Fraunhofer IAO
Study on human-robot cooperation published
What is the current status of fenceless robot technology in industry in Germany? The Fraunhofer IAO examined this question in the study "Lightweight robots in manual assembly".
Trade fairs in recent years have been and continue to be strongly characterized by the topic of human-robot collaboration (HRC). The term is used when robots are operated in direct cooperation with humans without a safety fence in the production environment. The work areas of robots and workers are then no longer strictly separated, but overlap. The low entry-level prices and the great media interest in the technology triggered a veritable hype. But is the cost really that low and are the new robots really safe? Or are companies' expectations exaggerated?
As part of the study, the Fraunhofer IAO researched industrial companies and publications on the use of fenceless robots in Germany. From around 50 applications, 25 were ultimately selected for further investigation - 18 of them from personal interviews and seven from publications. The decisive factor for the selection was that the application was already being used in series production or that the robot was already in use in several companies.
The key result of the study shows that The new technology works! Even if the technology as such is not called into question, there are still some uncertainties, for example with regard to the new occupational safety standards and guidelines. In addition, the effort required for fenceless use is significantly higher than initially expected. Furthermore, humans and robots predominantly work side by side in coexistence; there are hardly any collaborative use cases in ongoing production to date. In order for the acquisition costs of an LBR to be worthwhile, it is also important to make good use of the new work colleague.
The complete study is available for download in the Technology section. The follow-up project "Rokoko: Designing human-robot collaborations in assembly cooperatively and holistically" starts on October 1, 2016 and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and supervised by the Project Management Agency Karlsruhe (PTKA).
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