number of industrial robots installed in
their factories; a good reason they are
one of the world’s top manufacturing
powers. By the end of 2005, Japan
had over 373,000 industrial robots in
place in factories, with the US in a
distant second place with 131,000.
Sweden, Germany, Korea, Canada,
and other countries were soon
installing robots and even manufacturing their own. The UP400RN robot in
Figure 4 is made by Motoman, the
North American name for the
Japanese parent company, Yaskawa.
This company has a line of over 250
different robots for all types of industries, not at all untypical for modern
robot manufacturers. The proverbial
‘yanking the rug from under North
American robot manufacturers’ was
the second pivotal point in the history
of robotics. Actually, the rug wasn’t
yanked; it was handed over.
The ‘Robot
Revolution’ Begins
in the ‘80s
Applications soon spread from
just material handling, spot welding,
and painting to more sophisticated
operations such as vision-aided pick
and place systems. The SCARA
(selective compliance assembly robot
arm) soon became the most popular
robot configuration when it was first
used in 1978 in small assembly
operations such as electronic circuit
board ‘parts insertion.’ Gantry x-y-z
axis robots were developed to handle
large and small parts. AGVs (
automated guided vehicle) took a departure
from fixed base robots and moved
about factory floors carrying parts,
guided by invisible paths on the floor
or by other means. Surveillance and
security robots silently guarded factory
and office floors.
Robot applications were
spreading outside of the typical
factory floor to many new uses. The
Robotic Industries Association (RIA)
and the Robotics International of the
Society of Manufacturing Engineers
(RI/SME) were in their heyday in
the mid-1980s with thousands of
members attending the many industry
shows around the country. The
world’s industries touted all these new
applications for robotic technology as
the Robot Revolution.
Service Robot — a
New Category
A new tide of interest in robotics
began to develop. With varieties of
robots spilling over into all aspects of
life in the early ‘80s, it was natural
for the large electronic kit maker,
Heath, to design a robot kit for the
experimenter and hobbyist (Figure 5).
The Hero 1 was an instant hit, and
a later Hero Jr. and the more
sophisticated Hero 2000 rounded out
the line. With Heath long since out of
business, for those who are interested,
Robert Doerr at www.robots
wanted.com has many Hero parts
and whole robots to sell. Bob also
handles the equally famous RB5X
robot that cost a whopping $2,295 in
1984 (Figure 6).
Nolan Bushnell of Atari fame
started a company called Androbot
and began selling his ready-built TOPO
and BOB robots in early 1983, or as
he stated — “the year 1 AB,” for the
first year of AndroBot, or After Bob,
as others have said. Universities and
community colleges began to offer
courses in robotics for the budding
roboticist — a new buzz word that
began to make the rounds in the late
‘80s. I’m assuming that the word was
derived from robotic and scientist. As
the science of robotics comprises so
many diverse technologies, robotics
FIGURE 5. Hero Robot.
FIGURE 4. Motoman
UP400RN by Yaskawa.
students found their special interests
within mechanical engineering,
electrical engineering, computer
science, physics, computer
engineering, and other technical
fields such as chemistry and optics.
Once the dominate force in
robotics, industrial installations took
a back seat to newer applications.
Robot technology had now spread out
from the factory floor to teleoperators
for remote manipulation, mobile
military robots, and remotely-operated
vehicles for under the sea, on the
ground, and in the air. Medical
applications were replacing the
surgeon, floors were being cleaned by
robots, and medicines delivered by
robot couriers in hospitals. Robots
snaked their way through pipes for
inspection, crawled up the sides of
buildings to clean windows, delivered
food to tables in restaurants, and
entertained us in our homes.
FIGURE 6. RB5X.
SERVO 07.2008 79
