The automaker has new collaborative robots, known as co-bots, helping workers fit shock absorbers to Fiesta cars in Ford’s assembly plant in Cologne, Germany. The company has asked more than 1,000 of its production line workers to identify tasks for which the new robots would best be suited. The robots and humans team up for accuracy, strength, and dexterity.
Advertisement
Ford is now using collaborative robots to help workers fit shock absorbers to Fiesta cars as part a trial in the company’s investigation into Industry 4.0 technologies. Similar technology also is used in the pharmaceutical and electronics industries.
Measuring around a metre tall, the co-bots used briefly by Ford were developed over a period of two years by German firm Kuka Roboter.
The robots at the assembly line will lift the shock absorber and automatically position it into the wheel arch, before pushing a button to complete the installation. Employees work hand-in-hand with the robots to ensure a ideal fit.
These robots have also been created to be not just human-friendly but also to ensure human safety at work.
The co-bots contain a series of sensors to avoid obstructing human co-workers, and they also carry out the load bearing needed when installing different parts on to the auto.
While the co-bots are only in use at the Cologne factory now, they might as well end up in other locations in the near future. According to Ford, the robots can result in faster, safer and top quality vehicle assembly, as well as making the process easier for workers in the assembly line.
Known as co-bots, these machines do all the heavy lifting side-by-side with production line workers who assist to make sure that each installation is a ideal fit.
“Robots are [.] complementing our employees with abilities that open up unlimited worlds of production and design for new Ford models”, he notes.
Advertisement
“Working overheard with heavy, air-powered tools is a tough job that requires strength, stamina and accuracy”, said Ngali Bongongo, a production worker at Ford’s Cologne plant.
