independent than AGVs. AMRs will be an important part of lean operations in a wide range of industrial settings once they are widely deployed, as they are built to address specific challenges in typical industrial environments.

Operational Challenges Autonomous Mobile Robots Overcome

Typical AGVs need some form of external guidance, whether it’s permanent wires, magnetic strips or sensors embedded in the floor. This creates a rigid system that’s difficult and expensive to adjust as production needs change, which is the main obstacle AMRs aim to overcome.

Autonomous mobile robots are much more capable of navigating dynamic environments. They require little external input to do so, which is an important capability. Industrial environments like construction sites are inherently dynamic. Manufacturing facilities are becoming more dynamic as they pursue leaner operations. Robots that can operate within these environments will have major commercial potential, introducing process automation without hindering the need for frequent changes in the production environment.

Technological Innovations in Autonomous Mobile Robots

One of the latest innovations in AMRs is the inclusion of onboard intelligence systems. These come in a variety of formats but differentiate AMRs from AGVs. Many AMRs can learn their surroundings either by having a blueprint uploaded, or by having the AMRs drive around and develop their own map. This type of autonomy allows them to quickly adapt to just about any industrial environment.

Another major innovation in AMRs is their computer vision capabilities. Most AMRs are equipped with an array of complex sensors to detect objects around them. The ability to accurately perceive a dynamic environment in real-time is incredibly difficult, but it’s what make AMRs so valuable in a constantly shifting industrial setting.

AMRs are one step above and beyond AGVs. In most applications, AMRs will provide unrivaled flexibility and ease of use due to their high levels of autonomy. These capabilities fit perfectly with today’s lean operating environments.

AMRs are an important robotic innovation that supports the constant pursuit of productivity in the industrial sector. AMRs have great commercial potential and are likely to be deployed in a wide range of settings.

cobots key takeaways from hannover messe

At this year’s Hannover Fair, exhibitors once again spared no expense and effort in presenting their latest innovations to the public, while visitors to the world’s largest industrial trade fair saw the entire spectrum of industrial equipment. This time, the dominant topics were artificial intelligence and machine learning – for example the table tennis playing robot at the stand of OMRON, which continuously optimizes its gaming behavior on the basis of the collected data. But also the increasing merging of production and IT in the sense of a powerful Industrial Internet of Things is still on everyone’s lips as well as of course the rapid development in robotics: Driverless systems open up new possibilities for production and logistics and collaborative robots work hand in hand with humans. That was out of the question a few years ago. In the meantime, the technology has reached a higher level of maturity and companies have recognized the potential of collaborative robotics for themselves. With cobots like our Sawyer you can also automate where traditional industrial robots reach their limits.

It is becoming increasingly important for the manufacturing industry to be able to respond dynamically to fluctuations in demand, changing customer requirements and structural challenges such as a shortage of skilled workers. For this reason, flexible automation solutions such as collaborative robots are an absolute trend topic at the Hanover Fair. I am still impressed with what the current state of technology already makes possible and I am already looking forward to next year’s Hannover Fair.

What could visitors to the Rethink Robotics stand discover that they could not see from other cobot suppliers?

Of course we are not the only cobot supplier at the Hannover Messe with Rethink Robotics. The market is growing rapidly and many suppliers want a piece of the pie. Nevertheless, the question of what distinguishes Rethink Robotics from other cobot manufacturers can be answered quickly. Our cobot Sawyer is known for the fact that it can be integrated incredibly quickly into the production environment within almost any industry. How is that possible? The train-by-demonstration method, in which Sawyer learns movement sequences by simply guiding the robot arm, also enables employees without programming knowledge to implement complex applications. Sawyer’s powerful software, Intera, provides intuitive operability through its graphical user interface, which visualizes each application step via a decision tree. The low integration effort without downtimes, the manageable costs and the simple handling contribute significantly to facilitate automation for manufacturers of all sizes. Sawyer is also a holistic and fully integrated solution and that’s what makes us different: a fully integrated, cost-efficient solution.

