Supplier eBooks

The rise of IIoT is giving rise to cobots in industry. Cobots are collaborative robots, robots that have been adapted to work synergistically with humans (Figure 1). The reason cobots are increasing is that the IoT allows robots to be coordinated with human activity to achieve higher levels of cooperation and efficiency. Traditional robots are programmed to work mostly independent of human-specific interactive activities. In contrast, cobots engage with people. They work with them cooperatively and synergistically. This is not a cobot invasion—the taking over of an industry by intrusive force. Instead, it is an engagement, a mutually beneficial arrangement and relationship, which provides benefits for humans and industry. This article will look at the enabling technologies and applications that are engaging cobots in the domain served by the IIoT. ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES Cobots are engaging with IIoT because technology is allowing the robots to be transformed by acquiring new skills that were previously outside the domain of traditional robots. These technologies serve to enhance human and robotic interaction, improve worker safety, and reduce costs. Improvements in sensor, actuator, control, and computation technologies empower the cobot's perception, data fusion and processing, artificial intelligence, and actuation. Other technologies promote ease of use, adaptability, and lower costs. Let's look at three specific enabling technologies that are giving rise to cobots engaging in IIoT: Artificial intelligence and machine learning, computer/machine vision, and the smarter edge. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND MACHINE LEARNING Artificial intelligence (AI) is a technique to process digital data in a manner that seeks to emulate the function, behavior, or results of human thinking, acknowledging that it is not of the same kind but is rather an attempt to achieve results through rational processes. Machine learning (ML) is the process of employing AI and introducing algorithms that get aimed at producing results that can be modified based upon the machine's experience in obtaining the desired goal. Traditional robots operate according to preprogrammed instructions that get repeated without regard to changes in its operational environment. A cobot, on the other hand, incorporates AI. This encompasses its ability to perceive its environment; reason and solve problems; recognize, learn, and adapt to new situations and contexts; autonomously make decisions; and interact with humans. The "programming" of a cobot to operate in a new environment is not necessarily complicated and can involve a human operator manually walking through the desired motion by moving the cobot's arms through the desired trajectory. AI gets enabled through high-speed computer processors and software that may incorporate a variety of technologies such as fuzzy logic, probabilistic methods, neural networks, and expert systems. These technologies provide cobots with human-like qualities that promote human-robot interaction and collaboration. Cobots take and process large amounts of raw data from numerous sensors. This data is integrated, processed, and interpreted, enabling the cobot to make informed and accurate deductions about the environment so that appropriate actions may get taken. This must be accomplished in virtually real-time to avoid latency issues in the cobot's operation with humans. Programming algorithms effectively integrate all the data from various types of sensors, which may come from different locations within the workspace or may be sensed at different times to make informed and accurate deductions about the environment and situation. AI and ML enable the cobot to have a form of cognitive skills that mimic human behavior, thereby allowing them to more successfully engage with humans in IIoT environments. COMPUTER/MACHINE VISION Human vision is one of the most significant senses that humans employ. Vision is a critical way that humans achieve perception, awareness of their external world. Similarly, machines, specifically cobots, can be made to perceive through a process called computer or machine vision. Machine vision allows the cobot, in a manner mimicking human eyesight, to detect and identify objects, spaces, scenes, orientations, and locations in the visible (@ 430nm–730nm), infrared (@ >730nm), and ultraviolet (@ <430nm) wavelengths. Light detection and ranging (Lidar) is a detection system that works on the principle of radar but uses light from a laser. Much of the focus on machine vision is related to working out the problems associated with adequately distinguishing and correctly categorizing objects, so that decision making and object handling do not become industrial process bottlenecks. Machine vision allows for improved accuracy, higher throughput, collision avoidance, and situational awareness. | 18 | Figure 1: A new generation of robots, termed "collaborative robots" or "cobots," is now being integrated into manufacturing environments. (Source: Mouser Electronics)

• Cover