Collaborative robots (cobots) are having a transformative impact on packaging processes, and nowhere on the PACK EXPO floor was this more evident than at the Yaskawa booth. According to Memco’s Peter Tosh, who was helping to demonstrate this equipment, cobots are changing the game for brand owners and consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies, offering a unique blend of safety, flexibility, and efficiency.
During their early years, cobots were certainly marvels, but still were small, low payload, and low reach machines compared to their gated, less human-friendly industrial counterparts. Early cobots were often considered fragile or unreliable, too, by comparison. But this perception has evolved over the past decade. Cobots are now larger, capable of handling heavier payloads, and possess greater reach and speed while retaining their collaborative nature.
