When you ask someone what they think a robot is, they will most likely tell you it is a machine that mocks human capabilities. In real sense, they are not wrong in any way except for the fact that robots cannot portray human emotions or rather exhibit similar brain function to a human being.
Most robots we come across do tasks that are strenuous, tedious, and dull. That said, industrial robot manufacturers build these machines to perform an array of functions and in a variety of areas that include food processing, automobile production, manufacturing, lab experiments, among others.
To fulfill the needs of all these areas, robots generally must have certain features that will warrant companies to purchase them and utilize them to the optimum. Investing in a robot is no small deed because these machines are expensive. This will be an in-depth review of those characteristics.
Indispensable Features of Industrial Robots
Intelligence
A robot should be nifty or preferably exhibit features that show ingenuity. A robot should have characteristics such as machine learning where it is able to analyze patterns and therefore not reliant on an operator to function
Robots should also allow for software design that is executed by a qualified technician. Instructions will be fed to the machine using computer-aided design software, and the device should be able to execute tasks with little or no supervision meticulously.
Flexibility
It is very crucial for production that a robot is flexible. This is because, in production, a robotic arm is moved as much as it is necessary to complete its tasks all without fatigue. Flexible robots can also be reused, reprogrammed, and reconditioned to save on capital inputs.
Human integration
Powerful robots are those that, even though independent in carrying out their tasks, they leave a door open for human integration. That said, robots have displaced the human workforce in production, but still, human input is needed, and robots rely on human beings for some functions.
Robots can only do so much that human beings cannot do. For instance, they cannot make decisions that only human beings can. When it comes to areas such as case management and analytics, human beings and robots work hand in hand.
Sensing the surrounding
Any industrial robot must have a sense of its surrounding. This will be exhibited in a similar way to how human beings sense their surroundings.
This made possible by an array of sensors mainly: light sensors that portray eyesight, chemical sensors that depict smell, touch, and pressure sensors that represent touch, sonar radars, which will portray hearing and taste sensors to portray the tongue. This will give the robot a sense of its environment.
Self-sustenance
A robot ought to have the capability to power itself in order to carry out tasks. Fueling can be in the form of green energy, solar power, or battery power. How a robot is powered is purely dependent on its workload.
Plug and Play capability
This is a feature of robots that enable them to work immediately; they are connected to power on a production line. Plug and play can allow for third party integration and can also allow for running by non-programmers.
For plug and play to function, there are some crucial things needed. A plug and play is an input-output system that is tasked with detecting the device. It also recognizes the operating system, such as any version of Windows that completes the configuration process.
Movement
A robot should have the capability to move in its workspace. This can be in the form of mechanical limbs, rolling on fitted wheels, or propelling by thrusters. To be considered as a robot, it should move as a whole as the Sojourner rover did on Mars or part of the robot moves; an arm, for instance.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, for a robot to be useful in a work environment, there are features it must possess, as illustrated above. It is the mandate of the entrepreneur to ensure that the machine meets this criterion before purchasing.