In contrast to conventional automation and robotics which usually replace workers, collaborative robots are developed to strictly collaborate with humans. Typical examples can be found in assembly applications, where robots may be hardly affordable if completely automated given tasks and work pieces complexity. However, they become profitable if certain actions are performed by exploiting both workers’ flexibility and collaborative robots’ repeatability.

Within the scope of TRINITY-BRILLIANT and KITT4SME projects (both part of the Horizon 2020 EU funding programme) the Sustainable Production Systems (SPS) Lab is realising two different collaborative work cells to combine flexibility and dexterity of humans with repeatability of cobots. The goal of the two experiments is to develop smart, orchestrated and reconfigurable work cells reducing the adoption barriers of collaborative solutions for SMEs. The first work cell is deployed at Ideal-tek SA, a Swiss company producing high-end tweezers and cutters. In this scenario, a collaborative robot is used to perform work piece handling to carry out welding, grinding and finishing operations. The second work cell is developed in Ghepi S.r.l., aiming to support the assembly of moulded work pieces.

KITT4SME realised a survey in collaboration with TRINITY-BRILLIANT to better understand the current landscape of collaborative robotics applications, as well as the pros and cons o bringing collaborative robotics to SMEs, and the existing challenges and barriers. The survey targets manufacturing end-users, system integrators, and researchers involved in collaborative robotics.

With a similar goal but targeting Artificial Intelligence, in 2021 the SPS Lab realised the KITT4SME report on AI adoption, which was highly valued by the participants and the community.

If you are interested in this topic and you would like to actively contribute to this study, take the survey! It takes less than 10 mins and, at the end, you will get access to the current survey results and a set of useful guidelines to adopt collaborative robotics in your company.

Are you willing to realise a collaborative robotics application or a digital twin of your production system? Contact us at andrea.bettoni@supsi.ch, michele.fiorello@supsi.ch.