OPINION: Biorobotic Fusion: How Advances in Collaborative Robots Change the Way We Work and Live

A Story of Symbiosis: Humans and Robots Working Together

A worker with a UR3. Image courtesy of Universal Robots.

By Sandia Harrison, Director of Marketing, FPE Automation, Inc.

Humans and machines have been integrated in manufacturing, logistics, and service sectors for centuries. It all began when the Industrial Revolution produced a sudden, large spike in the symbiotic relationship between the equipment and their operators. That played a major role in shaping the global market. To put it simply, the formula would look like this: 

People + machines = mass-produced goods.

Machine-based manufacturing.

The Industrial Revolution is generally considered to have started in the late 18th century, around the 1760s to 1840s. It marked a shift from agrarian and manual labor-based economies to industrial and machine-based manufacturing. While that shift in processes was significant, a lot of the work was still manual.

Much of the impact the Industrial Revolution had on society is widely viewed as positive. On the environmental and safety side of things, it's well-known that the effects were mostly negative. In short, dirty manufacturing brought affordable goods to the average consumer, but it was bad for the environment and often created unsafe working conditions.

Automation Emerges

Although industrial engineering continued to evolve, more than a century would pass before anything would significantly change. In the latter half of the 20th century, we began to adopt computerization and robotics. Once again, industries and the nature of work were transformed.

The Industrial Revolution laid the foundation for large-scale mechanized production, The Automation Revolution represents a more recent phase characterized by robotics, computerization, advanced technologies, and the integration of digital systems. The defining features of the new era were the development and widespread adoption of microchips (semiconductors) and integrated circuits.

Automation in manufacturing.

The first working examples of automation were robot cells. While transformative, they required (and still require today) safety guarding, separating them from workers.

High-speed, industrial robots remain a cornerstone of automation and the technology continues to evolve.

It's tempting for many authors to lump robot cells and collaborative robots into a single category, and call the whole thing "automation". While that's technically correct, what's often missed is that there are two parallel robotic technologies emerging today. A co-evolution of high-speed industrial robots and other forms of smart manufacturing.

It's unlikely that we'll see biorobotic fusion in high-speed robotics anytime soon. However, manufacturing is no longer limited to just humans and machines.

The Automation Revolution of the 21st Century incorporates a third element; intelligence.

This intelligence; vision systems, sensors, cobots and artificial intelligence (AI) add an entire new dimension to advances in automation.

The mix of humans, robots, sensors, and machine vision greatly reduces, sometimes eliminates entirely, the negative elements we associated with manufacturing back in the Industrial Revolution days. There are numerous ways this is taking place in production facilities across the globe.

For example, Universal Robots, a leading manufacturer of collaborative robots (also known as cobots) has been widely recognized for contributing to more sustainable and eco-friendly manufacturing practices. Cobots are designed to work safely alongside humans, and they are often used in tasks that can improve efficiency, reduce waste, and enhance overall environmental sustainability.

Enter Biorobotic Fusion

To date, collaborative robots, or cobots as they are called, might be the only true, working example of biorobotic fusion that exists in actual production environments. The seamless blend of humans and robots that mimics that of humans working alongside one another is already a reality in manufacturing facilities across the globe. Six-axis robot arms like the one pictured here, and autonomous mobile robot carts (AMRs) are two such examples.

Biorototic Fusion: a human and a robot work alongside one another. 

The most influential part of this new fusion of people and machines is on the human side. Simply put, people are safer and more comfortable in the presence of a cobot. The impression that they are not surrounded by intimidating machines takes us full circle, back to days before the Industrial Revolution, when there was a sense of being a part of one's craft. The cleaner and more efficient nature of this collaboration begins to take us back to a time when we produced less pollutants and waste.

Initially, applications that were a fit for collaborative robots were limited. With less speed and payload came limited potential. In the past five years, we've seen a significant uptick in what collaborative robots can do. Universal Robots recently launched their UR20, calling it the "fastest, heavy payload cobot". Plans are in place to bring an even larger UR30 to market soon.

The technology is both tried-and-true and at the same time, ever-evolving. New, emerging advances are propelling us to our goal of safe, engaging, clean jobs. We're eliminating the "three D's"; dull, dirty, and dangerous. Humans are the benchmark. The word in manufacturing circles is out: biorobotic fusion is preferred by workers and management alike, good for profits, and better for the planet.

This marks the first time the pendulum has begun to swing back in the other direction. We're finally moving away from impersonal, inefficient, unsustainable, and unsafe manufacturing. We've finally found a way to mass-produce goods using a model that integrates people in the process.