Industry 4.0 stands for the fourth industrial revolution. Cars, machines and even whole factories communicate with each other. Primarily, robots should take over monotonous and dangerous tasks for humans and they should be used flexibly and ultimately, capable of organizing themselves. Human-robot collaboration is key to Industry 4.0.
Industry 4.0 has made a huge mark on the industrial landscape. Robots are a key element in production technology and are now at the intersection of many production processes, from assembly, handling and processing to mobile robots in logistics. The new collaborative systems make Industry 4.0 and the Smart Factory possible.
Industry 4.0 places great value on optimally combining the strengths of manpower with the robot’s technical capabilities. Crucial elements in this construct are image processing and sensor technology. They allow machines to communicate easily and safely with their surrounding infrastructure. The components used in the Smart Factory are diverse. For example Stäubli presents various, networked production units where the mobile six-axis robot HELMO is used for the first time. The flexible interaction of Stäublis machines underlines a further development in automation. „Production batch 1“ is the magical word here; particularly for medium-sized companies.
Experts are certain that flexible interlinking will be influential in another way: in the decision-making process for production sequences. Much more than just another option between made by hand and complete automation – networked human-robot teams stand for intelligent workflow in Industry 4.0.
