Sustainable Plastics - November/December 2023 - 18

robots
Fanuc's CRX range of
collaborative robots
come with an eight-year
maintenance-free
guarantee, are IP67
rated, and are available
in five sizes ranging
from 5-25kg payload
and 94-1,889mm reach
Inherently flexible and sitting
midway between an industrial
robot and a human, cobots sales
are growing 50% year-on-year
Paul Richards, Global Customer
Coordinator Europe, Cobot
Market, Fanuc Europe
Marco Ghirardello
The right cobot for
the job: 10 top tips
C
When the International Federation
of Robots (IFR) first started collating
collaborative robot data in 2017, this
new breed of robot had a market share
of just 2.8%. The IFR's latest report
showed that by 2021, that figure had
leapt to 7.5%, with the number of newly
deployed collaborative robots growing
by 50% year on year to 38,966 units
globally. By Paul Richards, global
customer coordinator Europe, cobot
market, Fanuc Europe
18
November/December 2023
obots are gaining
popularity for several
reasons. Firstly,
they provide a solution
to many of the challenges
that manufacturers are facing
in this 'new normal' era. In
terms of flexibility, the cobot sits
midway between an industrial
robot and a human. This level
of agility is valuable for accommodating
the shorter product
life cycles and vast numbers of
SKUs (stockkeeping units) that
are typical of the increasingly
common HMLV (high mix, low
volume) approach to manufacturing.
Cobots can also help
manufacturers counteract the
ongoing issue of unskilled labour
shortages by freeing up
human workers to carry out
more valuable tasks.
As demand for cobots has
soared, the number of players
in the market has proliferated,
and there are now over 60 cobot
manufacturers worldwide.
Whilst more competition can
mean greater choice and better
value for customers, it can
also mean more confusion. This
is particularly salient in view of
the fact that cobot sales in the
UK are being driven by SMEs,
which seldom have the in-house
FANUC Europe photos
Sustainable Plastics - November/December 2023

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