Robots Aren't Just for Auto Assembly Plants

New designs allow broad use, improved efficiencies in manufacturing.

By Jim Ostroff, Associate Editor, The Kiplinger Letter

September 26, 2008

Justine, a robo-barista, should be serving up a cup of java in a few years, but for now, her robotic brothers and sisters are being pressed into service to boost manufacturers' productivity. They're taking over more functions on the factory floor, especially repetitive or potentially dangerous ones, which is a far cry from auto assembly lines where they've toiled for decades doing spot welding and tightening bolts.

A barrage of technological breakthroughs has given the 'bots new smarts and nimbleness during the past decade. That allows companies to use the robots more for tasks such as cutting and packaging poultry, meat and fish, as well as testing food samples for safety.

"Advances in machine vision, miniaturization and artificial intelligence enable robots to pick up small objects and adjust their performance as needed," says Jeffrey Burnstein, executive vice president of the Robotic Industries Association, a trade group -- for example, whether an assembly line slows or different-sized coffee cups need to be served.

The robot count in the U.S. should double to about 350,000 within 10 years, but the surge will be based on more than just on labor cost containment calculations. The other considerations will include accuracy, speed and the fact that the robots never fatigue, which improves efficiency and productivity. "These devices make very few mistakes, whether assembling products or cutting sushi," says Burnstein.

That's why robotic systems are making inroads into every nook and cranny of manufacturing, such as assembling solar and wind power systems, fuel cells and advanced batteries. They're on the assembly line making nearly defect-free cell phones, computers, TVs and other advanced consumer electronics, all but obviating the need for costly product recalls. That's also revving-up businesses for robotic systems manufacturers such as Fanuc Robotics, ABB and Adept Technology, as well as key suppliers that make machine vision systems -- Cognex, Isra Vision and Braintech, to name a few.

The demand for courses in designing, building and programming robots is on the rise. And some day soon, students will be able to get their pre- and post-class coffee buzz served up by a robot "working" at a place like Starbucks or some other coffee chain. Dexmart, a European-based consortium, is fine-tuning Justine's java-serving capabilities. Meanwhile, Discovery Ice Cream already offers adult education courses in robot design and programming. And its no-name 'bots serve ice cream at its in-house dessert shops.

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