Technical Q&A: trends and developments in cobotics

Collaborative robots are becoming an increasingly key technology for manufacturers, enabling them to cost-effectively embrace the benefits of automation and exploit the advantages of a closer working relationship between humans and robots. The Engineer asked a panel of experts for their views on the current state of the art in this rapidly growing field.

SS: The fast growth in interest and sales of cobots is in many cases due to their ease of use.  Outside of academia, most applications we see are not truly collaborative but are co-existent, with a shared or overlapping work space for human operators and robots.  The control features, performance limitations, design and surface treatments enable these robots to be safely installed within this shared space and this is driving the fast uptake and acceptance.  Falling prices are a key commercial trend: as volumes increase, there is more pressure to drive down costs, and this is reflected in average prices.