Robotics – Collaborative Robots

What is a Cobot, what are the differences with Industrial Robots

A cobot or co-robot (a term derived from “collaborative robot”) is a robot designed to physically interact with humans in the same space. This is unlike most industrial robots which, instead, are designed to operate separately from humans, with limited guidance and/or protected by barriers.

In practice, a cobot is a traditional robot that can operate in close contact with an operator and does not need to be confined in a space separated by protections: it is from this condition that many safety implications arise that must be evaluated and managed both in design and initial concept, for the choice of the best solution and the level of collaboration compatible with the operational context.

Technical Standards Reference

During the revision and reorganization of the relevant technical standard of the industrial robots, the area of collaborative robots was also established: the EN ISO 10218 standard and the ISO/TS 15066 specification defined safety requirements for collaborative robots.
In this context, the definition of a collaborative robot includes both the tools adapted on the arm to perform certain tasks and the objects moved by it.
Close cooperation or direct contact between the operator and the robot can lead to various risks (e.g., collision) and consequently a risk assessment must be performed, which must also include aspects related to the intended place of use.

EN ISO 10218 provides the basis for this risk assessment, together with the Machinery Directive 06/42/CE.

Cobot Safety Design and Systems

A collaborative robot has many more safety features than a normal Industrial Robot, which serve to make it possible for humans to be present in close proximity with the appropriate safety guarantees.
Cobots, through additional systems and security (sensitive skin, position sensors, speed, proximity, etc. …), are suitable to work in coexistence with operators.

The basic concept is that collaborative robotic systems are able to stop without causing damage, when an impact is determined with the operator, taking into account not only the Cobot itself, but also the end effectors that it is using (the end effector is the device at the end of a robotic arm, a gripper, a tool, a grasping system, a robotic hand, which must also be made safe).

Based on the choice of these safeties for the Cobot you can establish the type of robotic collaboration achievable in a given job and in a given context: a careful choice and initial planning is absolutely necessary, otherwise you risk buying a Cobot that will then still need various limitations of use, so much so as to put in doubt the very initial idea of simultaneous work with operators.

What NEMOTEC offers

NEMOTEC offers the following services applied to Collaborative Robotics:

Analysis and design of the collaborative activity, definition of the type of Cobot
Analysis of safety systems and Cobot characteristics
Analysis and design of the collaborative workspace
Integration of security analysis between Cobot, End Effector and Workspace
Safety testing according to ISO/TS 15066 specification
Analysis of safety at work for Collaborative Robotics applications D.Lgs. 81/08
Safety and operating procedures for Human-Cobot interaction
Operator training on safety of Collaborative Robotics.

Human impact

Everything easy? Unfortunately, not.

We have known for years that robotic applications can make certain activities much easier and faster, but this with the possible consequence of significantly impacting the employment system in factories and many other industries.
This aspect, combined with many other more instinctive aspects (e.g. the human being who does not trust the robot) still creates reluctance on the part of operators to really work in a collaborative way, especially for those industrial activities where attention and calmness in behavior play a very important role in safety.
The result is that it is necessary to think well, and before, about how to introduce collaborative robotics in the company, carefully designing the work areas involved and training-informing the staff in a fair and conscious way, without alarmism or trivialization.
The risk is to have a crisis of rejection by the staff in a fairly short time.

It is based on these certainties that it is possible to establish what kind of work can be done by the Cobot and in what kind of context, and this involves a careful initial choice otherwise you risk buying a Cobot which will then need various limitations. use, so many to question the initial idea of contemporary work with the operators.

Techincal Standards: