Collaborative robots are gaining attention as smart factories become more widely adopted.
Smaller than industrial robots and with fewer safety device restrictions


Smart factories, a convergence of information and communication technologies (ICT), are being adopted by many companies worldwide. The government is also implementing smart factory support projects, and funding for the robotics industry has increased. Domestic companies are also considering converting existing factories to smart factories.

In Europe, collaborative robots are being introduced as an early step in the transition to smart factories.

Denmark's Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has deployed the Universal Robots (UR) UR5 robot into its production facility to handle plastics and polymers and more efficiently process orders ranging from one unit to millions.

UR robots, which take up little space and are relatively easy to deploy and programmable, have modernized the overall machinery in the workshop, enabling rapid production of large quantities. Trelleborg has installed a total of 42 UR robots to manage CNC machines, and the increased production has led to the hiring of approximately 50 additional employees.

Czech company BAUMRUK&BAUMRUK has been partially automating processes such as warehouse storage and manufacturing using industrial robots. We also tried to automate the process of loading small parts into the milling center, but the factory space was so small that it was difficult to provide safety fences for industrial robots and space for workers.

They decided to automate using collaborative robots, which do not require separate safety fencing. The company leveraged the flexibility of UR cobots to automate the loading process of its milling center, alternating machine tending with human workers.

Conventional industrial robots are large and pose safety risks. To prevent these risks, they are used in workplaces where workers are replaced by separate safety fences and other safety devices. Collaborative robots are smaller than industrial robots, requiring no additional safety devices, and they automatically stop working when they detect a certain level of power or force.

Furthermore, collaborative robots are not intended to replace workers, but rather to work alongside them, increasing work efficiency. Furthermore, they are more affordable than industrial robots, so many companies are implementing automation through collaborative robots. Rather than abruptly implementing full-scale automation to transition to a smart factory, introducing collaborative robots in small portions of the factory allows for sufficient partial automation at a lower cost.