Cobots in industry Your robot colleague shares the work. In 1978, the cult band Kraftwerk re- Human beings remain at the leased a legendary piece of music under center of production the visionary-sounding title “The Man- Machine”. Today, this vision has become The crucial point is to achieve open com- reality. With sensitive robot colleagues, munication and simple integration. “cobots” for short, KUKA is demonstra- This makes cobots virtuosos for modern, ting that human-robot collaboration can networked production and logistics which be implemented today. will link together automation solutions with services and databases within the Sensitive cobots have the sense of touch foreseeable future. However, a factory required for the cyber-physical world staffed by robots alone will remain an of tomorrow’s production, in which IoT illusion, even in the smart factory. People and Industrie 4.0 will replace familiar will remain the central focus. However, structures. With their integrated sensors, robots will make people’s jobs less they make it possible to automate deli- arduous, will support people and give cate assembly tasks in the first place – them entirely new capabilities. ranging from assembling automotive transmissions through to inserting rubber This means the workers and logistics plugs or handling flexible parts. If unex- experts will be able to carry out their pected contact is made, cobots for jobs even more efficiently, with greater example reduce their speed and thus concentration and, above all, more the kinetic energy to an extent that ergonomically. This aspect is becoming prevents injury. When people and increasingly important, especially in a robots can work safely together, many society that is aging to an ever increasing conventional safety precautions become extent – worldwide. An ever smaller superfluous. Additional costs that number of people in employment will would normally be required for safety have to generate the entire productive technology and protective fences can output for the social systems. It will be dispensed with. Workers and robots only be possible to meet this challenge can share the same workspace without by employing the available workforce any concerns. In this way, expensive feed in a much more productive way than in systems and production floor space can all previous generations. With cobots be saved. in different payload categories, KUKA already offers central, key technologies Without doubt, cobots will play a key for a wide variety of tasks involving role in Industrie 4.0 – not only directly cooperation between humans and as part of modern production, but as machines: collaborative robots, mobile data gatherers that can communicate assistance systems, autonomously all relevant information to IT systems in controlled vehicles and intelligent, real time if required. Information that digitized automation solutions which can be processed immediately and sent reduce the burden on humans in a back to production. Knowledge that can variety of ways. be used for optimizing production suc- cessively or autonomously. At present, no other component in the production process is capable of carrying out this supporting role as well as modern robotic systems. Hello Industrie 4.0�we connect you