Robots Are Moving From Factories to Service: Rise of the 'Co-Bot'

Co-bots, or collaborative robots are being touted as a cost-effective, productivity enhancing complement to humans in service industries, not as a full replacement. Yet. JL


Natasha Khan reports in the Wall Street Journal:

The slew of newer cobot makers has driven down prices, providing buyers with alternatives to ABB , which sells its “YuMi” cobot for about $40,000. Universal Robots sells its smallest model for around $26,000. Beijing-based Aubo Robotics sells its robot arm for about $18,000. Robots are getting good at repetitive work, freeing up humans for other activities, but have a hard time with more complicated actions.
Smaller businesses are using more cobots as labor costs rise. Artificial intelligence software is making it easier to teach them repetitive tasks. The latest models are sleeker and safer than their predecessors, which were often confined in cages to protect them from injuring nearby humans.
Cobot arms brake when they touch humans, and don’t have “pinch points” that could snag fingers and skin. One cobot maker, Boston-based Rethink Robotics, added smiley-face screens to its robots to make them look friendlier.
Robots are now crossing the chasm from a niche to a mass market,” said Angus Muirhead, who runs a robotics fund for Credit Suisse . He likened the current adoption of robotics to the introduction in the late 1990s of smaller handsets that launched mobile phones into wider use.
When restaurateur Patrick Beijk opened Mofongo’s Distillery & Cocktail Bar in the Dutch city of Groningen in 2013, he went looking for a machine that could scale the space’s jewel-colored wall of spirit bottles. The robot he bought to do the job saves time and draws in curious customers, he said. When Mr. Beijk opened a wine bar last year, he bought a two-armed cobot programmed to extract wine from bottles without removing the cork.
In Singapore, AiTreat—a startup at Nanyang Technological University—has created robots that can give Chinese medical massages, which focus on acupressure points. The massage robots, which are warmed to 100 degrees Fahrenheit to mimic human hands, are being tested at the offices of chiropractors and therapists.
Both Mr. Beijk’s and AiTreat’s cobots were made in part by Universal Robots, which sold its first cobot in 2008. Last year, the company sold 8,600 units. Universal Robots President Juergen von Hollen said the Danish firm has spurred wider adoption of cobots by using open-source coding that allows developers to tailor the company’s machines to their own specifications. 

“By taking away the complexity, things are starting to happen,” he said.
The slew of newer cobot makers has driven down prices, providing buyers with alternatives to big producers like Switzerland’s ABB , which sells its “YuMi” cobot for about $40,000. Universal Robots sells its smallest model for around $26,000. Beijing-based Aubo Robotics sells its robot arm for about $18,000, said co-founder Jindong Tan.
Still, cobots can’t do everything a person can. Robots are getting good at repetitive work, freeing up humans for other activities, but have a hard time with more complicated actions.
Junji Tsuda, chairman of the Japanese robot manufacturer Yaskawa Electric Corporation, said robots can ably cut a cabbage into pieces but struggle to peel heads of lettuce that aren’t exactly the same shape and size.
“Human beings are so clever and so well created,” he said. “There are millions of tasks that humans can handle. Only a fraction of those can be done by robots.”
But the list of tasks robots can perform is growing fast.
ABB’s YuMi used its robotic arm to conduct a performance in September by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and Tuscany’s Lucca Philharmonic Orchestra. YuMi’s robots also help make watches for Swiss watchmakers and box takeout dumplings in a Tokyo restaurant, said Per Vegard Nerseth, managing director of ABB’s robotics division.
“Robots are going to become more and more helpful,” said Mr. Beijk, the bar owner. “By doing the monotonous tasks, they give us the time and flexibility to be human — such as taking even better care of our guests.”