The robots are coming

YuMi, the "collaborative" dual-arm robot from ABB, has the potential to take on various light industrial tasks while working side by side with humans.

Did you meet YuMi earlier this week? It is a “collaborative” dual-arm industrial robot that made its debut at the large industrial automation show, Hannover Messe, in Germany.

What does “collaborative” mean? That what the robot’s creator, ABB, calls automation that can work alongside human workers without anyone being in danger. The robot is aware of the task and surroundings and acts appropriately. The robots that are often found behind large gates, such as the ones that are used to whip around large fabrications in automated bending cells, don’t have this situational awareness; if an operator moves into the work path of one of these material handling robots, that operator is going to fly across the shop floor.

The emergence of these types of robots is not a new development. It’s been underway for a while, and these robots have the potential to transform light manufacturing.

Most metal fabricators don’t give it much thought because they don’t see robots that are capable of keeping up with the complexity and speed that are necessary to produce a variety of metal components or assemblies in a typical day.

During a recent interview, Doug Layman, the founder of a small industrial fabrication shop in North Vernon, Ind., said that he fears for the future of the fabrication industry because people entering the workforce don’t seem to have the same skills and work ethic that his generation did.

“It’s a dying profession. And it’s only going to continue,” the 53-year-old Layman said. “It’s going to be a problem because there are a lot of things that robots just can’t build.”

Those robots can’t build them—yet.

It was only 10 years ago that robotic welding was as common a sight in fab shops as silk bathrobes. That’s not the case anymore. Fabricators are purchasing robotic welding cells that can be moved about the shop floor with a lift truck. It’s automation for the masses.

If you consider the advances being made with vision systems and advanced control software, you have to believe that welding robots may be capable of welding jobs that would have seemed impossible only a decade ago. (Now if those robots could build their own fixtures, then you’d really have something!)

Futurists and manufacturing industry experts know that robots will continue to infiltrate factories and plants around the world. But manufacturing is not alone; it’s a widespread trend, with some suggesting that almost 50 percent of all kinds of jobs will be automated in some shape or form in the future.

The real concern is how humans will react to their new co-workers. Will society see robots as a threat to steal jobs or as tools to take over rudimentary or dangerous jobs?

It’s safe to say that managers and business owners might be less skeptical. As they are quick to point out, robots don’t have girlfriends, don’t need bathroom breaks, don’t call in sick …