Variables of application of collaborative robots in ergonomic assembly working stations

Abstract

Over the years industrial robots had been used for numerous of repeatable tasks in different fields of industry, especially in automotive. Due to the safety reasons, robotized working stations had to be isolated by safety cell. Nowadays we can observe a strong trend of automation and robotization of production processes, which is considered as the fourth industrial revolution. Industry 4.0 has brought new opportunities and challenges. One of the key directions of Industry 4.0 is Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC). According to this concept, collaborative robot, which is equipped with appropriate safety and collision avoidance systems, can assist the human in the most effortable and monotonic tasks in the same workspace without additional safety guard. In this paper the characteristic of Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC), safety regulations, as well as application examples of collaborative robots are presented.

Keywords

• collaborative robot
• ergonomics