HOW REPROGRAMMABLE ROBOTS ARE RESHAPING MANUFACTURING
BY VOLKER SPANIER, HEAD OF MANUFACTURING SOLUTIONS, EPSON EMEA
The time is coming when they will be repurposed multiple times, especially in the rapidly changing world of consumer goods, where trends come and go quickly. Companies like Epson are offering Industrial Automation Software that requires little or no coding to operate. With visual, intuitive user interfaces, even those new to automation can program robots for key functions like jogging, gripper control, and motion.
With robotics advancing rapidly across manufacturing and technology sectors, we’ re entering a new era where robots are no longer rigid, single-task machines – they’ re becoming flexible, reprogrammable partners, poised to reshape how we work.
Once confined to repetitive or dangerous tasks, developments in robotics, software and mobility are enabling today’ s new breed of machines to work alongside humans in a growing number of diverse roles.
From mobile phone production and testing to warehouse logistics and micro fulfilment, robots are also on the move in a variety of different environments. Even sorting newly harvested vegetables and carefully picking asparagus! They are taking on an array of jobs that formerly relied on human thinking, dexterity, and mobility. What’ s more, these machines are becoming easier to reprogram and redeploy, providing much needed flexibility.
The evolution of reprogrammable robots
At the moment, repurposing robots is still limited to fairly basic applications for straightforward tasks. But, it’ s time to stop thinking of them as one-trick ponies. Robots should be viewed as multi-functional companions- cobots- able to be reincarnated and re-skilled.
The application combines the power of scripted programming with a user-friendly block-style format, offering ready-to-use templates for common tasks such as pick-and-place, palletising, and depalletising. This kind of plug-and-play adaptability is crucial to enabling robots to shift easily from one task to another— extending their usefulness across multiple product lifecycles and reducing the need for new machines.
Robotics-as-a-Service is the next frontier
Also on the horizon is the concept of robotics-as-aservice. Why plan to invest in thousands of robots, if you don’ t need them working all day, every day, year after year? According to recent research, the Roboticsas-a-Service( RaaS) market is expected to reach 6.2 billion dollars by 2032.
While established manufacturing industries have taken a capex approach to equipment, their modern counterparts often want more flexibility and think in opex terms. Although capex is logical for the automotive industry, where models last for 5 to 10 years, consumer goods such as laptops or IoT devices are more likely to require alternative financing as new models change quickly and demand fluctuates over 1 to 2 years. Or perhaps a hybrid set up would be more fitting. Either leased or rented to deal with initial early demand, along with purchasing some equipment for ongoing fulfilment.
Robots as catalysts in the circular economy
The circular economy is grounded in three core principles: reuse, repair, and refurbishment. Increasingly, robots are being developed and deployed not just to build new products but to unbuild them— to disassemble, sort, and prepare components for re-entry into the manufacturing cycle.
44 AUTOMATION, CONTROL & ENGINEERING