Cobots: Man’s new ally ?

04 October 2023

LACROIX Electronics

Smart industry

By integrating cobots into a production line, operators and machines collaborate and constantly share the same working environment. Let’s look back at a significant first automation experience in France.

What is a cobot?

A cobot is a collaborative industrial robot that operates in direct interaction with production teams, without the need for protection, and in complete safety. A workstation equipped with a cobot allows the formation of human-machine pairs to assist operators in tasks, acting as their “third arm,” for example.

How do cobots work?

Cobots: 💪 Hand in Hand 🦾 Collaboration with Humans

In most cases, industrial robots perform tasks in a separate environment from that of the operators, for safety reasons. Unlike traditional robots, cobots offer new assurances to enable direct interaction between humans and machines. Within the French Symbiose factory of LACROIX, two cobots work alongside operators to assist them in performing their tasks.

The cobot interacts directly with the operator, without any physical barriers between them, as there is no usual motion inertia associated with traditional robots. With these cobots, a safety system is activated spontaneously and stops their operation in the event of pressure applied to them. Furthermore, their execution speed is also calculated to mitigate this risk.

Fabien Ponsolle
Head of Engineering for the Electronics division at LACROIX

Our challenge: protecting employees from heavy loads

To assemble various components and electronic boards for a high-end product, operators were required to handle a cumulative weight of up to 100 kilograms for up to eight hours.

As this continuous effort led to fatigue, it was necessary to enhance the ergonomics of this workstation. Our team of automation experts then suggested integrating innovative cobots to streamline all the screwing processes.

The cobot itself performs all the rotations to present the product in the most optimal way to facilitate the operator’s work. Furthermore, the screwdrivers have been integrated with the cobot: it remains in the same position until the screwing operation is completed correctly.

In partnership with the French expert STERKELEC, the Universal Robots cobot has impressed the teams with the performance of its safety sensors. It provides the possibility of establishing direct collaboration with operators without any risk. Once integrated into the site, the benefits perceived by the operators were immediate, and the cobots were quickly embraced by all.

After performing all operations manually during the first two months of production, they immediately felt the difference and appreciated its utility and efficiency.

cobots-et-humain

📌 3 key advantages to remember about cobots:

Reduced health risks (MSDs) for operators ;

Modern workstations highly appreciated by new generations of operators ;
Reduced task difficulty and repetitiveness without adding constraints

Operating in a shared work environment with cobots is a first for LACROIX. Their integration has simplified assembly and improved production quality while ensuring the comfort and safety of operators.

What are the prospects for the future ?

The challenge now is to find new compatible applications so that other production lines can benefit from the integration of cobots into manufacturing facilities. The ability to interact with screwdrivers – or other elements – provides cobots with a wide range of uses. Cobots have the advantage of being highly adaptable and flexible in their usage, accommodating various different processes.

It will be possible to use cobots to assist operators in tasks such as welding or gluing, for example. If they have the capability to be mobile within the site, they can also be transferred from one station to another or serve two parallel lines at different times of the day.

Fabien Ponsolle
Head of Engineering for the Electronics division at LACROIX

Did you know that we have an entire department dedicated to automation? To learn more about all our automated equipment, check out our article « Robots, cobots… Vous avez dit automatisation ? » and discover all our devices in action!