How Tech Works: Cobots

By by Kate Hayden

A conversation with:

Brad Vorrie, application engineering manager, Ramco Innovations.

How it works:

Cobots -- shorthand for “collaborative robots” -- have been around for the last five years but really gained popularity over the last two, said Brad Vorrie, application engineering manager at Ramco Innovations. Cobots are industrial robots designed to work safely next to human employees on a production task with minimal guarding or direction from human supervisors.

Cobots are useful in repetitive tasks, such as placing items to a new location or packaging, which free up human operators on site to manage the overall operations of a project or manufacturing line.

Cobots are designed to abide by safety standards set by both ISO and OSHA, which regulates the robot’s top speed and force. A robotic arm’s “end effector” can be the most complicated to safeguard depending on the robot’s purpose. End effectors could be a gripper designed to pick up objects; a welding torch; a type of blade, or another design that would be harmful to human employees. Robots with those active end effectors must be fully guarded for safety, Vorrie said.

“Rather than considering a robot as a sitting collaborative robot, we’ve always liked to call it a collaborative system. There’s more involved than just the robot,” Vorrie said. “There’s a lot more than just simply purchasing a collaborative robot. You’ve got to look at the whole entire situation and make sure you do proper risk assessment.”

Industry in Iowa:

Most of the collaborative robots sold to Iowa manufacturers have been built in Japan. Ramco purchases cobots from Omron Automation.

“Probably the biggest application that we’ve sold them in is simple pick-and-place type applications, where they’re picking their product from the production line and either stacking them or putting them inside of a box,” Vorrie said.

“Typically, they’re designed to be easier to program, adjust and operate than a traditional-type robot. Most people I can kind of walk through how they’re programmed … making adjustments is much more intuitive and easier than a standard traditional robot, where you might need a two or three-day class to understand how to move it and program it,” Vorrie said.

Predicting the next five years:

Iowa’s advanced manufacturing industry has just started introducing collaborative robotics to the workplace in the last three to five years, and Vorrie predicts that growth will continue in Iowa industries.

“We’re slowly getting out of the learning phase. For a lot of customers it’s just a matter of what type of applications can [they] implement,” Vorrie said.

“I really do feel that the industry is moving much closer toward robotics, and I think that a lot of that has to do with the types of jobs that these robots will do,” he added. “They’re proven technology and definitely safe to work on when implemented properly. Don’t be afraid of the technology, and utilize them to your advantage.”