How cobots are perceived as they gain a foothold in the business world

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Manufacturing has been the leading sector of economic growth in numerous countries around the world.

As service standards and customer preferences changed over time, a pressing need for innovation in manufacturing arose and thus robots were born. Over time, robots have developed from huge hated machines that stole jobs from people and provided large payroll savings to companies and have become compact work collaborators known as collaborative robots.

Collaborative robots or cobots as they are popularly known have garnered different reactions and perceptions from business leaders and factory workers on their benefits and how they affect the future of work.

One of the leading manufacturers and distributor of cobots can be found at https://www.universal-robots.com/ .

Listed are some of the different reactions that have been registered on cobots.

They are the evolution of the workforce

Business leaders in different sectors of the economy view the cobot as the next frontier of the labor workforce. As owners of businesses and top business leaders, their view is formed from the numerous advantages that would be gained from having less human beings working in their factories and leaving all the work to the machines.

First, manufacturing entities would make huge savings on labor costs. They would not have to pay wages and benefits to a large number of human staff as they do now.

Secondly and most important, businesses would make considerably larger profits. As the result of the large savings on salaries and the increased productivity from the cobots there would be more sales and thus more profits.

Cobots as a tool

This is another widely held perception of cobots. Cobot manufacturing companies and the companies that have already adopted cobot use view the cobot as a welcome additional tool in the creation of more and better quality products.

Cobot manufacturers promote their products as tools that will aid in making production work easier. Cobots have been manufactured that can aid factory workers in completing repetitive and routine tasks much faster and helping the factory worker get more engaged in other work that requires the more of their intellect. As such the cobot makes work more meaningful for the worker.

Cobots will eliminate jobs

It is widely believed that by 2030 most jobs will be left to robots. As a result there will be a lot of people left jobless as a result of the widely accepted automation. Suggestions have been made for governments to create a special tax that will be collected from the automating entities that will be used to provide a basic income to the people with skills that will be no longer required as a result of automation.

Contrary to this common view, cobot manufacturers view the cobot as more of an assistant to the factory worker. Rather than taking their job, the cobot is there to assist in making work easier, faster and better for the factory worker.

Safety in the use of collaborative robots

Collaborative robots as their name suggests are safe for human interaction in the workplace. This a view held by many who have used cobots and their manufacturers.

Unlike traditional robots that had to be fenced off and factory workers having only limited interaction, cobots are considered safe to use and handle. They also rank highly as candidates that can substitute human workers in the completion of tasks deemed dangerous and unsafe to them such as the handling of dangerous and hazardous materials.

Technology advancements in cobot manufacturing

As technology advances and major economic segments get disrupted by technology based businesses, technology is also expected to advance in the cobot field. At the moment, cobots can easily learn how to perfectly and precisely complete assigned tasks independently through specific software. And as cobot’ technology advances, it will lead to cobots receiving highly specialized assignments that could be viewed as a preserve of the human workforce.

As cobot use becomes increasingly entrenched, only time will tell whether these perceptions will change or a new world of work will emerge.

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