Many industries have been hit hard by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. However, one thing that is helping many businesses to stay afloat during these uncertain times is technology.
There are a lot of innovative technologies businesses can invest in to cushion the recent economic blow. One that is proving particularly popular is cobots. So, what exactly are they and how are they helping businesses during Covid-19?
What are cobots?
Cobots, short for Collaborative Robots, are designed to work alongside humans. Rather than replacing humans completely, they instead work alongside them.
While they are only recently really gaining in popularity, they have actually been around since the 1990’s. Some of the earliest cobots were used to control and steer objects. Humans would input the power, then the cobots would move the objects. This improved worker safety within the manufacturing sector. Today, they are renowned for their super strength, data and precision capabilities.
So, cobots take over some tasks, but still rely upon humans to operate. This means they are a great solution to avoid robots replacing human jobs entirely in the future.
How are they helping businesses?
Cobots are helping businesses in a multitude of ways throughout the pandemic. One way that companies are using them is to aid in logistics.
A lot of businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic in terms of orders. However, for others, sales have skyrocketed. As businesses aren’t able to hire a lot of additional employees due to social distancing, cobots have helped to deal with the demand. They have enabled more orders to be fulfilled without putting workers at risk.
They have also helped with automation tasks. With basic cobot technology available through companies like Allied Electronics, companies have been able to easily automate their industrial processes.
Throughout the pandemic, cobots have helped to increase productivity, help fulfil customer orders and it’s even helped develop crucial PPE.
Helping businesses to collaborate
Another great benefit of cobots throughout Covid-19, has been the increase in collaboration. Businesses have been able to collaborate with other businesses to stay afloat. Larger, more established companies have been able to help smaller businesses with their integrated technology.
These are just some of the benefits cobots have delivered during Covid-19. While they may be classed as a fairly new type of technology, they have actually been around for many years now. The pandemic has simply forced businesses to recognise their potential, particularly in a socially distanced setting.