CMTC Manufacturing Blog

Posted by Craig Tomita

Industrial robots have been in existence and commercially available for over 65 years.  Factory automation, a more all-encompassing term, has been in existence in one form or another for considerably longer than that. Humans have continually come up with solutions to  solve a wide variety of manufacturing problems in order to make the job of  making things more efficient, safer, and cost effective. The creativity of man to do this never ceases to amaze. The available technology continues to improve in many respects but  particularly in terms of capabilities and ease of use. 

Posted by Craig Tomita

Absolutely not. Industrial robots do what they are designed to do extremely well. High speed, high repeatability, heavy payloads, and more. There are many reasons why industrial robots are here to stay. True they are dangerous which is why they are behind guarding to protect workers from injury. But, it is also important to note that most small and medium-sized manufacturers don’t have applications that require all of the capabilities that industrial robots have to offer:  large quantities of the same product, high speed, and heavy payloads. In fact, with limited available floor space, many small and medium-sized manufacturers probably couldn’t accommodate a standard industrial robot in the first place. But a CoBot is more an extension of their human workers. CoBots are not a replacement for standard industrial robots, but an exciting new subset of industrial robots that is augmentative and a door-opener for the small and medium-sized manufacturer.

Posted by Craig Tomita

One of the most significant developments of potential interest to small and medium-sized manufacturers in the area of industrial robots is the introduction about 10 years or so ago of a subset of industrial robots called collaborative robots or “CoBots”.