COBE industrial collaborative being might better the relationship between humans & robots

aiming to establish a better relationship between humans and smart technological objects, michal leschinsky has introduced the COBE reconfigured robotic arm. communicating through light and movement, the newly designed robot can collaborate with its human companion harmoniously and effectively. COBE is leschinsky’s graduation project at the holon institute of technology, israel.

COBE and designer
all images courtesy of michal leschinsky

COBE by michal leschinsky was created based on a pre-existing robotic arm, completely redesigned in order to create good interaction and communication with its human colleagues. the robot communicates its direction of movement using right and left signal lights, located on its head area. the signal lights precede the motion, offering humans the opportunity to be prepared and anticipate the robot’s moves. 

right and left signal lights indicate the motion direction

the lighting signals showcase a wide range of shades, intensities, and rhythms, allowing for precision in the messages they convey. the lighting colors derive from an industrial light tower – green lighting while working, orange lighting while waiting and red lighting during malfunction. the human worker communicates with COBE through hand gestures, as a middle ground between human and machine nature.

the inner components of the mechanical structure are enclosed by an aluminum shell, while in the joints area a plastic shell is added, allowing easy excess to the motors. the color of the plastic shells matches the work uniform in each factory, because COBE is also a factory worker, although a little different. in addition, each COBE is named by the workers who, in this way, gain an increased sense of caring and responsibility towards it. 

a robotic entity that does not resemble a familiar animal or object, but is still intuitive to understand

‘the main problems with robots in factories today, is the lack of good communication’ as michal leschinsky shares. since many people are not able to understand robots’ intentions, they end up deterring and disliking them. however, designing tools of expression like the ones in COBE seems to be the solution to this issue.

six degrees of freedom means six motors and joints – the design features simple geometry, accessible and not intimidating, with a great deal of affordance

the ‘head’ – a very important part of how we understand a living thing

according to predictions, the factories of the future will employ several robots working simultaneously and a human supervisor to manage them and complete the tasks the robots are not suitable for

project info:

name: COBE – industrial collaborative being
designer: michal leschinsky

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: myrto katsikopoulou | designboom