journey through the last 50 years of automation technologies is a story of increased sophistication and of
democratisation. The products that were once state-of-art just a few decades ago would look like children’s toys today, while the high cost meant they were only available to a select few. The modern equivalents, while orders of magnitude more complex, are at the same time more compact, simple to use and readily affordable. Even on some of the biggest machinery assets where investment is still significant, the return on that investment can often be measured in months thanks to the increased productivity they deliver. CNC machining and robotics are two good
examples of this pattern. While CNC (computer numerical control) technology actually dates
back to punch card programming of machines as early as the 1950s, CNC machines as we’d recognise them today – offering multi-axis, fully automated, computer-controlled milling and machining – are really quite a recent innovation. With them has come a growing need for operators of this specialist equipment, with the Institute of Technical Trades US (1)
boldly claiming in 2016 that, in
many industries, up to 40% of job positions would be in the field of CNC.
Robotics has seen a parallel evolution. The first industrial robots were developed in the late 1950s, with the Unimate in 1961 being the first commercially used industrial robot, lifting and
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stacking hot metal parts on a General Motors assembly line in New Jersey, USA. Another notable development came in 1969, with Standford University presenting the first all- electric, 6-axis articulated robot – a combination of rotary, revolute, prismatic and spherical joints. The 1970s brought the first robot arms as
we’d recognise them today, with PUMA (Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly) arms which employed only revolute joints, increasing the dexterity of the arm. At the same time, elementary computing to control the position of the arm was introduced. The 1980s saw a new take on robotics, with
the University of Yamanashi in Japan pioneering a robot technology it called SCARA – selective compliance articulated robot. The armhad only four joints and was able tomove in just X, Y and
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