How do you perceive this year’s attitude at the Hannover Fair on the subject of cobots?

What struck me and my team most was the level of knowledge of the visitors. While in 2016 I was still often asked, “What are collaborative robots?” or “What can a cobot do?”, this year we often heard concrete questions, such as “Can Sawyer run these applications?” Representatives of companies of all sizes and industries approached us with very real questions, for example: “I have this and that production line and would like to use Sawyer for this specific application. Is it suitable for this and if so, how much implementation time do I have to expect?” The question of operability was also often asked: “Is Sawyer really that quick and easy to learn?” Yes, it is. At our various stations, visitors could experience first-hand how quickly Sawyer can be taught a task with the train-by-demonstration method. We know that this plays a crucial role, especially for SMEs, in determining whether or not to use a cobot because they do not have the resources to hire highly paid programmers. The growing interest and the practical discussion that can be observed on the subject of cobots makes us optimistic for the future. It confirms that we offer the market exactly what it currently demands: a flexible, cost-effective and easy-to-implement automation solution that allows companies to react quickly and dynamically to new challenges.

What does Hannover Messe 2019 look like for you?

So far, we have seen an enormous learning curve among visitors and customers from year to year. When we first came to Hannover Messe, not many people knew what cobots were and what they could do for manufacturing companies. Few people knew the financial implications of purchasing a cobot and what the difference is from a traditional industrial robot. We were faced with the great challenge of first clarifying the market, e.g. that the use of cages is superfluous because collaborative robots act smart, are compact and can work safely alongside people. Cobots react to resistance and recognize when external conditions change, they are not rigid machines, on the contrary: cobots are flexible. So flexible that they can easily be moved from one application to the next and can even be used in the most unpleasant and smallest production environments. We expect to be able to show even more applications, exciting use cases and new functions at next year’s Hannover Fair. The great thing about Sawyer is that he is not an end product, but is constantly evolving through regular software updates. And the applications for which it can be used continue to evolve in the same way.

Plastics manufacturing trend: companies make huge strides toward sustainability

One of the top five issues in plastics manufacturing today is the re-use, recycling and recovery of plastics – especially given the growing concern of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Located between Hawaii and California, the floating garbage patch is 4x the size of California and is comprised of 1.8 trillion pieces of rubbish.

What is concerning to environmentalists is that sea turtles are eating the plastic, and that the plastic also breaks down into microplastics, which are harder to gather up, and thus can enter the food supply. (Source)

While the article infers that plastic is the problem, the real issue has to do with a lack of consumer recycling education (and perhaps consumer indifference), as well as the lack of methods to properly dispose of plastic — especially packaging materials comprised of complex combinations of materials.

Manufacturers around the globe have begun to issue statements on what they’re doing to address plastics sustainability. Nestlé, for example, plans to make 100% of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. The company plans to eliminate non-recyclable plastics, encourage use of plastics that facilitate better recycling rates, and eliminate or change complex combinations of plastic packaging materials. (Source)

The French food and dairy company Danone has also announced its plans to make 100% of its packaging fully recyclable and to “actively contribute to creating a second-life” for all the plastics it uses. (Source)

And closer to home, Gary Fox, Plant Manager of Cox Container in Troy, Alabama, reports, “Here at Cox Container, we’ve invested in equipment and processes to ensure we don’t waste any plastic converted to bottles. All scrap generated from our processes is automatically and immediately reground and reintroduced to the manufacturing work cell. Any scrap that might become contaminated isn’t sent to a landfill. Instead, it’s sent to a plastic recycling center where it’s washed and reprocessed for future productive use.”

In a response to a Plastics Today article about plastics, recycling and sustainability, Stephen Russell, Vice President for the American Chemistry Council’s Plastics Division, discussed the innovations taking place within the industry regarding mixed used plastics – which are often seen as “unrecyclable.”

