The pristine island of Sri Lanka with its serene Buddhist culture will make-way for a technology pit-stop for one of the world leaders in the concept of ‘collaborative Robots’.
Universal Robots, a Danish robot manufacturer which invented and pioneered collaborative robots or ‘cobots’ as they are popularly called, presented this technology to the Sri Lankan market and talked about the availability of this technology to various industries. The event was attended by the key stakeholders that define this technology, including the General Manager of the company (India & Sri Lanka region) and a host of other dignitaries representing the Government and customers.
For a country like Sri Lanka, which is looking at a fast pace of development and at the same time would like to adopt cost effective, yet efficient technology, cobots would be the right way to go, especially for the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises which form a major part of the business eco-system.
Speaking at the launch event at the Hilton Colombo, Pradeep David, General Manager, Universal Robots said, “The growth of the economy of a nation, would be gauged by increasing productivity in industry as a whole and in future cobots would be a critically important factor as Human-Robot Collaboration is an integral part of Industry 4.0. In a developing economy like Sri Lanka, automation in every field will enhance production and generate advancements in the technological sector. With the launch of cobots, companies would be able to enhance productivity levels close to 85%. Collaborative robotic technology can be used to benefit all aspects of task-based businesses irrespective of their size. We have a full-fledged application lab setup in Bengaluru (Indian headquarter) with a UR3, UR5 & UR10 for customer training and proof of concept purposes. We are delighted to be able to provide the platform required for the Sri Lankan market for increasing productivity, quality, and market competitiveness.”
These Cobots are utilized for an assortment of out-of-box functions ranging from photo shoots, bartending, fashion shows, coffee machines, surgical procedures and even for physiotherapy and sports therapy procedures. Few examples of cobots being used in various off-beat industries. Emma, short for Expert Manipulative Massage Automation has been designed to carry out highly-articulated movements for various sports injuries. Mr. Mofongo’s, a hidden bar and restaurant in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands, where the cocktails are served by the robot arm Armando! The co-bot collaborates with the bartender for this application to fetch the drinks for the customer. In Singapore, cobots are being used to make dosas & omelettes with the help from our distributor Kurve Automation, as further added by Pradeep David.
We believe that collaborative robotic technology can be used to benefit all aspects of task-based businesses – no matter what their size.
We believe that the latest collaborative robot technology should be available to all businesses. The nominal investment cost is quickly recovered as our robotic arms have an average payback period of just six months.