工业机器人应该是一门激发制造商想象力的学科, 然而，这些几乎影响到每一个制造过程(以及每一个制造讨论)的技术是一个充满误解的主题. 机器人技术在许多制造商和机器操作员的头脑中跨越了一条线——这条线标志着对我们工作的理解的界限, our performance, and our potential for improvement.

也许更明显的是，机器人技术存在于任何特定制造专业技术(金属铸造)的参数之外, for example. 对于许多机器人开发者来说，铸造厂和压铸厂是一个明确的市场领域, 然而，编程和操作这些装置所需的技能是在冶金之外的, mechanical, or design engineering that characterizes most metalcasting personnel.

But look at these facts: Global shipments of industrial robots totaled 240,000 units in 2015, up from 159,000 units in 2012. 销量的增长主要是由汽车制造商和汽车供应链上的制造商推动的, and consequently, 在汽车制造业高度集中的国家，“机器人密度”更高. 例如，在日本，每1万名汽车工人中安装了1562个工业机器人.

不要认为工业机器人的需求是持平或下降:最近ABB有限公司. made it known that it is expanding production at its ABB Robotics business unit, including at a new robot manufacturing center in Michigan, which produced and shipped its first robot earlier this year.

Of course, ABB机器人公司是制造自动化设备的开发商之一，专门设计和配备自动化设备，以执行诸如处理易碎的岩心和沉重的砂型等任务, pouring and treating hot metal, tending diecasting machines, or finish-grinding high volumes of cast parts. These tasks are demanding and risky for human operators, but robotizing the workflow is often the means to higher throughput, greater productivity, and lower manufacturing costs.

对于金属铸造操作员来说，机器人安装后的新生产能力的潜力并不总是显而易见的. Again, 这可能表明他们更熟悉自己的制造学科，而不是工业机器人的平行活动. Frequently, 新的机器人能力已经在其他一些行业开创，并适应了特定的铸造需求.

If some metalcasters and other manufacturers are wary of adopting robotics, they may be sensing the enormity of the organizational change that will follow. Last fall, Stratasys和西门子为我们提供了一个机会，让我们得以一窥机器人是如何在更为广阔的数字化制造概念中充当纽带的, Industry 4.0 or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT.)

Of course, Stratasys is a developer of additive manufacturing systems, 以及增材制造零件的生产商-包括用于熔模铸造的3d打印蜡模. In one of their collaborations, Stratasys和西门子建立了从西门子的NX CAD/CAM/CAE软件到Stratasys的GrabCAD打印平台的链接，这样产品设计师和制造商将拥有“从设计到3d打印的无缝工作流程”. Last fall, 他们展示了Stratasys机器人复合3D演示器，该演示器结合了西门子的产品生命周期管理(PLM)软件及其运动控制和CNC自动化技术, to produce performance-grade parts in a workcell.

Stating an intention to help customers adopt “a new manufacturing mindset,西门子的一位高管表示，与Stratsys的合作使他们走上了“按需生产和大规模定制”的道路.”

看管这种增材制造过程的机器人就像看管高压压铸机一样容易, or setting cores or pouring metal into a mold. 对未来生产的洞察是产品设计如何与生产编程需求相协调, 以及这些信息是如何传递到制造发生的工作单元的..

“Siemens’ capability and commitment to the digital enterprise vision, along with its close collaboration with Stratasys, can help many industries realize shorter time-to-market, 通过水平(机器对机器)和垂直(工厂和顶层到工厂)集成实现操作灵活性并提高工作流程效率,” according to Arun Jain, of Siemens Digital Factory business.

去年秋天，合作伙伴展示的演示单元集中在Stratasys熔融沉积建模(FDM)增材制造系统上, 本身基于可扩展和可伸缩的体系结构，可以与其他流程集成(减法制造), forming, inline inspection and verification, product finishing) to produce designs optimized for weight and performance. It is a new hybrid manufacturing approach.

The workflow is rooted in Siemens’ NX software, which allows designers to create parts, simulate the production, evaluate the design for manufacturability, and generate and send the manufacturing instructions for part production. 制造绩效受到控制，并直接传达给制造运营管理系统.

这种从cad到产品的工作流程简化了生产，并确保了可追溯性和零件质量, 它代表了一个以自动化生产为中心的制造过程模板，其中机器人是链条中的一个环节.

Another robotics expert, Comau, also relies on the Industry 4.0概念和“未来工厂”之类的短语，将制造商的注意力集中在其发展上. Earlier this year it demonstrated a work cell with multiple automation units, including guided vehicles. “通过使用‘网络物理单元’，生产过程变得更加清晰,’ which are intelligent, easy-to-use, capable of working independently, and in total safety” with human operators.

Physical installations like these work cells project flexible, scalable, and well-coordinated manufacturing operations, but the technology informing and guiding such systems are interactive, addressable, and fully connected to a much broader network of data and activity. If this is a view of the near future of manufacturing, 一些制造商可能需要更多的帮助来理解如何管理和编程这样一个开放式的愿景.

That creates an opening for another new concept in the robotics space, “Lean Robotics,” pioneered by Robotiq CEO Samuel Bouchard.  His company is a primary developer of collaborative robotics, so the emphasis on programming and functional control is fitting.

Lean Robotics is also the name of Bouchard’s book, 在书中，他详细介绍了一种方法，他认为每个制造工厂都可以采用这种方法来简化机器人工作单元的部署. The goal of such deployments, he indicated, is to resolve the well-documented skills shortage, to gear up faster for new production programs, and to save manufacturing costs. In each of these it’s clear that the plant operators are managing the deployment, and the programming — in other words, 他们的监督作用在机器人系统中并不明显，因为机器人系统中网络连接和数据交换是优先考虑的.

“If you're a first-time robot user, how can you get started?” Bouchard asks. “How do you get from your initial idea to a productive, working robot? If you’ve already got a few robotic deployments under your belt, 如何在整个工厂(或跨多个工厂)中扩大机器人工作的规模?”

“Lean”, of course, is a familiar approach for manufacturers, 它在机器人技术前沿的应用必然会吸引一些追随者. The Lean robotics methodology emphasizes that robots are tools for humans to use, and it identifies human technical skills that should be instilled in operators, and applied in order to optimize robotic operations, continuously.