site.btaCobots to Solve Qualified Workforce Shortage

Acute shortage of qualified workforce seems to be solvable. The new 'colleagues' are cobots and so far they are mainly in manufacturing and construction thanks to the Value Of Joint EXperimentation in Digital Technologies for Manufacturing and Construction (VOJEXT) project, which is implemented under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. A total of 19 partner organisations from 11 countries, including Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Italy, Spain, France and Turkiye, are working on the project to deploy mobile collaborative robots (the so-called cobots).

The project was presented Thursday to representatives of Bulgarian small-medium enterprises, universities, research organisations, and digital innovation centres. The event took place at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The collaborative robots operate in 5 pilot industries: automotive, construction, electronics, polyurethane product manufacturing and craft. The cobots perform monotonous and repetitive activities, work in dusty environments, and night shifts do not bother them.

Maria Eugenia Beltran-Jaunsaras of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, coordinator of the project, said that the purpose of the cobot is not to replace the human worker, but to collaborate with him. "We have reached a stage where almost all the robot refinements are complete," Beltran-Jaunsaras explained.

Among the difficulties surrounding the practical implementation of the project in a pillow factory was to train the employees to work together with the robot, and to make the robot learn working with different materials. Essentially, the robot takes the pillows, which then go to a quality inspection machine, and there the worker and the robot's camera check if the pillows match the required final shape. In addition, cobots are also taught to interact with existing machinery used in the production process.

The cobot which 'got the job' at a construction company is filling the shortage of plasterers and painters, as well as skilled foremen supervising the other workers. The robotic arm can rise 2 metres up a wall and can plaster or paint over its entire surface.

The cobot operating in an artisan tile manufacturing plant, is not bothered by the polluted environment. He can interact with different machines and use a variety of tools, working in close proximity to people. All the activities in tile production that involve creativity remain a reserved territory for the people, while the cobots do 'the dirty work'. As far as safety is concerned, the robot stands back while the human works. There are also emergency buttons to shut down the cobot, meaning that the human can intervene if necessary.

Cobots can also find application in creative activities.