The Robot Revolution

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A robot's basic function is not to look or behave like a human being but to do a human's work, and for that it needs mainly a guiding brain (the computer) and an arm with claws for fingers. The computer is simply plugged into an electric outlet; cables run from the computer along the robot's arm and transmit instructions in the form of electric impulses to the claw; for heavy work, robots use hydraulic pressure. The Robot Institute of America, an industrial trade group, therefore offers a contemporary, if somewhat prolix, definition of a robot: "A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools or specialized devices, through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks."

Reprogrammable and multifunctional are the key words. Factories have long used automatic machines (like bottle cappers) to mass-produce goods, but these devices could only perform one task at a time. New work routines required new machinery or extensive retooling. The industrial robots now being installed have control and memory systems, often in the form of minicomputers. These enable the robots to be programmed to carry out a number of work routines and, when necessary, to be reprogrammed to carry out even more.

The fact that the robot's instructions can be changed is critically important to its industrial use. A standard assembly line must produce a large amount (about 1,000 units a day in the auto industry) to operate economically, and it takes months to alter or renovate its component machines; a robot can be reprogrammed for a new task in a few minutes. Furthermore, at least 60% of U.S. manufacturing is done in batches too small for assembly lines. Robots can do many of those jobs, and it is estimated that they can reduce costs in small-lot manufacturing by 80% to 90%.

Now that robots have proved efficient and economical, the main effort is to create "smart" robots and thus give them an ability to make decisions. To become smarter, robots are learning to "see" and "touch," and report to their computer brains what their new senses tell them. To see means to decipher what appears before a TV camera; to touch means to measure not only the size and shape but the temperature, softness or vibration of the object grasped by the claw. Robots can also hear, and could presumably be taught to taste and smell, but these would be mainly indulgences, not necessary to their work ethos. On the other hand, robots are now being outfitted with senses that no human being has: the perception of infrared light and ultrasonic sound.

General Motors has developed a system called Consight that enables a robot equipped with an electronic camera to look at scattered parts on a conveyor, pick them up and transfer them in a specific sequence to another work area. It thus makes rudimentary judgments on which parts to pick up, but it is still too slow for an industrial assembly line. At a well-attended robot exhibition last month in Dearborn, Mich., one of the star attractions was a similar vision system developed by a brand-new company, Machine Intelligence Corp. of Mountain View, Calif. This firm was founded in 1978 by Charles Rosen, 63, a tall, tousledhaired veteran of 21 years at SRI. Says he of his new vision system: "It's still only the beginning. We're at