If you are currently working in the manufacturing industry or similar field, you’ve likely heard the terms industrial automation, robotic process automation, test automation, robotic machine tending, or robotics thrown around regularly. What exactly do all of these terms mean? You likely have a general idea of what some of these terms mean just by looking at the names. However, this doesn’t mean that you know everything you need to know. And, you would not be alone. A lot of people in similar fields are wondering the same thing. Many business owners are asking themselves if automation is right for them and if robotics and automation are the same things. Luckily, you’ve come to the right place.
Do You Need Automation Or Robotics?
First things first, if you are a business owner, you’ve likely pondered this question in the past year or so. The quick answer would be that it really depends on your current business needs. You have to question yourself, are there any tasks in your business currently done by humans that are repetitive and boring? Are there any tasks that are holding back your overall productivity? Are these physical tasks or virtual tasks? If you can think of one physical situation where automation or robotics could improve your overall productivity then you are without a doubt a good candidate for either. And you may consider having wire edm machines for your business that incredibly long mean times between failures, low maintenance, longevity and excellent uptimes, these future-proof spark erosion machines are designed to save time and drive down unit costs while ensuring outstanding accuracy and cutting efficiency. If the tasks in question are virtual in nature, you might be a better candidate for software automation.
A Look At Automation And Robotics
If you look at the definition of the two terms, you can clearly see the differences between automation and robotics. Automation pretty much means utilizing computer software, machines, and other technologies to carry out tasks that would otherwise be done by a human. As of right now, there are tons of types of automation that range from fully mechanical to the fully virtual. They also range from the very simple to the extremely mind-blowing. A collaborative robot dispensing system would be the perfect example of a mixture of the two.
That aside, robotics is something else entirely. Robotics is a branch of engineering that incorporates multiple disciplines to design, build, program, and use robotic machines. There are obviously going to be crossovers between the two, as robots can be used to automate some physical tasks in the manufacturing industry. However, most of these types of automation have nothing to do with physical robots. Many branches of robotics also have nothing at all to do with automation.
A Closer Look At Automation
There is currently a lot of talk about automation in the manufacturing industry these days. As a business owner, you’ve likely considered it yourself. That being said, you need to know that there are two types of automation available right now. This would be software automation and industrial automation. Software automation was discussed a bit above and pretty much means utilizing computer programs to carry out tasks that humans would normally do. The robot dispensing machine would be the perfect example. Industrial automation, on the other hand, is about controlling physical processes. It involves utilizing physical machines and control systems to automate tasks in an industrial setting. An autonomous factory would be a perfect example of this.
