Collaborative Robots in Scientific and Research Applications

Universal Robots latest model of robots are currently being used all through the scientific and research groups to help expand innovative solutions and create the desired foundation for information gathering and evaluation.

Due to their affordability, Universal Robots arms known as the collaborative robot or cobot can be found in numerous research institutes and universities. Science is continually entering new technological regions. The collaborative robot are replacing human researchers and operators in extreme dirty, risky, and dull jobs thus minimizing repetitive strain and the occurrence of unintended accidents.

80% of the thousands of Universal Robot cobot arms being used all over the world operate  without a safety guarding (this is after a successful hazard evaluation has been conducted) in close proximity with the human workers. The safety system of these robots is approved and authorized by the TÜV, The German Technical Inspection Association.

Since precision and consistency are essential in achieving successful scientific and research projects, collaborative robot come in handy. A cobot arm will consistently and constantly observe the exact processes and pre-defined workflows with accurate deviation, providing the optimum results for study or analysis with 0.1mm (0.004 in) level of accuracy always.

A case study of a research facility using collaborative robots

RAMTEC

RAMTEC (Robotics and Advanced Manufacturing Technology Education Center) is a career college that is positioned in the production hub of Marion, Ohio. The center is home to the biggest and most comprehensive robotics education school in  the U.S.

As a way to increase the population of skilled production employees to satisfy the market needs, the center trains students from middle school to industry specialists with collaborative robots from Universal Robots.

The challenge faced

The center constantly needs to advance and stay ahead of where the manufacturing trend is going so as to make sure that after their students depart the facility, they can easily use the equipment being used by the industry which they go to.

RAMTEC gets its equipment from large groups of industry representatives who are involved in the shaping of the center’s curriculum. When some neighboring businesses involved in packaging and palletizing applications started using palletizing robots, RAMTEC paid close attention.

They conducted research and realized that Universal Robots has the best collaborative robots available on the market.

The solution

RAMTEC’s aim is to bridge the existing skills gap that is estimated to be at 2 million unfilled production jobs in the U.S. by 2020. The collaborative robots at RAMTEC are being used to train many skill sets as a way of solving this problem

The advantage of these cobots is that the college’s robotic instructor can present it to 5th graders who are able to program in a couple of minutes, the high school students can do extra advanced motion controls and the adult students mostly the employees of local manufactures are interested in learning more on how to speed up the programming and application of their work place personal UR robots.

The cobot’s built-in safety system allows it to automatically stop operating when it encounters objects or people in its direction and continue with its operation once the person leaves the zone. That is an important feature in the classroom setting. Thus the instructor does not have to fear about any students getting injured while programming a real industrial robot hence he/she can even allow the students to operate the cobot on their own after presenting a demo.

For an educational institution the cobot is unique in that it does not require a cage making it easy to work right next to the students. It is also easy to move around and integrate into the systems with other types of equipment. This allows the students to choose the exact project they want to engage in.

Conclusion

The continuous innovation in robotic technology has enabled science and research centers to utilize cobots in order to achieve their desired objectives.