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64 MACHINERY UPDATE JULY/AUGUST 2018 www.machineryupdate.co.uk
Feature: Automation, robotics and vision
An interesting
comment was
made at one
of our recent
events that
made me think about whether
critics linking the growing
capabilities of robots with
the future demise of human
employment have been
missing the point,” says
Mike Wilson, UK & Ireland
business development
manager at ABB Robotics.
Speaking about his
experiences of introducing
robots to his production
operations, one of the
delegates at the event made an
interesting comment about the
way his younger workers were
using the robots. Describing
them as the ‘Xbox generation’,
he told how his younger
team members were the ones
helping to pioneer the use of
the robots. Their familiarity
with technology meant that
learning how to use the robots
was much easier for them than
for his older staff, which even
though more experienced in
the production process, had
no experience of using robots.
This makes me wonder
whether the whole issue of
increased robot capability
needs to be turned on its head,
says Wilson. With robots able
to be applied more easily to a
growing range of tasks, surely
there are more opportunities
to be derived from their use,
not less?
creating more jobs
In my own 30-year experience
in robotic automation, every
advance in their capabilities
has invariably proven to create
jobs, not destroy them.
Take the steady reduction
in programming complexity
for example. Whereas
the first generations of
robots required specialist
programming skills, advances
in technology, including
intuitive programming
interfaces, automatic algorithm
generation and simplified
programming languages, have
meant that even the least
ABB believes that any company looking to capitalise on the skills of tech-savvy youngsters must also ensure they are
tech-savvy themselves, investing in the latest technologies, such as robots to help to improve efficiency, for example
Exciting the
Xbox gamer
Machinery Update talks to ABB’s Mike Wilson about
how robots attract tech-savvy youngsters to the sector
skilled operators can now
quickly master the basic steps
needed to set up and configure
an industrial robot.
These have been joined
by steady developments
in robot flexibility, so that
robots can now be used to
produce multiple products
on the same line simply by
switching between programs.
With no need to build
individual production lines to
handle individual products,
companies can reduce the
time and cost needed to
introduce new product ranges.
This ability to produce a
greater range of products more
quickly, at a reduced cost and
to a higher level of quality
means extra people are
ABB believes that robots will
prove to be the future, not the end,
of the next wave of employees
needed, from the factory floor
through to back office support.
Advances in other areas
such as vision and wireless
communications, together
with developments in
robotic intelligence, are also
presenting exciting new
opportunities not only for
improved manufacturing
processes, but for the creation
of the new skillsets needed
to bring this about.
To the point raised at the
start of this article, the current
generation of under-25s are
probably more tech-savvy
than ever. As anyone who has
ever tried to prize a teenager