Robots Vs cobots

With the advent of AI/ML and the proliferation of autonomous systems, robots will become much more ingrained in our societies and industries, including both consumer robots in our homes and public spaces, as well as complex industrial robots enabling flexible manufacturing. Cobots are less expensive and easier to install than traditional robotic equipment.

Cooperative mobile robots (otherwise known as cobots), provide less risk to human safety than traditional robots and are better suited for environments that require adaptability. They offer flexibility for fluctuating work environments that traditional robots can't match. Deployment for a cobot solution is typically less involved than the traditional robot.

Cobots, just like traditional industrial robots, consist of a mechanical arm that can be programmed to perform various tasks in the factory setting such as material handling, assembly, process tasks, quality inspection and packaging. This allows its human co-worker to focus on other tasks that require greater dexterity and cognitive abilities than the cobot which focuses on repetitive tasks.

There are a wider set of use cases and a larger group of users can be considered for collaborative applications. This versatility renders cobots better candidates than traditional robots for production automation in the case of small or medium businesses.

As their capabilities evolve, they will become responsible for even more complex tasks requiring tightly interacting and cobots, collaborating both with humans or other autonomous systems while solving to avoid detrimental incidents. Furthermore, many AI systems will exist solely as software, for example, in the cloud, acting as an AI partner assisting the user whenever interacting with a connected device or system.

More recently, collaborative robots stepped into the ring as a challenger to conventional robots. They might look similar to some conventional industrial robots, but they are lighter and easier to use. Companies have started adopting cobots at an impressive rate.

Today, more and more manufacturers are exploring how cobots can revolutionize their organization’s operations by boosting efficiency. However, too many manufacturers are merely investing in cobots and hoping for automatic returns-on-investment, with often mixed results. Instead, manufacturers must carefully evaluate where cobots will make the biggest impact in operations and choose these areas only.

Cobots are lighter and more affordable than conventional robots. They're easier to program and can work safely alongside humans. But they tend to be slower and less strong. As the Conventional industrial robots are often big and strong, requiring safety fencing to avoid danger to humans… a formidable opponent.