Naming Your Universal Robot
We hear it from our many satisfied customers, ‘great run of production this week, not one complaint from Steve’, or ‘ Coby never once calls in sick!’. Unsure at first who our customers could possibly be referring to, it soon became clear that they were indeed referring to their new work colleague- UR3, UR 5 or UR 10. Naming your robot isn’t that surprising really, given that you spend a significant amount a time spent working beside your cobot.
The reliability and consistency of your cobots is one of their many endearing factors. That and the fact that your cobot will save you from doing the dirty work – that is the repetitive, heavy and dangerous work that will eventually cause repetitive strain injury. Speaking to one of our customers about how their cobot was integrating into their work place, he relates that employees like their consistency and predictability. The pace of the cobot can be relied upon, as can their actions. ‘The piece required is there right where I need it’.
Of course, there are teething problems on introducing a cobot to the production floor, the fear that this machine will soon be replacing you in your job. The confidence in knowing that there are no safety issues.
The fact is that when a cobot is introduced into a manufacturing company, it allows companies to introduce new productions lines, increase competitiveness, employment and wages. The cobot instead of stealing jobs is in fact securing employment. Robots, and cobots in particular, create more and often better-paying jobs than they replace, allowing staff to up skill and retrain into more skilled positions.
The worry is that companies would become completely automated, that factories would become ‘workerless’. On the contrary, demand for products made with the human touch is growing – that is products made with a unique design and innovative technology. The human touch can not be replaced but with the flexibility in automation, more companies, with the use of cobots, can move away from bland mass production but can deliver unique customisation.
Now, what’s an appropriate name to christen your cobot?