Manufacturing
Not surprisingly, cobots have already been used in assembly lines, mainly performing simple tasks without needing a lot of oversight or intervention. The cobots can be used, for instance, for testing and quality control purposes, such as using their sensor and cameras to detect which products have blemishes or scratches or are non-standard and removing them from the production line. Cobots can also test circuit boards, in addition, to picking and placing, loading pallets, applying paint, and affixing and tightening small objects, which are all important steps in a manufacturing process.
On the whole, cobots are able to do a lot of simple and repetitive tasks that may cause repetitive strain and injuries to a human worker. Additionally, because cobots are not that sensitive, they can operate well in temperatures that may be uncomfortable or intolerable for many people. They can also be used to manipulate certain materials and tools that may be risky or unsafe for human handling, meaning fewer human workers get injured in the long run.
Healthcare
Cobots can also be used in the healthcare sector. While this may seem surprising at first glance, it actually makes a lot of sense when you consider that this industry is all about collaborating with people. For example, people need to get the medical assistance they need from certain individuals that are specifically qualified for a specific purpose. As such, cobots can be used to help with simple maintenance and upkeep tasks, such as setting up or putting away beds, in order to take some of the burden and stress off of busy nurses.
Cobots can also be invaluable in the operating room as well. This is because machines of their nature are not susceptible to muscle fatigue or other involuntary tremors, especially if the surgeon is nervous. Therefore, they are well suited to surgeries that demand a lot of precision and repetitive motion. When guided by an experienced physician, these cobots have the power to execute virtually error-free procedures.
Cobots can also work in the biomedical field, or in other tasks that demand the need for sterile environments. For example, the preparation of certain medicines and vaccines. After all, handling biomedical materials of this nature need to be handled with extreme care and caution. If you do not pay attention, you run the risk of accidental contamination, which can be extremely harmful in this industry.
In order for materials to remain sterile, they are often handled in cleanrooms, which are controlled areas where contaminants are very strictly regulated. However, these areas can be compromised very easily, which is why human workers must typically pass through a shower room before entering them. Human workers are also barred from entering the area altogether if they display any kind of sickness. On the other hand, cobots are a lot less likely to contaminate these environments since they are not living beings, which makes them very ideal for these types of applications.
Construction
There is no question that the construction field can be extremely hard on the human body. This is because workers are routinely subjected to quite a lot of hazardous and dangerous work, from lifting heavy mobile objects to simple wear and tear from repetitive tasks. Fortunately, cobots have demonstrated that they can take over some of the busy work involved with large construction tasks. For instance, cobots welders are used in some places, where they can take over welding tasks that require repetitive motion and precision accuracy, such as preparing support beams for new buildings.
Other applications for which cobots can be used include laying bricks and pouring cement – these are tasks that most humans find tedious and tiring at best and dangerous at worse. Overall, in the construction industry, cobots help to reduce costs, expenses, and errors, speed up the assembly processes, and lower the risk of human employees gaining injuries.
Agriculture
If you know anything about the agricultural industry, then you know that it mainly entails harvesting crops. This task takes up a lot of time and energy – it doesn’t matter whether you are physically picking them from the field itself or providing some kind of support service for the task. So, there’s no question that robotic technology can help to save an enormous amount of time and resources by automating this process.
If you are wondering about certain delicate crops that need careful handling, then you would be right to worry. Right now, this issue has limited the usefulness of robots in the agricultural field. That being said, in recent years, technology has quickly evolved and gotten more sophisticated. In particular, the force-limiting capabilities of certain robots have begun to solve this problem. For instance, with cobots, fragile crops can still be harvested at speeds that would be unthinkable for a normal human employee. This has the potential of substantially reducing labor expenses involved in harvesting crops, and these savings could then be passed onto eh consumer.