The role of collaborative robots in the Industry 5.0 era

Press: This is the first time that the American Robotics Association has proposed Industry 5.0, emphasizing human-machine collaboration and leveraging each other's strengths.

For a long time, the goal of the manufacturing industry has been simple, focusing on digital communication and data collection, creating intelligent and automated production processes to continuously optimize production.

This production model is called 'Industry 4.0'. It is actually a broad term that encompasses many concepts such as cyber physical systems, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, cognitive computing, and artificial intelligence.

However, there may be a better system that emphasizes the role of collaborative robots and the value of human intervention.

Industry 5.0

Compared with Industry 4.0, Industry 5.0 aims to bring the concept of people-oriented back to the product development and production process. Industry 5.0 is actually about empowering workers with the advantages of robots, such as high precision and heavy-duty handling capabilities, which enable humans to easily complete heavy or repetitive work, while achieving better control and personalization at various production stages.

Unlike Industry 4.0, which is mainly characterized by automation, the advantage of Industry 5.0 mode is that it makes customization more potential and work more creative. Of course, this type of work refers to long-term, high-value work. Let robots do monotonous, dangerous, dirty and messy work, while humans do creative and interesting work. This type of technician is called a 'new leader'. New collar workers do not necessarily need to obtain a four-year degree, but they need to master new technologies and soft skills, which will become the future of the manufacturing industry.

Collaborative Robots Lead Industry 5.0

Industry 4.0 focuses on ensuring consistency in product quality, production processes, and data collection, while Industry 5.0 is committed to achieving these goals while paying more attention to the collaboration between highly skilled personnel and robots, producing more personalized products for customers from smartphones to cars.

在工业4.0时代，人类和机器人是独立工作的。他们可能在同一条生产线上工作，但是他们的工作区域划有明确的界限。

在工业 5.0时代，随着人类和机器人开始并肩甚至一起工作，这种界限划分变得更加模糊。这种类型的机器人被称为协作机器人，它们将完成重型吊装等工作，确保一致性，而技术人员需要发挥其匠人的认知技能。

在这种生产环境下，协作机器人将改变人与机器之间的关系。

以人为本

协作机器人和工业5.0的核心之一在于对人工的高质量要求，而非当前简单的交互模式。应用协作机器人可以让人类和机器人共同完成一项任务，比如，机器人先对音响外壳做粗略的打磨处理，然后再由人工进行细致抛光和现场质量控制。

协作机器人与工业5.0代表了机器人技术和生产模式的新时代。

消息来源：美国机器人协会