How is the market for cobots developing?
It doesn't really matter whether you look at the latest IFR report or another source for reliable figures, everyone agrees that the market is growing, and fast. On the one hand, the number of cobot providers is increasing worldwide, and the systems are becoming even easier to operate, thus lowering the barrier to entry. The number of applications is also growing. While we often start with simple pick & place applications, we have already implemented projects with more demanding tasks such as gluing, screwing or palletizing. Gripper manufacturers are also following suit and developing ever more powerful models that are easy to implement. The charming thing is that employees are experiencing a kind of evolution of their workplace, moving away from the monotonous "A to B" to actively developing and creating cobot software using drag & drop tools, without having to study IT. We have close partnerships with many of these manufacturers.

How is the acceptance of cobots in smaller companies and among employees in general?
We are making good progress here! Until now, the acquisition costs for classic industrial robots were simply too high and therefore the barrier to entry was too high, especially for SMEs. We are trying to show how easy it is to use collaborative robots by holding numerous information events, including virtual ones. We are meeting with great approval from employees, as they increasingly understand that robots do not take away their jobs, but rather enhance them and make them safer. The simplicity of the systems, but also of the peripheral devices, offers more and more application possibilities, especially in the high-mix, low-volume sector. The message is: yes, we know that deploying robots is risky, but doing nothing is even riskier - for the company and for the job. At this point, I would like to add that the active involvement of the works council is also important. Ruhr University Bochum has developed guidelines for the introduction of human-robot collaboration, which we very much welcome.

In your opinion, what direction will developments in the field of HRC take in the coming years?
First of all, we can already see that the use of cobots will leave the purely industrial sector. As I mentioned earlier, the medical sector is also interested in using cobots, but also increasingly mobile robots, to spare us humans and bring us closer to the patient again. We are also seeing more and more examples of applications from the hotel and catering industry on the relevant social media platforms. The global value of these service robots increased by 32% to 11.2 billion dollars between 2018 and 2019. In combination with a mobile robot platform, there are even more exciting fields of application. Personally, I am really happy to be living in this exciting time and to be able to witness how robotics is helping us to improve our quality of work and life.

What developments can we expect in industrial robots?
In principle, the proportion of industrial robots will continue to grow. They will also become easier to operate and more powerful. I am convinced that the rapid development of communication platforms such as OPC UA or MQTT will open up new possibilities. Of course, artificial intelligence must also be mentioned in this context, because in order to have solutions for predictive maintenance and OEE, it is not only necessary to collect and evaluate data, but also to derive forecasts and recommendations for action.

Omron has been working for years on products that can achieve this. These technologies will certainly also find their way into robotics and further advance the desired harmony between man and machine.

If an idea is to become a trend, then the benefits for a large group of users must be clearly recognizable. If this idea offers an answer to the shortage of labor, for example, then robotics will also become increasingly important for maintaining jobs and not, as is often assumed, seen as a job killer.