Automation processes and robots have shown rapid growth over the years and have become the key factor in achieving efficiency in the industrial production processes. The International Federation of Robotics foresees a growth rate of 10% between 2011 and 2013 in the automation industry.
Acquiring competent and well qualified personnel is important to boost the growth of industrial automation. There is a dearth for well qualified personnel even in educational and training institutes specialising in robotics and mechatronics. Students need to be given practical training along with sound theoretical background in order to address the demands of the industry.
Denso Educational Robotics
One of the drawbacks in the robotic courses offered by the Universities was the lack of practical exposure to the working of the robotic systems. This was due to the Universities not being able to afford the costly robotic equipment. Therefore, there was a lack of specialists in the technical aspects of robotics and other scientific professions in Germany. This indirectly posed as an impediment to the growth of robotic technology in Germany.
DENSO, a Japanese robot manufacturer, has developed a small 7 axis-robots that comes with many advanced features and at an affordable cost. These robots come as a solution to many Universities who can now afford to give their students practical exposure to robotic concepts. These academic robots will be made available in the German market in 2011. The robots facilitate easy and safe learning for students studying robotics. These robots are tiny 7 axis-robots, which are specifically designed for factory automation and academic learning and training purposes. Yosuke Sawada, the European Coordinator for Denso, claims that the educational robots offer many advantages such as affordability, easy transportability, easy integration into various applications and simple programming. He added that the robot comes with an in-built moicrocomputer and does not need an external microcontroller and can be operated by a PC or a Laptop. The safety fence is not required for operating the robot. With companies like Denso creating affordable educational robots, Universities would be able to produce technically competent students having a sound practical knowledge of the concepts.