GETTING STARTED WITH AUTOMATION :
 How to Start Your Journey

The world of automation features many different types of task solutions and equipment varies. Each of these performs different tasks and has different capabilities. It’s helpful to understand some of the differences between them in order to choose a system is right for your automation challenge. Here are some examples:

• Industrial robot arms: This is what most people think of when they hear the terms robot and manufacturing. These robots complete the same task quickly over and over again, with incredible precision. Think about automobile manufacturing or the assembly of durable goods like refrigerators. In general, these robots are usually separated from workers by cages and safety sensors to prevent injuries.
• Collaborative robot applications, or cobots: These are robotic arms that include sensors and are used in applications that make it safer for human workers to work in close proximity with the robot on specific tasks. Typically, they are smaller than industrial robots and sometimes called “power-and-force-limited” robots. Cobots often work at slower speeds than industrial robot arms. 
• Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs): The name says it all. These are robots that move from one place to another. AMRs can transport materials around a factory floor, packages around a distribution center, or cargo around a warehouse. They are smart enough to detect and navigate safely around objects as they go about their mission. In some cases, collaborative robot arms are being added to mobile robots so the robots can manipulate objects in their vicinity. 
• Machine vision systems: These systems utilize camera systems – or other sensing technologies such as LIDAR – to assist in automation systems. The most common use is in inspection and defect analysis. These systems can also perform inventory management, assist in robot guidance, and empower robotic picking applications in unstructured environments with diverse objects. Vision systems are also being used in medical applications such as human temperature readings. Vision systems are also empowering a vast data collection that’s empowering machine learning applications in process optimization. 

Additional technologies beyond a robot or automation system are being deployed as well, including:

• Smart conveyors that quickly determine a package’s location as it moves through a warehouse.
• Smart sensors placed on industrial equipment that can monitor data to provide predictive analysis on when maintenance might be needed.
• Augmented reality and virtual reality gear that provides workers with technical data, manuals or provides service technicians with needed guidance on repairs. VR and mixed reality is being used in many training scenarios to help train workers on complicated tasks.
• Simulation systems and digital twin technologies to provide manufacturers with better data on quality between what is designed and what is produced to help eliminate waste and errors.

This is just the starting point - in almost every field, new robots and automation systems are popping up to offer solutions to help companies become more efficient, solve labor shortages or improve dangerous tasks.

With an understanding of the types of processes you would like to automate and the type of equipment that your company will need, the next step is to make sure you have the right team with you on your journey. It’s not just about deciding to automate – having the right partners with you for the ride is just as important.     
     
With the right team in place, you will be able to identify the problems you are trying to solve, as well as the business case for automation. You won’t be just automating or adding robots for the sake of automation or because “robots are cool.” A good team can help you stay focused on your goals.
     
First and most important, it’s key that employees are involved in the project from the start. Coming in and announcing to workers, “We’re going to automate with robots” will trigger reactions such as “We’re going to lose all our jobs” or “We’re going to be replaced.” Instead, engage your employees from the start so they understand that robots or automation will help them in the long run – it will replace tasks, not jobs, which will allow them to use their human intelligence to perform better in their jobs.

For example, a warehouse worker who has to pull a cart and walk miles per day collecting orders can instead be placed near the shelves to pick orders as a robot approaches them to deliver the items to a packing station. Or, that worker can be deployed at a packing station to help assist with the delivery of packages that robots bring to them. Instead of loading and unloading heavy boxes on a pallet all day long, a human can instead monitor the operations of a pallet lifter or autonomous forklift that does all of the heavy lifting.

In addition, you can explain to employees that working with robotics and automation can help them advance in their career rather than just having a repetitive, manual labor-type job.

Once you have employees on board, the next step is to find the right partners, whether this is a robotics and/or automation provider, or a systems integrator that has expertise in a specific automation process or task.

Keep in mind that services from robotics and automation companies vary. Some robot manufacturers work with integrators to sell the robot to an integrator, who then works with companies to install and deploy them. Other robot companies may sell robots to a distributor, and some sell directly to end customers and handle their own deployments. Others still utilize a “robots as a service” approach that treats their robots as being leased by a customer, with the robot company offering maintenance and monitoring services. Often, it may depend on whether the company deploying the system wants to treat the automation project as a capital expense (CapEx) or operational expense (OpEx), as well as the type of system being deployed.

Keith Shaw is a general partner of Robotics Data LLC, which provides reports and analysis on robotics companies across industries being disrupted by automation. He is also the managing editor of Robotics-World, which covers the world of automation and robotics from design through deployment.