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In 2015, architect Brian Vallario and finance professional Gerard Masci created a new American-made eyewear company, Lowercase, in New York City. With most eyewear produced overseas, the pair looked to automation to reduce production costs while maintaining a consistent quality level. Even with limited production runs, the company desired a completely in-house production system.“I had done a little bit of research on robots when I was in graduate school, but I never really had any working …

Imagining an employee who can work 24/7, be completely consistent in their work, never take a vacation, never complain, never get distracted or file a workman’s comp claim sounds like a straightforward way to figure a great return on investment in a collaborative robot. But is it really that simple? Maybe in some cases, but it really depends on the work the robot will do and the associated value of that work. A more in-depth analysis of the overall situation may reveal that the robot …

An investment in new collaborative robots requires more than just the robot and some simple integration. End effectors, software and other fittings will be required to get the job done. Universal Robots seeks to streamline the process of adding the appropriate parts to their robot arm by using a single user platform.“We offer a technology platform with our UR arm and our mission is to take the complexity out of an application,” said Jürgen Von Hollen, president of Universal Robots. “We do …

This year’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas featured a UR10 cobot in a show-stopping demo that highlights the robot’s creative capabilities. The demo was developed to help launch National Geographics’ new “Genius” TV series based on the life of Albert Einstein. People were invited to tweet a photo of themselves to a UR10 robot set up in front of a digital chalkboard. Using Einstein’s own handwriting, the cobot quickly began writing the inventor’s equations on the chalkboard, in seemingly random l …

Even for labor-intensive countries like India, the surge in use of collaborative robots is having a positive effect. With the goal of reducing errors, achieving consistent quality, and reducing the workforce in areas of mass production, Indian factories still need human operators for the robots. Some manual processes are still required, which offers the workforce some protection.Humans must co-exist with innovative technologies. The idea of collaborative robots was introduced in India by U …