Some have the ability to accurately set rivets. Others join workshops where car bodies are painted. They are also found in food specialists, for example on packaging lines. Collaborative robots have been making their first steps in the industry for several years.
First discreet steps, “Their presence in companies is still marginal, sometimes due to organizations’ curiosity or a desire to have a technological showcase”, notes Jean-Christophe Blaise, head of the Safety of work equipment and automation laboratory at the National Research and Safety Institute (INRS). However, “Their rise seems inevitable”, estimates the INRS. By entrusting machines with risky tasks for employees, “This will allow us to improve their well-being but also to have more efficient teams and thus reduce absenteeism and turnover”, remarks an industrialist.
The announced arrival of these “cobots” (contraction of “cooperation” and “robotics”), which often have the shape of an articulated arm, constitutes a small revolution in the sector of industrial robotics. Because, unlike machines previously deployed, cobots can operate in the same workspace as employees. “It’s a real paradigm shift: until then, we had only designed the robot in a cage, without contact possible”, notes Mr. Blaise.
Reduced execution speed
This exit from the protective cages is now accompanied by many reflections on the safety of employees who have to work in the immediate vicinity of cobots. It implies, in fact, new risks. In order to prevent, for example, shocks and the threat of crushing, some cobots have safety functions: they can automatically stop in the event of contact with an operator. “A laser radar makes it possible to slow down or stop the robot. It will resume its activity when the person leaves “, explains Maxime Hardouin, CEO of AeroSpline, a company that develops cobots. Which specifies, moreover, that “In many cases the robot’s movements are slow”.
This is a specific feature common to many cobots working in interaction with operators: the speed of execution is deliberately reduced to limit the risk of physical impact. Other adaptations can be deployed, depending on the field situations: reduction of the robot’s mass, absence of protruding edges, etc.
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