Automating testing and inspection requires careful consideration of tools, including robot type, end-of-arm tooling, and ancillary systems. While cobots are popular for quality tasks, their full collaborative capabilities may not be utilized in some applications, leading to higher costs without maximizing benefits.

Automation in manufacturing, particularly in quality control, is crucial for boosting productivity and reducing errors amid a shortage of skilled operators. Vision system technology offers a powerful solution, automating measurement and inspection processes to streamline operations and enhance accuracy.

Easily combine peripheral devices with Kassow Robots cobots and integrate them even faster.

Quality sat down with Stefan Friedrich of New Scale Robotics to explain why quality is often one of the later steps to automate. Adopting a robot or cobot can be intimidating but it doesn’t need to be. Here he describes what quality professionals need to know. Hint: it’s not programming.

What are the main considerations to keep in mind when choosing a machine vision system for a cobot-based application?

In a domain where microns and millimeters matter, efficient quality inspection and metrology processes can make the difference between consistent, successful production runs and labor-intensive failures.

This white paper explores how the automation of operations such as quality inspection and metrology – previously reserved for larger companies with hefty budgets – has changed dramatically with the advent of collaborative robots.

Collaborative robots, or cobots, help humans and robots work together safely. Small, medium and large companies are increasingly choosing these human-friendly versions over traditional industrial robots, which are complex to use and are typically relegated to safety cages. 

The days when only large companies could adopt automation are long past. Collaborative robots (cobots), lightweight industrial robot arms (LIRAs) and affordable peripherals such as vision systems and grippers have created a new paradigm by making low cost, easy to use automation solutions available to small-to-medium sized companies for the first time. 

Over the past decade manufacturers have increasingly turned to flexible, customizable automation platforms to meet the demands of high mix/low volume orders and ensure their long-term survival in a competitive manufacturing environment.