The Rapidly Expanding Realm of Industrial Robotics

            David J. Yearick COSC 100 A Prof.  Tucker Dec.  11, 1984 Robots

          have been  in  science  fiction novels and movies for many years,

          but not until recent years have robots beome a reality.  Now they

          are constantly being improved, coming ever nearer to  the  robots

          of science fiction.  A  robot  according  to Webster's dictionary

          is:

               1a:  a  machine  in  the form of  a  human  being  that
               performs the  mechanical functions of a human being but
               lacks emotion and sensitivity b: an automatic apparatus
               or device that performs functions  ordinarily  ascribed
               to human beings and operates with what  appears  to  be
               almost human intelligence


          Robots are now entering into the homes of people, and can do such

          things as serving drinks and walking the dog.  Industrial  robots

          are  also  becoming  very  common  in  the  industrial  world  of

          manufacturing.


            Currently, industrial  robots are programmed to do one specific

          task.  Programming  a robot involves instructing the machine, for

          example,  where  to move its arm, when to tighten  its  grippers,

          etc.[1]  Today  the  jobs  of a robot are not extemely difficult.

          Robots mostly  are  doing  much of the work which people dislike,

          such  as  spot  welding,  spray painting, and  simple  assembling

          ----------

          1. Timothy O. Knight, Probots and People, New York:  McGraw-Hill,
                                _______ ___ ______
          Inc.  1984, p.  14.



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          jobs.


            Manufacturers are becoming very  attracted  to  robots for many

          resons: they  never get sick (occasional breakdowns); they cannot

          be harmed by radiation, dust or contamination;  they  never  grow

          weary; they don't ask for  higher  wages; and they don't complain

          about bad working  conditions.[2]   Additionally,  they work with

          extraordinary precision, accuracy and speed.


            Robots can perform the work of  several  humans,  and  in  some

          recently built factories,  robots  do  absolutely everything.  In

          Florence,   KY,   Japan's  Yamazaki  Machinery  Works   built   a

          $15-million  machine-tool parts plant (completed in 1983),  which

          is entirely automated.  It only requires  six  human  workers  to

          tend to its master computer and sweep the floors.  A good example

          to show the speed of these high-tech robots is at a factory built

          by General Motors in Erie,  PA.  Here the robots build locomative

          motor frames.  What would take 68 skilled  machine  operaters  16

          days to build, takes the robot 1 day without any humans.[3]


            On a smaller scale, robots play a fairly significant role a the

          Corning Glass Works Health and  Science  Group  Science  Products

          ----------

          2. Ibid p.16.

          3. "The Factory of the Future," Newsweek, 6 Sept.  1982, p.69.
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          Division in Oneonta, NY. Here are presently employed 167  people,

          43 salaried workers and 124 factory workers.  There  are also six