Traditionally, machine tending refers to humans looking after CNC machines. 

Since the arrival of cobots however, humans are being freed up from the repetitive tasks --opening and closing doors, picking and placing parts, etc-- typically associated with machine tending. 

And cobots are proving extremely successful in this area. 

In fact, machine tending is the most popular application for today's cobots. 

It's easy to see why. Besides freeing up your employees to spend time on more fulfilling tasks, automation reduces human error and can be used to both streamline processes and increase production volume. 

Caption: Robotiq's Dual Gripper offers plug and play integration with Universal Robots' cobots. 

We've set up a machine tending demo at our Automate 2017 booth to show how Robotiq's Dual Gripper can benefit your machine shop and your existing employees.  

In this video, Integration Coach Tyler Berryman explains the demo: 

If you're interested in learning more about machine tending using cobots and Robotiq grippers, we've got some great resources for you: 

Machine Tending: Step-by-step Guide
Machine Loading/Unloading 
Machine Tending Automation w/ Universal Robots 
Machine Tending Playbook 

Last year, New Jersey-based Whippany Actuation Systems used a similar set up to meet increased demand for specialized parts. The Whippany case study has a detailed breakdown. 

The excitement never stops at Automate 2017.

We've been checking out tend.ai's exciting technology this morning and will have a post for you this afternoon all about it!  

Until then...