Interested in using manufacturing robots but don’t have people with the right expertise on your team?
Wondering if you will need to invest heavily in training your staff on robotics programming? Or maybe you considered surrendering your application to an external integrator?
If these questions sound familiar, then you’ve most likely wondered whether it is possible to program a robot without extra training.
Robotics programming has always been highly specialized. Technicians and engineers typically learned to program particular robot brands and often stuck with that brand for years. Even if you had extensive robotics experience with a particular brand, you had to go through expensive training just to learn the basics of another brand.
This high barrier to entry created a norm to use robot integrators in manufacturing. For a long time, these talented specialists have helped manufacturers get their robots up and running.
But, what if you don't want to use an integrator and want your own team to deploy the robot? If you already have a team of competent people who are keen to take on the challenge but don't have specific robotics training, it doesn’t make sense to spend time and money on training them to use a proprietary programming language.
What to Do When Your Team Lacks the Right Robotics Expertise
It's hard to find people with the right robotics experience. For the last few years, there has been a growing skills shortage in the industry. The market is competitive, with fewer and fewer job candidates who have specific robot programming skills. Even big multinational companies — which offer perks that many of us can't beat — are finding it difficult to fill robotics positions.
The vast majority of industrial robots are locked into their proprietary programming languages and software environments. This makes it harder to find suitable candidates who have programming experience with the particular brands you want to use.
For many manufacturers, it may seem like there are only two options:
Use an external integrator — This lets you get up and running quickly but it can tie you into relying on that integrator for years. If you want to update the robot's programming beyond simple changes, you'll need to call the integrators back in.Invest in robotics training — This can be costly and time-consuming, with 3 days of mandatory training being a common requirement. It does mean you will be able to deploy the robot in-house but it can be a big commitment. There are various methods for programming industrial robots, including offline programming and external tools, but they usually require extra training as well.If neither of these options meet your needs, it might seem like robots are unsuitable for your situation. However, there is another option.
If you are looking for an easy-to-use robot, you might already have considered collaborative robots (cobots). After all, many cobots are also designed to be intuitive – you can program them via a simple user interface or even via hand-guiding.
The problem with cobots is that they don’t tend to “play nicely” with other components. Their simple programming options work well when the robot is a stand alone component. But, when you need to use them with other equipment, it’s very common for integrators to bypass their intuitive interface and program them in a similar manner to Mecademic robots.
