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Robots: Our plastic pals who are fun to be with?

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Nick Hampshire ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 10 Nov 2005 10:30 GMT

...of human input. With a population that is both aging and demanding a higher standard of living that can only come from higher productivity and greater levels of automation, such knowledge is very important to Japanese companies.

Toyota's walking robot, ideal for the elderly

Climb a flight of steps
The walking and dancing humanoid service robots are also the public face of a thriving and successful Japanese robotics industry that employs thousands and not only supplies robots to enthusiastic Japanese homes and businesses but exports robots for use by manufacturers all around the world. Japan is today the acknowledged centre of the world's robotics industry. They are not only the biggest source of industrial robots, they are also the biggest user and they use them in the widest range of applications.

According to recent statistics published by the UN and the International Federation of Robotics, in 2004 Japan had over 352,200 multipurpose industrial robots installed in its factories and is adding to that number by over 33,200 per annum. These robots are not just being used in the welding and painting lines in car factories, they are being used for all sorts of things, from food manufacturing to horticulture and cleaning to product assembly.

While the US with an installed base of 121,300 robots is well behind Japan, Europe is catching up fast with 266,100, Germany alone accounting for 121,500. Italy is the second biggest robot user in Europe with 53,100, but the UK lags way behind at just 14,600, even fewer than Spain's 22,000.

US well behind
The automotive industry has, of course, been one of the biggest driving forces behind both the development and use of multipurpose industrial robots. They have been used not simply to replace human employees in dangerous occupations, but also to both improve the quality of manufacturing — by improving the precision of operations like spot welding — and to enable more flexible manufacture. In this instance new models can be produced on the same line by simply reprogramming the robots as opposed to complete retooling.

In countries like France and Spain, the automotive industry accounts for about 65 percent of the number of installed industrial robots, however, the much wider application of robots in Japan means that there, this figure drops to just 29.9 percent. The only other country that comes close to Japan in the more general purpose usage of robots is Italy with a figure of 37 percent.

According to BARA's Young it is, "the poor state of the automotive industry in the UK over the last 20 years, coupled with a general decline in manufacturing, that is largely responsible for the failure by UK companies to use robots". However, he also felt that it was due to a cultural problem in the UK. "People feel they have to do the work, putting a robot in to do a job seems to go against what we think is right and this cultural factor seems to apply to both workers and management. It is not something that exists in countries like Italy."

Poor state of UK automotive industry
The importance of the robotics industry to Europe has recently been brought to the fore by Ulf Dahlsten, the EU's emerging technologies director in Brussels. Dahlsten has urged EU businesses...

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