Auto plant robots will interact with humans
TRAVERSE CITY, Calif. -- The automotive plant of the future will likely include robots that interact with humans and are able to sense when they are near humans, says an executive with a top auto-industry supplier.
"There is going to come a time in the future where robots are going to become more intelligent, they are going to become user friendly. We already see trials going on where this will be looked at by quite a few companies," says Ian Simmons, vice president of business development for Magna International, a Canadian company with $22 billion in annual sales that supplies components to automakers in the U.S. and globally.
A new wave of collaborative robots will likely be introduced at plants operated by Magna over the next five to 10 years, Simmons said Monday during a talk at the Management Briefing Seminars, sponsored by the Ann Arbor based Center for Automotive Research.
Automotive assembly plants have had robots and automation for years. Robots in automotive plants install panels, bolt parts together, perform some welding and paint vehicles. Still, people continue to play a large role in the completion of cars and large modules made by suppliers.
Simmons said a number of other companies, including General Electric, are experimenting with collaborative robots and he expects Magna will begin deploying them within five to 10 years.
Collaborative robots are the hottest topic in robotics today, according to the Robotics Industry Association, which is devoting an entire conference to the topic in October.
GE opened its Advanced Manufacturing Works in Greenville, S.C., in April. The plant includes a robot nicknamed Autonomous Prime that uses LIDAR technology to see what it's doing – the same equipment used by self-driving cars. LIDAR involves using lasers to measure distance.
The deployment of collaborative robots is possible because of the the cost of advanced sensors that can detect when a robot or a robot arm is near a human are declining and the technology is getting better.
"Safety is of the utmost importance. If they are going to interact with people, then you have to be absolutely sure that it can do so in a safe way," he said.
Simmons also argues that collaborative robots won't have a big impact on the number of workers Magna employs.
"We are never going to replace your human associates on the line," Simmons said. "They have skill sets that at the moment you cannot replace nor would you want to replace them."
The introduction of advanced robots might even lower manufacturing costs enough to bring more plants back to the U.S. Still, the nature of manufacturing jobs might change as more robots are deployed. Employees may be required to do more advanced and complex work that requires additional training, Simmons said.