#ThoughtsOnRobots: Chatchai Pholmoon

In this interview with OnRobot, Managing Director Chatchai Pholmoon from Brainworks shares his views on the future of collaborative applications. 

According to Chatchai Pholmoon from Thai system integrator Brainworks, the worldwide covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on the use of collaborative applications. 

"Covid-19 has affected the market for collaborative applications because it has opened many companies' eyes for the advantages of using robots instead of doing the work by hand. A good example is the medical industry where some companies previously were a bit reluctant, but today are much more open to speeding up the production with collaborative applications," says Chatchai Pholmoon. 

Easy to deploy

For Chatchai Pholmoon, the biggest advantage for collaborative applications is the ease of use. 

"In the past, it could be more complicated and time consuming to program robots in production environments because each device had its own language and own controllers. But with collaborative applications, it is extremely easy and can be done by everyone. An application can be programmed in as little as half an hour, and the programming is so fast that people often think they are preprogrammed, even though they are not," says Chatchai Pholmoon.

"Deploying a collaborative application is like building with toy blocks, and when we deploy a gripper for a customer, the employees often help when they see how easy it is. Afterwards, they like to play around with the fingers to see how much weight it can carry."

No fences acquired

Another big advantage for collaborative applications is that they can work side by side with employees without any safety precautions.

"Whereas industrial robots require big fences and other safety precautions, collaborative applications can work right next to you. Also, they are both lightweight and flexible, and that means they can be deployed in all kinds of productions environments to help with everything from assembly and packaging to bin picking, quality inspection and surface finishing," says Chatchai Pholmoon.

Just the beggining

In the future, Chatchai Pholmoon predicts an increasing use of collaborative applications in all kinds of industries and sectors. 

"The shortage of labor to perform hard or repetitive tasks has made collaborative applications more attractive in the marketplace, and I think we have just seen the beginning. In my mind, there is no doubt that we will see a greater acceptance of robots in the future when it becomes even more obvious how they can help in all business and domestic areas including the public sector," says Chatchai Pholmoon.

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