This week’s video comes from Ford’s assembly plant in Cologne, Germany where workers are being assisted by collaborative robots – aka co-bots – to fit shock absorbers onto Ford Fiestas.
Ford Motor Company said the introduction of co-bots is part of its research into Industry 4.0 and that over 1,000 production line workers have helped to identify tasks for which the new robots would best be suited.
The 1m tall robots work alongside their human counterparts at two workstations. Rather than manipulate a heavy shock absorber and installation tool, workers can now use the robot to lift and automatically position the shock absorber into the wheel arch.
Developed over two years, the robot programme was carried out in partnership with KUKA.
Very nice, innocent video; that shows friendly people working side by side, shoulder to shoulder with even more “friendly” and strong, powerful robotic arms, capable of easily lifting heavy assembies… Even the worker (human, but not very clever) shows a total disregard to safety, as he is not wearing ANY personal protection gear.
An invitation for disaster, as soon as the “friendly” robot decides to hit a bug in its software.
Several deaths by industrial robots have been recorded. So, this innocent and nice video shows just how stupid and naive the manufacturers PR people and CEO’s are.
Collaborative robots are NOT industrial robots. They are outfitted with a myriad of safety features and have significantly reduced capacities/speeds in order to pass safety assessments to be able to work around people. I applaud Alfredo’s passion regarding safety, but these units are helping the workers to avoid ergonomic stresses which are also a serious safety concern. Last thought, thousands of people have died in airplanes and cars. Are we all stupid and naive for flying and driving?
I understand fully the objection to safety gear not plastered all over workers to stop them from being harmed but it is the change in the environment that has changed life prospects for workers not personal protective equipment .The workplace should be safe.end of story.
It is not just the lack of safety personal protection gear… but the complete lack of respect for a powerful device that can fail (and will fail, it’s only a matter of time). Blind confidence (complacency) is what keeps workers being injured all time. It is the same attitude that makes people release their hold of the steering wheel in so called (wrongly) “Autopilot” vehicles and then crash.
Robots, independently of their design and programming, must be treated with respect, as with any tool that has power or any other potentially dangerous characteristic. One thing designers frequently forget or ignore, is that artificial sensory-perception is not perfect. In fact it is not yet fully understood. One thing is to install sensors or a camera, and another completely different is how to handle the relatively simple information the sensor delivers and its CORRECT interpretation.
A human performs very complex interpretations thanks to sensory-perception mechanisms. That is the reason a relatively crude (by biological standards) artificial vision, is totally unable to distinguish reality from simple but confusing situations, like a white trailer against a clear sky in the TESLA crash. Similarly, some sensors and software will be unable to resolve a real dangerous situation and react 100% rightly.
Thus, robots need to be treated with respect. No amount of gimmickry or thousands of program lines can completely assure it won’t behave in a dangerous manner at one point in time. Better keep some distance.
Amclaussen, 30+ years investigating industrial accidents.
Amclaussen, 30+ years investigating industrial accidents.
But surely AC has on each occasion he has found the cause of an accident ensured that the lessons learnt are applied. Isn’t that how we have progressed in the ascent of mankind? Those directly involved in any safety incident may be injured, even killed: but those who remain are better served: and that is surely a cumulative benefit to makind.