Collaboration as the process of automation

Automation is a buzzword surrounding almost all the manufacturing industry. A process that started with the change in manufacturing method has covered inventory and warehouse too. A manufacturing sector consists of three most essential components- Manufacturing plant (manufacturing product), Inventory (storing raw material and excess material for change in demands), and warehouse (storage of finished product before final dispatching). The increase in demand and overdependency on manual processes have led to the adaptation of autonomous and semi-autonomous practices in these industries. The repetitive manual work has changed into a task entirely performed by robots, and robots will perform the complicated task in collaboration with humans.

We often think that automation will take all the human-based jobs and replace them with robots doing intelligent tasks. However, it is valid for a few roles (mainly repetitive tasks), but it is not suitable for most industrial jobs. Collaborative robots are the current research topic in robotics that can efficiently perform complicated tasks that are not within reach of standard robots. For example, material handling requires a robot with seven DOF, which can be easily achieved by six and lower DOF collaborative robots with human support.

Collaborative robots collaborate with humans and have machine learning algorithm that helps them learn the task and perform it better the next time. In this way, an organization will be able to save on the cost of complex robots and have a human center to see the robot's performance in a particular task. Hence, a collaborative robot is a future that will increase the job of humans instead of reducing them. The future of robotics is collaborative and will change the way we look and work in Industries.