Interview
4 Whilst Europe waits to see how the problems with the Euro will be resolved, there is a technology that could help Europe to recover from the recession, and that is robotics. Jon Severn discussed this with Dr Shinsuke Sakakibara, the President of IFR (International Federation of Robotics), which is currently promoting the philosophy that ‘robots create jobs’.
4 Tandis que l’Europe attend de voir comment les problèmes liés à l’euro seront résolus, il existe une technologie qui pourrait aider l’Europe à se relever de la récession : il s’agit de la robotique. Jon Severn en a discuté avec le Dr Shinsuke Sakakibara, Président de l’IFR (International Federation of Robotics), qui fait actuellement la promotion de la philosophie «Les robots peuvent créer de l’emploi».
4 Während Europa noch abwartet, wie sich die Probleme mit dem Euro lösen werden, gibt es bereits eine Technologie, die Europa aus der Rezession helfen könnte: die Robotertechnik. Jon Severn sprach mit Dr. Shinsuke Sakakibara, Präsident des IFR (internationaler Robotik- Verband), der momentan die Philosophie vertritt, dass „Roboter Jobs schaffen“.
How robots can play a role in Europe’s economic recovery
I
ndustrial robots have been with us for around 50 years and are now crucial to the efficient and flexible production of high-quality automobiles, electronic devices and countless other products. It is estimated that at the
end of 2010 there were over one million industrial robots operating worldwide. However, the market for industrial robots suffered badly in the recession, with the number of shipments falling to 60 000 units worldwide in 2009, which was a 47 per cent decrease compared with 2008. Nevertheless, the market recovered quickly, with shipments in 2010 (118 000 units) being marginally higher than for 2008. As an aside, the European market currently accounts for 25 per cent of the global shipments.
recovery were automotive and electrical/electronics. Compared with the numbers of industrial robots, the global shipments of professional service robots appear small, at under 14 000 for 2010. Of these, around 75 per cent were for defence or field applications. But approximately 2.2 million service robots were sold for personal and domestic use, which is an increase of 35 per cent compared with 2009. Most of these 2.2 million robots are relatively low-cost products such as vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, and entertainment and leisure robots. While the numbers of robots for assisting handicapped people are still relatively low, it is thought that there is potential for a large increase over the next five to ten years. Industrial and service robots usually have very
different requirements and characteristics, yet there are also many underlying similarities, as Dr Sakakibara explains: “Of course, there are a lot of common technologies between industrial robots and service robots in mechanisms, controllers and sensors. Industrial robot manufacturers are more and more expanding into service robotics applications, eg by developing mobile platforms, lightweight arms and by expanding industrial robots applications in the medical field - which then is per definition a service robot. This will increase over the next years. “IFR of course is encouraging co-operation
Fig. 1. Dr Shinsuke Sakakibara, the IFR President, says the worldwide trend toward automation is continuing following the financial crisis of 2008/2009.
Dr Shinsuke Sakakibara (Fig. 1) says of the market recovery: “The financial crisis of 2008/2009, which was the leading cause of the global economic crisis, put a halt to the worldwide trend toward automation. But it could not stop it. In 2010, and also in 2011, companies were forced to invest in modernisation, retooling and even in expanding capacity in order to meet changing demand and to provide higher quality and higher productivity. We anticipate that this path will continue.” Given their dominance of the market for industrial robots, it is not surprising that the two industries leading the
and offers an excellent platform for exchange and knowledge transfer between all robotics areas. The annual Symposium on Robotics provides a perfect opportunity to learn about the most current innovations of service robots and industrial robots. The 43rd International Symposium on Robotics 2012 (ISR 2012) will be held in Taipei. The conference theme is: Intelligent Robot-Human Interaction. This is a typical example for the converging of technologies of service and industrial robots.”
Robot-human interaction
Currently it is unusual to have industrial robots and humans working alongside each other without some form of safety barrier, as the robots tend to be powerful and therefore have the potential to cause serious injury. In some applications there could be major advantages in having closer human-robot interaction, and there are already some successful examples of this from companies
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