The features of collaborative robots (cobots), like lightweight, easy programming, and flexibility, meet the production automation requirements in SMEs. However, SME productions are usually in semi-structured or cluttered environments, which raises major challenges in implementing cobot systems in SME production, for instance, increasing the visual perception of cobots, handling diverse tasks, and fast deploying cobot systems, etc. Therefore, we propose an automation framework for SME production by addressing these challenges with cobots to facilitate their production. First, the learning-based vision system is developed and implemented with the You Only Look Once (YOLOv5) for object detection, and with the Convolutional Neural Network cascaded with a Support Vector Machine (CNN-SVM) for quality control of products. Then, the multi-functional gripper system is designed and fabricated to be capable of performing multiple operations and tasks without tool changing, and be able to tolerate a certain level of changes in the environment. After that, a digital twin of the robotic system is developed, which enables the system developer to save time in troubleshooting and debugging, and the customers to have a customized model with all the elements and functions required before system deployment. Finally, the onsite testing of the integrated system is conducted in collaboration with our SME industrial partner, and the test results show that the cobot system can perform the automated production process well and accurately. It is feasible to extend the application of such a cobot system to other SME productions.

协作机器人（cobots）具有轻便、易编程、灵活等特点，满足了中小企业生产自动化的需求。然而，中小企业生产通常处于半结构化或杂乱的环境中，这对在中小企业生产中实施协作机器人系统提出了重大挑战，例如，增加协作机器人的视觉感知、处理多样化的任务以及快速部署协作机器人系统等。因此，我们通过协作机器人解决这些挑战以促进其生产，从而为中小企业生产提出了一个自动化框架。首先，开发和实施基于学习的视觉系统，使用 You Only Look Once (YOLOv5) 进行物体检测，并使用卷积神经网络级联支持向量机 (CNN-SVM) 进行产品质量控制。然后，多功能夹具系统的设计和制造能够在不更换工具的情况下执行多种操作和任务，并且能够承受一定程度的环境变化。之后，机器人系统的数字双胞胎被开发出来，这使得系统开发人员能够节省故障排除和调试的时间，并让客户在系统部署之前拥有一个包含所有所需元素和功能的定制模型。最后，与我们的中小企业工业合作伙伴合作对集成系统进行了现场测试，测试结果表明协作机器人系统能够很好、准确地执行自动化生产过程。将这种协作机器人系统的应用扩展到其他中小企业生产是可行的。