65040-PACV-AYU2 Robots have been around in industry for decades, but technological innovation is driving a whole new wave of factory automation. For small businesses that once couldn’t afford (or didn’t need) industrial robots, the emergence of cobots and small robots of similar cobot size will have the opportunity to help them take efficiency and productivity to the next level.

65040-PACV-AYU2 Compared to traditional industrial robots, cobots are smaller, more economical, easier to program, and their flexibility has increased dramatically. Modern robots can meet the need to quickly reassign tasks to perform new tasks or move to different areas such as factories or warehouses. Cobots can cooperate with workers for safe operation, especially for dangerous or repetitive tasks, and can also assist workers in tasks requiring extreme precision.

65040-PACV-AYU2 So it’s no surprise that cobots are one of the fastest growing segments of the robotics industry. Global annual shipments of collaborative robots are expected to exceed 47,000 units by 2026, up from 10,000 units in 2021, and the growth rate will also be higher than the expected growth of industrial robots.

To further optimize the design of cobots to better meet market needs, TE Connectivity(” TE “) has long focused on key trends that will enable future factory automation, including increasing the flexibility of cobots, reducing total cost, and enhancing their safety and durability.

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Cobot: A machine that can perform multiple tasks

While an industrial robot is designed to perform the same task repeatedly over decades, a cobot must be able to adapt to multiple task types. For example, a company may need a collaborative robot that can easily transition from simple picking and placing tasks to assisting with the maintenance of machines with higher precision requirements.

65040-PACV-AYU2 The challenge for cobot designers is that they need to create robotic arms that not only cover the range of motion required for different tasks, but also control costs. Each possible move requires a separate shaft, each with its own set of motors, sensors, cables and connectors – all of which add to the cost. For this reason, collaborative robot manufacturers have formed a consensus to adopt a standard six-axis design for flexible robots. This structure mimics the range of motion of the human arm, making it suitable for most collaborative tasks.

65040-PACV-AYU2 However, in this standard setup, designers still need to find the best balance between durability, sensitivity and cost when selecting internal components. For example, rotary transformers (systems that measure rotation angles) are low-cost and highly durable, but may not provide the precision required for fine operation. At the other extreme, optical encoders can provide greater accuracy, but are prone to damage and expensive. To help more customers have access to cobots, TE offers a solution in between these two options – Magnetic encoder. It provides greater accuracy than rotary transformers, but is cheaper and more durable than optical encoders.