Autonomous Robots, Cobots, Factory Automation, Smart Factories, & Predictive Maintenance.

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Autonomous Robots and Cobots

Learn more about Industry 4.0:

Autonomous robots are robots that work independently of humans or pre-programmed routes and actions.

Autonomous robots aren’t limited to the simple home vacuum anymore. Because of advancements in high-precision visual sensors, autonomous robots are debuting in agriculture, food products, and mass production manufacturing facilities. Autonomous robots use a mix of AI and machine learning capabilities to accomplish necessary tasks and facilitate production and logistics more efficiently than humans.

Robotic machines now perform tasks that formerly required human intelligence. For example, autonomous mobile robots now operate in connection with hundreds or thousands of other robots. Using industrial big data, robots can function separately without getting in the way of other robots or machines.

Another essential function of robotics in manufacturing is the cobot.

Cobots are robotic partners that work alongside humans to augment their abilities and production output. This partnership enables a person to work in conjunction with automated equipment to multiply their work.

Many tasks in manufacturing require human cognitive ability and outside-the-box thinking. Cobots enable people to focus on what humans do best while saving time on simple multi-tasking that can be easily automated.

Factory Automation

The end goal of Industry 4.0 is to automate factories and manufacturing processes. “Lights out manufacturing” is a term used to describe a fully automated factory with no human involvement, making turning the lights on optional.

We are still a long way from having fully automated factories. However, humans play an essential role in quality control, critical thinking, and social interaction. AI is not nearly advanced enough to completely eliminate the need for humans in manufacturing anytime soon.

However, most manufacturing tasks can and will be automated by advanced robots over the next few decades. Automation will make technologies cheaper and more widely available for markets that previously could not access the essential benefits of mass production.

Factory automation and manufacturing of the future will reduce wasted materials, environmental impact, and workplace injuries.

Smart Factories

Predictive Maintenance

Manufacturing equipment breaks. It’s a reality of doing business. Companies can lose significant money when a machine goes down, especially when it is down for an extended time. Equipment maintenance can be expensive, but having an assembly line down for days, or even for a few hours, can cost millions of dollars in lost production.

One promising aspect of Industry 4.0 is the ability to mitigate the risks involved with maintenance. For example, machines equipped with smart parts can send a signal when they are not functioning at the optimum level. Alternatively, engineers can create a digital twin of the machinery to simulate when different components need replacement and where the financial tipping point is for performing the maintenance.

AI and machine learning technology can send alerts to a maintenance manager warning of potential equipment failure before it happens.

Predictive maintenance enables real-time maintenance reporting to facilitate the purchase of parts and scheduling downtime for machines limiting costs from lost production.

Additive Manufacturing & 3D Printing

We can’t move on from Industry 4.0 technology without addressing additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing. There is a variety of techniques and materials for additive manufacturing. For instance, metals and plastics are two primary mediums for 3D printing.

Instead of stamping, punching, casting, and machining or casting and injecting plastics, additive manufacturing layers on materials one micro layer at a time to create a 3D product or component. 3D printing enables product designs that were impossible to create with the old style of manufacturing.

Additive manufacturing is a fantastic catalyst for automation because it doesn’t require retooling to change designs. If an engineer, or even AI, makes changes to the design within an additive manufacturing program, the changes can instantly affect production.

Digital Procurement

Many procurement processes are still managed in excel or similar low-tech methods. Digital procurement is the process of adopting strategic sourcing systems that enable supply chain predictions, AI-driven cost reduction, and automated purchasing of parts.

Digital procurement will be a vital part of successfully implementing Industry 4.0, although the technologies are still being rolled out.

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