Did you know? Industrial robots continue to decline in cost!
Written By: Ken Tinnell
As robots continually penetrate our daily industrial lives to improve productivity, reduce waste and inefficiencies and raise quality, one would expect that they would demand more, not less compensation for their hard work. Quite the contrary – the costs are reducing!
At a recent visit to the advanced labs of a major US industrial automation control and information solution provider, we realized an industry secret –robots will continue to decline in cost. The reason? Currently, robots are sold with an external control panel and teach pendant. Once incorporated into a work cell, we typically find a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) in close proximity, controlling other aspects of a work process (i.e.: conveyors, safety equipment, etc). Hypothetically, one processor could handle all of these operations, but no one had taken that progressive step – until now.
By witnessing the total integration of a robotic solution with one microprocessor doing it all, the resultant economics would indicate that we should expect to see many more of these hard working robots showing up in our plants, warehouses and in places we’ve yet to dream of. Their costs will continue to trend down, while trending up in functionality and integration with more and more automation.
Tags: BMH Robotics, Conveyors, external control panel, Industrial robots, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), safety equipment
