The company projects Asia-Pacific to become the largest cobot market from 2021-2026.
Collaborative robots, or cobots, remain the fastest growing segment of industrial automation, projected to grow during 2021-2026 at a CAGR of 45.45% in Asia-Pacific, according to Universal Robots (UR). The cobot manufacturer has further recorded the sale of its 50,000th UR cobot, which was purchased by a German manufacturer to enable higher productivity and better employee safety.
Jürgen von Hollen, president of Universal Robots, handed over the 50,000th cobot to VEMA technische Kunststoffteile and VEMA Werkzeug- und Formenbau at a ceremony held at VEMA. He said: “We have worked hard in the past 15 years to develop an entirely new market segment with a mission to enable especially small- and medium-sized companies to automate tasks they thought were too costly or complex.
“VEMA was looking for a cost-effective, flexible, easy-to-use automation solution they could implement, program and manage on their own. They found exactly that in the UR cobot.”
VEMA’s new cobot will join a fleet of three other UR cobots already deployed in pick-and-place tasks in end-of-line applications at the company.
Christian Veser, managing director at VEMA, pointed out how the cobots enabled the company to add a third shift, now operating around the clock, and elaborated: “Our employees are freed from ergonomically straining work to focus on quality testing. In navigating COVID-19 challenges, it has also been a great advantage that the cobots don’t need to keep a safety distance or undergo quarantine. They can always work.”
James McKew, regional director of Asia-Pacific at Universal Robots, concluded: “15 years ago, Universal Robots started with a vision of creating robots that are safe to work alongside human workers, and empowering people to get away from doing mundane, dirty, and dangerous jobs.
“Today, with the COVID-19 pandemic, collaborative robots have been rapidly adopted by both small and medium enterprises and large corporation around the world. During times that require a high level of flexibility and adaptability, cobots have become a sensible solution to maintaining factory footprint and promoting value creation for organisations like VEMA.”
