Collaborative Robots Fill Automation Gaps For Medical Device Manufacturers

When small and mid-sized medical device manufacturers envision a robot, many think of either huge industrial robots working in fenced-off areas in large factories or futuristic cyberbots mimicking human behavior. But between these two scenarios lies a new emerging reality: A class of robots dubbed collaborative robots — or simply cobots — are bridging the gap between fully manual assembly and fully automated manufacturing lines. This new technology is filling automation gaps for larger manufacturers that have processes that couldn't be cost-effectively automated in the past and is bringing the advantages of automation within reach for even small, specialty manufacturers.