To better manage certain production processes in the industrial environment, automation and robotics applications have been designed: how they work.
When one thinks of industry, many people think of the classic scene of Charlie Chaplin in the movie "Modern Times", with the assembly line and all the rest. In reality, today industrial work has made great strides, thanks to technological innovation, which has led to a new frontier, that of robotic automation.
This is the new frontier of Industry 4.0, made possible by innovative products both hardware and software. A true marriage of the digital and the physical. This makes today's factories increasingly hi-tech and advanced, with a reduced contribution of human labor and an increasingly important contribution from machines.
Industrial robotics: what is it
But when we talk about robotic automation, what is it exactly? What it's about. First of all, it is good to know that industrial robotics is represented by particularly advanced machines, managed by very sophisticated hardware, which are able to safely and efficiently perform particularly complex tasks, replicating human action. This is the result of technological progress in the last twenty years, which sees industrial robots replacing the work of people. They are designed to work with specific techniques dedicated to the industrial environment.
The concept of industrial robotic automation
In order to analyze the meaning of industrial robotic automation, it is necessary to define the individual elements that compose it. So, industrial automation is the intelligent management of industrial machinery through the use of technologies and control systems. Industrial robotics represents an offshoot of industrial automation and allows the improvement of certain production processes through the use of robots capable of carrying out specific tasks.
Industrial automation and robotics: what it is for
Industrial robotic automation is therefore a particular branch of technological innovation functional to improve factory work: on the one hand, it is able to optimize costs, as it allows to increase productivity and reduce personnel expenses. On the other hand, it offers the opportunity to reduce human risk in the most dangerous activities, so as to decrease accidents at work, a scourge still very present today.
In essence, if robots work in areas of the company where the dangers are greater, handling particularly heavy loads or complex components, workers will be able to devote themselves only to lighter tasks and in safer areas of the factory.
How Industrial Robotics Works
With new technological advances, industrial robots are now able to work almost completely autonomously, through machine learning systems that allow them to make independent decisions. So not only do they perform what the software that manages them asks them to, but they are also able to understand by themselves the best way to perform certain processes.
Among the various types of robots there are also those that can interact with humans without danger to the latter. These machines are also called collaborative robots, and they work closely with the workers, helping them perform their tasks and making their work easier. This is why industrial robotics is considered a new frontier of work in industry.
The Benefits of Robotic Automation
Implementing robotic automation processes within a company offers multiple benefits. First of all, in terms of productivity, as workers can dedicate themselves to more complex and impactful tasks, leaving the heavier and riskier ones to machines.
Robots are in fact mostly inserted in environments that are dangerous for humans, such as where there is a risk of contact with harmful materials or chemicals. In addition, robotic automation allows to minimize errors.
The applications of automation and robotics
Automation and robotics have several applications within the industrial world. In fact, they are used in both rigid and flexible automation systems. In particular, the sectors where it can be used are: food, automotive, medical, chemical, aerospace, electronics, biotechnology, nautical. Robotic systems are used to produce furniture, in 3D modeling, in the production of sports equipment, but also to carry out laboratory analysis.
The future of industrial robotic automation
Looking to the future, industrial robotic automation could evolve in the so-called smart manufacturing, that is the realization of new generation factories that boast a large presence of robots working autonomously together with people. In this sense, there are many studies that are being carried out in order to achieve increasingly high performance results.