According to Russell, one of the more exciting developments is the breaking down of plastics into their basic molecules. These “outputs” can then be used in a variety of industries and uses.

In fact, when Procter & Gamble searched for a recycled material pure enough to use in its polypropylene packaging – and couldn’t find one – it developed its own process to purify PP. The new technology, which removes the previous limitation on the use of recycled PP because of low quality, is suitable for use in food-contact applications and will help divert plastic headed for landfills or into waterways.

Collaborative robots: the gateway to automation in plastics

As the vice president for the Robotic Industries Association (RIA) and the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) Mexico, I manage day-to-day activities for the association, which has 470 member companies who are driving the robotics and automation industry forward. There has been a lot of growth of automation technologies in the manufacturing industry, and plastics manufacturers have been quick to catch on. 2017 was another record year for the robotics industry, where the plastics and rubber industry category grew by 16 percent in 2017.

Even as the plastics industry moves toward automation, many manufacturers aren’t sure how to get started. The introduction of collaborative robots (cobots) to the market has been very well received, easing the transition to automation as they provide a compact, easy-to-use solution that can work side-by-side with human counterparts.

The best way for companies to determine how the implementation of cobots might affect their manufacturing processes is to find a pain point in the facility or a bottleneck in production. Cobots are the perfect entry point for plastics manufacturers looking for automation solutions, given their adaptability and ease of implementation. By bringing in a cobot supplier, integrator or distributor, companies can conduct a thorough walkthrough of their production processes and identify the areas that would most benefit from automation. As with any robot integration, a safety risk assessment must be done when implementing a collaborative application, as it is necessary to ensure employees working around the robot are safe at all times.

Cobots are easy to deploy and adaptable enough to be moved to different locations and perform a variety of tasks as needed, which is ideal for tasks such as tending plastics molding machines or packaging plastic products. They also allow the implementation of automation alongside human workers, and have a much smaller footprint than larger industrial automation systems.

As in many industries lately, plastics manufacturing faces workforce challenges, and many companies have numerous gaps in existing roles that human workers aren’t eager to fill. Cobots have the potential to help staff these dull, dirty or dangerous roles, while also increasing productivity and allowing human workers to focus on more valuable work for the company.

How is Orientation in Space Represented with Euler Angles?

    If you use a six-axis robot, you most probably need to position its end-effector in various orientations. Of course, you can always jog your robot or hand-guide it, but this online programming method is tedious and imprecise. It is much more efficient to calculate your desired orientation offline.

     In robotics, a user defines an orientation with Euler angles. Unfortunately, not only various Euler angle conventions exist but also robot manufacturers use different ways to describe them. Furthermore, finding the Euler angles for a desired orientation is often quite difficult. This interactive tutorial prepared by RIA member Mecademic features an applet that visualizes the sequence of rotations that define Euler angles. The tutorial also describes in detail how Euler angles are calculated with the help of rotation matrices.

Researchers a platform for movement

To realize unlimited possibilities, a cobot needs to be free. Sawyer’s arm has seven degrees of freedom, enabling manufacturers to deploy the robot to a wide range of tasks. What if that same level of freedom could stretch to other areas of the robot? Imagine the possibilities…

Now you don’t have to use your imagination. We have partnered with Clearpath, a provider of vehicle robotics for research and development, to integrate the research version of Sawyer, equipped with Rethink’s software development kit (SDK), with its mobile platform, Ridgeback.

Mobility in robots is the next step in allowing researchers to bridge the gap in many industries, including household, hospital and warehouse settings.

This integration with Clearpath Ridgeback– which, like Sawyer SDK, is built on a ROS API layer, making it open source and therefore, super accessible – came from two sources: a request from our research customers, and our observations of mobile robots in action. At the annual Amazon Picking Challenge, we’ve seen that some of the most successful robots were on a mobile platform. In 2017, the competition presented the additional challenge of decreasing the work cell space from previous years. The robots had to deal with stacked objects and a smaller space, mirroring the real-life challenges of automating the Amazon warehouse. Tasked with picking items from Amazon shelves and placing them into storage, mobile robots were better equipped than their stationary counterparts to maneuver through difficult spaces to complete the task at hand.

