Advanced manufacturing solutions
Innovative use of robots.
The robot and smart programming systems will allow for interconnection and communication between both them and the production environment.
The new generation of industrial robots should not be seen as production machines for large batches but should however be seen as a tool, an aid responding to the high variability of products required by the market combined with high product quality.
The next-generation collaborative robots are purpose-built for both small and medium-sized businesses that need flexible hardware that gives them a fast return on their investment.
In the model of Industry 4.0 or Enterprise 4.0, robots that collaborate with human operators for the accomplishment of production processes will be a fundamental resource in companies. Human-robot cooperation technologies will offer operators natural ways to use (usability) and a high level of confidence in the functionality of the machines (reliability, maintainability, availability and security). Their use will be simple and intuitive, making both the techniques and technologies used to realise the functions of the robotic devices not necessarily visible or detectable. These technologies will make it possible to obtain robotic agents that are not isolated from the production environment that is occupied by human operators, instead, they will actively participate in cooperative processes in shared environments. The robotic agent (often known as a co-worker), in a 4.0 factory context, although it is an automatic machine will be characterised by its capacity to interact in an almost human way: contact interactions, the sensorial experience and perception will all seem natural. This way the movements and behaviours of the robot will follow “cognitively acceptable” patterns (low speeds, soft trajectories, non-hostile shapes, predictable operations, contacts with compliancy).

Levels of interaction
Aside from the physical interaction, which by definition cancels the distances and separations between operators and robots, the technologies for sharing the workspace will be aimed at transforming traditional companies into a more fluid and dynamic, open and...