Robots are increasingly being utilized in the manufacturing industry, but there are plenty who are still cautious about deploying robot co-workers, concerned that automation will displace jobs as well as posing a safety risk in the workplace.
Had those doubters been at FABTECH 2019 in November, they would have been able to see first-hand the potential of cobots which include the collaborative robot arms from Universal Robots (UR) that are being utilized by BotX Welder from Hirebotics, Red-D-Arc and Airgas; Vectis Automation’s Cobot Welding Tool; and SnapCut from ARC Specialties.
One potential, big benefit to these collaborative robots (known as cobots), which are robots engineered to work alongside humans, is how they can help address a labor shortage and an aging working force. The American Welding Society (AWS) estimates there will be a deficit of 200,000 welders this year, and double that by 2024. But cobots can fill some of those vacancies, especially for repetitive jobs, according to those in the cobot market.
... to continue reading you must be subscribed