When we released Sawyer SDK, we were surprised and delighted by the creative applications that university students came up with. (Stanford University put Sawyer to work – both as an artist and loading a moving drone.) By adding mobility into the equation, researchers can explore a vast array of new applications. We can’t claim to know now what the future holds for mobile cobots, but Sawyer SDK with Clearpath has shown us that the possibilities are great.

The role automation plays in plastics manufacturing

Speed and efficiency in plastic injection molding equate to cost savings. So it is no surprise that robotics and automation play a significant role in improving the manufacturing process. From simple sprue pickers to collaborative robots to complex automated End-of-Arm Tooling (EOAT), the industry is taking full advantage of new technologies in automation. The dynamics of plastics manufacturing automation technologies are rapidly advancing, and several key trends are driving the force.

One of those trends is The Internet of Things (IoT). Over the past decade, many companies have invested heavily in connecting all facets of their manufacturing process from design and development to logistics. Utilizing IoT, factories will become more reliant on networked devices, sensors, and digital communications to improve productivity and control costs from remote locations.  To effectively compete on a global scale and expand into new markets, plastics manufacturers must automate production to increase the productivity of their operations.  This is often done using easy-to-integrate production monitoring software, providing the ability to access information on equipment status in real time.

Another key trend that we have experience with at Rodon is companies looking to replace metals with plastics.  As many industries become increasingly aware of the benefits of metal-to-plastic conversion, high-volume injection molding is quickly becoming the method of choice for part manufacture. Besides reducing weight and improving overall part strength and corrosion resistance, plastic-to-metal conversion also allows for the consolidation of multiple metal parts into a single plastic part. Aside from offering equal toughness and allowing for the same tight tolerances as metal, plastic parts require fewer secondary operations, thereby saving on time and costs.

Lastly and perhaps most timely is the ongoing challenge of retaining a qualified and skilled workforce. According to projections from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, nearly 3.5 million jobs will need to be filled over the next decade and approximately 60 percent of them will remain unfilled due to the skills gap and a shortage of experienced talent.

Fortunately, The Rodon Group has been able to stay ahead of the curve in regards to recruiting and retaining a skilled workforce.  We have done this by developing constructive partnerships over the years with local high schools, tech schools, and colleges.  We have also participated in Manufacturing Day; a yearly event established in 2012 to addresses common misperceptions about manufacturing and to help manufacturers begin to address the skilled labor shortage.

The Benefits of Implementing Robotics

Robotics and automation have given the plastics industry a competitive edge, especially against overseas manufacturers.

Whether simple or complex applications, integration of robotics and automation in plastic injection molding provides numerous advantages, such as:

• Enhanced and consistent part quality
• Consistent cycle times for producing parts more quickly and efficiently
• Reduced molding, labor, and part costs
• Increased machine utilization

Easy-to-use, versatile collaborative robots (cobots), like Rethink Robotics’ Sawyer and Baxter, have played a big part in helping manufacturers increase flexibility, lower costs and accelerate innovation.

In 2013, the Rodon Group implemented its first cobot, Baxter, a collaborative manufacturing robot from Rethink Robotics used to complete repetitive production tasks and complement the company’s highly automated facility. Less complicated, secondary operations and tasks are ideally suited to the cobot, as its built-in sensors enable it to be deployed near people and trained by the workers it is assisting. After the press robot places the parts on a conveyor, the cobot can take those parts off the conveyor for stacking and packing. Having a robot that works for a relatively inexpensive price, basically, 24/7, has allowed Rodon to remain competitive — and save money.

Automation and robotic technology have allowed Rodon to remain competitive in today’s ever-changing market. The investments made in their processes and plant provide long-term benefits to both their company and their customers. A win-win all around.