Cognitive technologies are transforming the way we deal with everything today, in every business, and in every industry.
We have been reading numerous reports on how robots and artificial intelligence are poised to kill close to five million jobs by 2020 and so on.
Many of us are by now familiar with the fact that robots are already in use for various applications.
But, the latest is that robots are taking better incarnations.
New smart, next generation collaborative robots or cobots are now exhibiting the beginning of a new power.
They are becoming a growing public presence.
The latest being a complete pizza truck managed by these smartly programmed machines that meticulously do jobs, from rolling pizzas till baking them and delivering them at the table.
See also: Could robots take over in the HR department?
Will artificial intelligence spell the end of human race? Can the success of AI mark dot punctuation to human history? Will human knowledge get old fashioned?
The installation of collaborative robots in various applications is increasing rapidly.
The collaborative robots market is set to reach $3.3 billion by 2022, says a new report.
Moving from intelligence to autonomously achieving a specific task, collaborative robots, or cobots are designed with cognitive powers.
They are definitely not for just pick and place tasks.
These next generation robots are for more than that, with several manufacturers simplifying the complexity of actions and workloads by using the collaborative robot.
Cobots are more consistent
Cobots are pretty quick as they are programmed to do specific jobs in a specific speed.
They are positioned to work in all major roles; in all labor-intensive, mundane jobs.
A survey conducted by Universal Robots, of their users, revealed that despite being put through heavy duty cycles year after year, the cobots are still running strong, especially in applications like; pick-and-place, gluing, welding, assembly, and machine-tending.
A recent research study initiated by Children’s National Health System (CNHS) and Johns Hopkins University highlighted that robots in the operating room can become more powerful, and they can now perform on soft tissue completely on their own, from start to finish.
The smart tissue autonomous robot or simply STAR is said to have successfully completed open bowel surgery in pigs.
STAR is entirely autonomous, intelligent and able to react to the uncertain, dynamic landscapes of soft tissue surgery without direction.
See also: How robots will transform your workplace
Cobots are making major functional appearances in several markets including; healthcare, automation, electronics, aerospace, defence and security, education, and the domestic.
The global material handling cobots market is all set to see an unprecedented growth due to an increasing adoption by the industrial manufacturers including SMEs, says according to a report from Research and Markets.
The growth is driven by global competition.
Compared to traditional industrial robots, cobots are much smarter, smaller and active, capable of matching humans to a greater extent.
Will humans go jobless?
The answer is no, and in fact, humans and cobots can work side by side.
Cobots are just an imitation of humans.
Germany’s Institute for Occupational Safety and Health defines collaborative industrial robots as complex machines that are capable of working hand in hand with human beings.
In a shared work process, cobots support and relieve the human operations, says the institute.
See also: When AI met video content: how robots will transform video streaming
Cobots will not take jobs, but instead will give humans the chance to explore new opportunities. Every innovation creates better opportunity.
Final thoughts
Cobots are here to enhance human experience.
Their purchase and installation is going to get cheaper, and they can be more productive than traditional robots.
Cobots are slowly moving from mere heavy-duty industrial applications to enabling assistance and augmenting skills.
More and more companies are seeing cobots as productive investment, and the opportunity presences a chance to move beyond current challenges and old thoughts.
It is about crossing those boundaries of science-fiction, and embrace the human-machine possibilities.
Sourced from Meenakshi Krishnan, content consultant, OpenXcell Technolabs
