Poll Says Over One Fourth of Respondents Will Use Cobots in Packaging Operations in 2016

According to data from a new poll, it appears the use of cobots in the packaging operation industry is on the rise in 2016, which shows the expansion potential this robotic automation will have in packaging operations going forward.

A 2016 Winter Packaging Digest online poll conducted during the month of February shows over one-fourth of those polled, or 27% to be exact, were already using cobots in their packaging operations or said they were planning to this year.

“Are you using cobots in your packaging operations or plan to in 2016?” was not the only question asked in this Packaging Digest poll. “How do you feel about cobots?” and “Are you familiar with collaborative robots, or cobots?” were also questions asked as part of the poll.

The presence of collaborative robots has become more prominent at industry tradeshows recently, which made the early results of the latter question, that 60% of respondents were not familiar with cobots, surprising.

While respondents were a bit all over the map when answering how they feel about cobots, it seems those who had doubts about factors such as speed or palletizing have a new cobot to look into. Nonetheless, no matter how we feel about cobots now, it’s safe to say they’re part of the future in the packaging operations industry. Familiarizing ourselves with them sooner than later is probably a good idea.