RTC Magazine

Automated robots are popping up more and more in factories and critical field applications. From robotic arms to freestanding and mobile “helping” machines programmed to perform multiple tasks, robotic automation is changing the way many organizations do business. No longer passed off as the stuff of science fiction, this trend is becoming more real every day, as organizations are tasked with obtaining optimum efficiency, reducing headcount and costs, and maintaining workplace safety.

As the technology and computing platforms behind it continue to improve, the benefits of robotics within an automation environment become more apparent. Adaptable, small and rugged, today’s crop of computing platforms for automated robots offers a variety of advantages that enable them to do what and go where humans cannot for optimum safety and efficiency.

ETX technology has become a key factor in advancing automation designs in safety products, control modules, sensors and switches. A closer look at the specific advantages ETX 3.0 offers makes the connection between this standard and the advancement of robotic automation more apparent.

Robotics Poised for Growth

Manufacturers in all industries are recognizing that significant increases in productivity can be realized by implementing the appropriate mix of established and emerging automation technologies. One of the key automation technologies characterizing this blend of conventional expertise with enabling technology is robotics.

The older industrial robotics segment consists of immobile, single-task robots that have little interaction with humans or the world around them. They are often termed industrial robots because they are exclusively employed in manufacturing and factory floor automation. These feature articulated robotic arms to position components and tooling to achieve the required accuracy for spot welding cars, painting or checking for irregularities in assembled products.

The newer generation is mobile, interactive robotic devices with a high degree of intelligence built into them. These robots are able to freely interact with humans, other robots and their surroundings. When combined with the use of automated methods, this new breed of robotics can provide significant performance and productivity in medicine, defense, space and underwater exploration, service industries and manufacturing applications.

These intelligent machines and systems can do work too dirty, too dangerous, too precise or too tedious for humans. iRobot Corp., a company that specializes in behavior-based robots that help people complete tasks with better results, claims that its adaptable, tough and reliable robots “go where you can’t, shouldn’t or don’t want to.”

The U.S. military has been developing robotic systems for all sorts of jobs for years now, and some of them are even on the front lines in Iraq. iRobot already has commercialized a broad range of tactical mobile robots to keep military personnel out of harm’s way and tackle a variety of missions. These include surveillance and reconnaissance, bomb disposal, bomb identification, checkpoint, inspection and explosive detection, route clearance, sniper detection and force protection, perimeter patrol and resupply, among other critical missions.

Despite a recent slowdown, the outlook for the robotics industry continues to be optimistic. According to Dedham, MA-based ARC Advisory Group, “The robotics market will continue to be driven by innovation. Advances in the methods in which humans interact and work with robots and the ability of robots to work together will drive the market forward. Also driving market growth will be industries that may not have previously considered robotics but have applications that can be effectively performed by them.”

ARC adds, “The growth is driven by small- and medium-sized businesses in developed markets and strong sales in developing markets like China, India, Korea and Taiwan. The hardware market was US$3,590 million in 2005 and is forecasted to be over US$5,118 million in 2010.”

Academics promise to help boost the robotics industry even further. Georgia Tech recently announced that it will offer the first American interdisciplinary doctoral degree in robotics. The degree program will be part of the university’s new Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines and aims to prepare researchers for the expanding global robotics market.