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Robot usage throughout the manufacturing industry continues to rise each year in nearly every subset including food production, consumer goods, electronics, and more. Manufacturers use robotics for more than assembly line automation.
What Can Robots Do for Manufacturing?
When people think of manufacturing and robots, they usually think of rows of assembly lines filled with robotic arms, putting together cars or electronics one after another. People usually follow that thought with a fear of robots replacing their jobs (which we’ve explained before isn’t true). But that’s not the only way robots can be used in manufacturing.
Inspections in Manufacturing
Robots are great tools for helping humans handle dangerous, dirty, or dull tasks, regardless of industry. For the manufacturing industry, that can mean inspecting in and around dangerous machinery.
Inspect Inside Machinery
This client needed to inspect the structural integrity of a concrete flue that is only 20 inches wide, stretches 80 feet, and has a 90º turn with no line of sight.
By using a compact remote-control inspection robot to crawl inside, they were able to perform detailed inspections and plan out their repairs!
Inspect Around Machinery & in Confined Spaces
Every month, a large manufacturing facility would perform inspections on their equipment. They would shut down half their plant so a person could crawl beneath and behind each machine, slowing production and putting their inspector in potential danger.
Now they use a compact inspection robot to perform those same inspections. The robot can easily fit underneath their machinery and means they no longer have to shut down their plant during the inspections, saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars annually!
Thermal Inspections
Manufacturing facilities operate across a wide range of temperatures, from below freezing to the melting point of steel. That makes monitoring those temperatures facility-wide imperative. Robots equipped with thermal sensors can routinely patrol a facility, making it easy to spot any spikes or changes before they become an issue.
- Hazardous Gases
Add specialized sensors, such as the MultiRAE gas sensor, to inspect hazardous environments without risking humans to harmful exposure. Using a scissor lift robot, manufacturers can take readings from different heights. 
Security Patrols
Patrol high-risk areas and secure facilities via autonomous or remotely controlled robots. These mobile security platforms give you “eyes and ears” from a safe distance and can even be operated from another facility or site.- Under Vehicle & Heavy Machinery Inspections
Inspecting the underside of vehicles or heavy machinery can be difficult and risky. A person has to crawl under, sometimes in a tight space without room to move. That risk grows exponentially if the machinery or vehicle has to be lifted to allow access. With an inspection robot, workers can perform periodic maintenance checks quickly and safely.
Taking the Next Step
All of the use cases above are ways our manufacturing clients use robots today. Here are some of the use cases that we’re developing:
- Autonomous Reality Capture & Facility Asset Management
Many facility managers are using reality capture software to create 360° walkthrough tours of their facilities, but capturing that data is tedious and time consuming. Using autonomous robots, facility managers can regularly map out their environment weekly or monthly and create a timeline of changes. This can pair with asset management to help track maintenance and operations.
- “Follow Me” Robot for Heavy Payloads / Toolbox – carry a heavy toolbox or haul materials across the facility or outdoors.
Right now robots are already increasing efficiency in facilities while decreasing machinery downtime. They’re lowering the risk of injury for workers by going into dangerous and tight spaces. Robots are helping to increase profits while making manufacturing safer as a whole.
These are only some of the use cases for robots that we’ve encountered in the manufacturing industry. With how many environments, challenges, and jobs there are in this industry, we constantly find new applications and uses to help you. If you can think of a way for our robots to help you, don’t hesitate to reach out!