Innovations in Manufacturing: Performance Analysis of Collaborative Robots

Today's world is at the threshold of the fourth industrial revolution, the implementation of which allows going to the new technological stage. The widespread deployment of information and communication technologies in all areas of economic development allows to talk about a new direction - a digital economy based on creating products and services through the use of the most innovative digital technologies that allow to form new business models that provide a new qualitative breakthrough in economic development. One of the drivers of the digital economy is Industry 4.0, the task of which is focused on creating "smart production" capable of integrating into all spheres of human life, ensuring the full integration of various spheres of life activity of a single individual. One of the main components of Industry 4.0 is the mass introduction of robotics, both in industrial production, services, and in the daily life of every person. One of the innovative areas of modern robotics - collaborative robots - are analyzed in the paper, which were developed only a few years ago. A large-scale study of the global collaborative robots market was carried out; its volumes were evaluated both on financial indicators and on absolute values. A comparative assessment of the development of collaborative robots and the entire industrial robotics market was made, and based on the analysis, the further prospects of this innovative robotics were considered. Particular attention in the paper is paid to the issues of collaboration between workers and collaborative robots, ensuring close integration of the robot and the worker in one workplace. When information projects are implemented, the main task is to assess the economic feasibility of implementing an information system that allows to increase labor productivity and reduce costs. In this regard, a model for evaluating the economic efficiency of implementing and operating collaborative robots is proposed in this paper, which was tested for Russian enterprises. The modeling results in that the collaborative robot is quite effective at implementation, the cost of its application is expected to pay off in an average of four years.