PowerPoint Presentation · Rethink Robotics takes the promise of collaborative robots a step...
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PowerPoint Presentation · Rethink Robotics takes the promise of collaborative robots a step further. The smart collaborative robots that we develop sha\൲e all of the features of
Good afternoon- thanks for joining us. We’d like to talk to you today about smart, collaborative robots from Rethink Robotics, and how they are changing the face of manufacturing all over the world.
For the past 60 years industrial robots have dominated the automation process in the automotive industry. Because these robots are dangerous, they require an investment in safety caging and a large footprint in the factory to achieve a solid return on investment. It also takes months to develop and deploy the solution and the work involved with programming the robots require a high level of engineering expertise (or expensive consultants) to deploy and maintain the robot on the line.
Rethink Robotics takes the promise of collaborative robots a step further. The smart collaborative robots that we develop share all of the features of the basic collaborative robot (click), and leverage integrated systems that make them fast to deploy. Our robots have compliant arms allowing for a higher level of safety and also sensitive force control and behaviors that allow the robot to respond to variability in the work cell. Our robots have 7 degrees of freedom, allowing them to maneuver around obstacles and function in work cells that are developed for people. Our robots contain embedded sensors, including a vision system in the wrist that allow you to change applications quickly. All of our robots are driven by our innovative software platform – Intera. (Click to next slide).
With a payload of 8.8 (4 kg) pounds and maximum reach of 1260 millimeters, Sawyer is well suited for machine tending applications such as CNC machine tending, PCB testing, packaging, line loafing, tests & inspection, and metal fabrication.
“Although industrial robots have been used in factories for decades, robots currently perform only around 10% of manufacturing tasks, on average. By 2025, BCG estimates, the portion of tasks performed by robots will near 25% for all manufacturing industries worldwide.” Boston Consulting Group. “Takeoff in Robotics
Will Power the Next Productivity Surge in Manufacturing.” Press Release. Feb. 10, 2015
Presenter
Presentation Notes
In the middle of the century, all manual labor was performed by humans. (click) It’s with the introduction Unimate in 1960 and the subsequent release of countless industrial robots over the next 55 years that industrial robots got a foothold in automotive manufacturing. Still, by 2015 only 10% of all automatable tasks are currently automated (data from the Boston Consulting Group). This slow growth is due not only due to the technical limitations of the robots themselves, but also the financial feasibility of investing in automating the specific task. This sort of automation would only work for long product life cycles where you could count on a limited amount of change. (click) By 2025, however, BCG predicts that 25% of these tasks will be automated, thanks mostly to the introduction of more flexible automation. It’s not just a question of ‘can you automate’, but is it ‘worthwhile to automate’. This represents a 150% growth in just 10 years! (click) This sort of exponential growth presents a major opportunity for robots that can be flexible and easily trained.
When deploying the robot you must consider not just the cost of the robot itself, but all the other components you will need for the deployment. Peripherals such as new fixturing and end of arm tooling are required to be designed and installed for industrial robots. The time and labor cost for system engineers and project management round out the total cost of deployment. (click) This was improved with the introduction of basic collaborative robots. Because safety cages are not required, and programming is easier, the total cost is reduced, but still more than 50% of the total cost is not included in the price of the robot itself. (click) Because smart collaborative robots from Rethink are designed to work in cells designed for people, minimum effort is needed to redesign the production lines. In our case most of the total deployment cost lives within the cost of the robot itself - this leads to a 2 to 4 X lower cost of the total solution and ROI in 6 to 8 months.
