Collaborative robots, as the name implies, are robots that work collaboratively with humans on the production line, giving full play to human intelligence and the efficiency of robots. These robots are safe, convenient, and highly cost - effective, and can greatly promote the development of manufacturing enterprises. As a new type of industrial robot, collaborative robots have eliminated the barriers to human - robot cooperation, freeing robots from the constraints of fences or cages. Their groundbreaking product performance and wide range of application fields have opened up a new era in the development of industrial robots.
The intelligent factories of the future require robots to cooperate with humans. They are created by the harmonious coexistence of humans and machines and will complete different tasks together with humans. This includes not only traditional tasks that “humans can't do, don't want to do, or can't do well,” but also complex tasks that can improve the quality of human life and reduce the intensity of human labor. Precisely because of this, collaborative robots can be regarded as an essential attribute of new - type industrial robots.
The main characteristics of collaborative robots are as follows:
- Lightweight. This makes the robot easier to control and improves safety.
- User - friendly. Ensure that the surface and joints of the robot are smooth and flat, without sharp corners or gaps that could easily pinch the operator.
- Perceptive. It can perceive the surrounding environment and change its actions according to environmental changes.
- Human - robot cooperation. It has sensitive force - feedback characteristics and will stop immediately when the set force is reached. After a risk assessment, there is no need to install protective fences, and humans and robots can work together.
- Easy programming. Programming and debugging are very easy for ordinary operators and people without a technical background.
Collaborative robots have brought fundamental changes to the industrial production and manufacturing in future factories and have decisive and important advantages:
- Great flexibility in the production process.
- Take on manual processes that were previously ergonomically unsuitable and unable to be automated, reducing the burden on employees.
- Reduce the risk of injury and infection, for example, by using special human - robot cooperation end - effectors.
- No need to invest according to the type or workpiece, and complete repeatable processes with high quality.
- Adopt built - in sensing systems to improve productivity and equipment complexity. Based on the advantages of human - robot collaboration, more flexible collaborative robots have become a viable solution for undertaking assembly and extraction work. They can give full play to the respective advantages of humans and robots, enabling robots to cooperate better with workers and adapt to a wider range of work challenges.
In the era of the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, collaborative robots will penetrate deeper and deeper into our work and life. The human - robot cooperation model in which people, equipment, and machines work together can improve enterprise efficiency, strengthen quality control, enhance production flexibility, reduce logistics line costs, and bring manufacturing enterprises closer to the market. It is the supporting equipment for intelligent manufacturing, and human - robot cooperation will become an essential feature of the next - generation robots.
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