The year 2022 posed significant challenges for the manufacturing industry, with multiple obstacles that included high inflation, rising labour costs, labour shortages, energy crises, and adopting hybrid working models. While some of these issues have started to alleviate, it is expected that 2023 will continue to be a demanding year for manufacturers as they navigate through various transitions.
One notable shift in the manufacturing sector is the increasing emphasis on digital transformation. Although the term “digital transformation” and its association with Industry 4.0 have been widely discussed, it often remains a vague concept for manufacturers. However, at its core, digital transformation can be broken down into two main themes: safe human-robot interaction (HRI) to enhance productivity and increased integration of autonomous mobility for material and goods transportation. These themes heavily rely on the utilization of modern sensor technologies.
Ensuring safe HRI is paramount in manufacturing, as the well-being of workers is of utmost importance when using robots and machines. Robots have the potential to pose various hazards to human operators. While industrial robots are typically designed to operate at a safe distance from humans, they often lack the necessary sensory capabilities to detect adjacent individuals. Adopting cobots brings human operators into direct proximity with robots, introducing additional risks and potential collisions. To address these concerns, manufacturers are equipping robots with multiple sensors, including force and torque sensors, lidar, and tactile sensors, to enhance their environmental perception and collision avoidance abilities.
Proximity detection and collision detection are critical applications of sensors in robot safety. Various sensor types, such as photoelectric sensors, lidar, and capacitive proximity sensors, are utilised for proximity detection. Safety light curtains, which consist of a transmitter and receiver creating an array of light beams, are employed to slow down or stop the machine’s operation when a human operator enters or is blocked by the light curtain, thereby preventing potential collisions. In the case of cobots, force and torque sensors are commonly used for collision detection. These sensors, installed around the robot’s end-effectors, measure force and torque. If a collision occurs and the detected force or torque exceeds the predetermined range, the sensor signals the robot to halt its operation. With increasing safety requirements, the installation of more force and torque sensors is expected, potentially including all joints of the cobots.
Another significant aspect of digital transformation in manufacturing is the integration of autonomous mobility. This involves mobile robots’ navigation, localisation, and obstacle avoidance capabilities, particularly automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), used for material transportation. Lidar, cameras, and ultrasonic sensors are key components enabling autonomous mobility in these robots. Each sensor has advantages and limitations, and combining multiple sensors is often employed to achieve optimal performance.
Despite being relatively expensive, Lidar sensors are user-friendly and unaffected by adverse weather conditions. On the other hand, cameras or imaging sensors provide object classification and recognition capabilities but may face challenges in inclement weather or limited visibility. The adoption of cameras is increasing in the manufacturing industry, where robots often operate in controlled indoor environments with stable illumination. Currently, many indoor AGVs in manufacturing can achieve level 3 autonomy, where their onboard systems can perform most autonomous driving tasks, and a single operator can monitor multiple AGVs simultaneously. However, as the trend progresses towards achieving level 4 and higher autonomy, more robust sensors are expected to be incorporated to meet the demands of complex environments and tasks.
As the manufacturing industry confronts numerous challenges in 2023, the trend towards digital transformation plays a vital role in shaping its future. Modern sensor technologies are instrumental in enabling safe human-robot interaction for increased productivity and facilitating the integration of autonomous mobility for material and goods transportation. By leveraging these advancements, manufacturers can navigate the transitions and thrive amidst ongoing changes.
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