Turin, November 12, 2021 – Comau was invited to speak at the recent European conference « Industrie du future – perspectives françaises et européennes » (Future of Industry – French and European perspectives), where more than 100 representatives of leading industrial companies met at the L’Ecole Polytechnique in Paris-Saclay. Hosted by EIT Manufacturing, an Innovation Community within the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and CEA List, the full-day event brought together top-level managers from around Europe to discuss the trends helping define the future of industry. Comau’s Gaia Salvadore, Strategic Marketing Leader Robotics and Automation Products, discussed the increasingly important role of collaborative robotics as a key enabler for future-driven manufacturing.
Comau’s view of manufacturing for the Future looks to automated production based on lean and sustainable solutions/products led by the balanced collaboration between people and machines. It will also build upon several key pillars, including digitalization, flexibility and HUMANufacturing (Comau’s vision of optimized human-machine collaboration). Finally, Comau believes the new factory should be re-configurable and flexible in order to accommodate evolving needs. Moving away from standardized, one-size-fits-all products and solutions, the company stressed the value of tailor-made engineering and technology that facilitates flexibility.
With a special focus on collaborative robots to improve the production process, Comau referred to International Federation of Robotics, whose members feel the most common collaborative applications are shared workspaces where the robot and employee work alongside each other, completing tasks sequentially. Cobots such as Comau’s Racer-5 COBOT, which can automatically switch from industrial robot speed to collaborative speed when a human operator enters its working area, help reduce cycle times and improve quality to ensure better productive throughput. The compact, barrier-free operation also grants a smaller footprint and lower safety costs.
Similarly, enabling the future of manufacturing requires addressing specific market requests such as responding to the sensitive environments that characterize the pharmaceutical, health & beauty, and food & beverage industries. To this end, Comau gave conference attendees a quick look at a new, ruggedized 6-axis articulated “coming soon” industrial robot: Racer-5 SENSITIVE ENVIRONMENTS. Featuring a protective water, heat and grease-resistant coating, the robot responds to the market’s request for IP67 certification, high-grade ISO Cleanroom classification, protection from chemical agents and the need to reduce the risk of contamination. Further benefits of the dedicated robot include reduced operator risk when working with potentially harmful chemicals and substances, reduced operating expenses, and increased production volumes.
To experience the conference for yourself, a full recording of the event is available online, at: https://lnkd.in/d4xxCbG5