MT Magazine May/June 2024

FEATURE STORY

THE AUTOMATION & ROBOTICS ISSUE

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Today, one of the largest industrial robotics players in the world, FANUC (Fuji Automatic Numerical Control), is Japanese, and Asia remains the largest industrial robot market, with over 405,000 units installed in 2022 and an operational stock of nearly 2 million units across China and Japan alone. Hand-Coding to Hand-Holding Did you know that the Unimate was the first no-code robot? It was programmed by manually setting switches, timers, and motion controls at set positions that were saved on a basic memory system. However, Unimation’s acquisition of Stanford startup Vicarm in the 1970s brought in digital code, dropping the physical model. This was the first Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly, better known today as the PUMA. After the shift to this design methodology, translating software between systems became a consistent pain point for engineers. To solve the language barriers today, designers now push toward (or maybe back to) no-code programming. A person with a teach pendant can show a robot arm what to do by physically guiding the end effector. This simplification shows how the robotics industry is closing the skills gap workers face in robotics, all thanks to some human-centric design. Tortoises, Vacuums, Warehouses Did you know the first autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) were built by a neuroscientist in the 1950s? These simple robot “tortoises” are the ancestors of the Roomba and nearly all industrial AMRs.

The First Robotic Arm Invented by George Devol (who created the barcode, the automatic door, and a peculiar microwaved-hot-dog vending machine), the Unimate amazed the audience of “The Tonight Show.” Unknown to them at the time, it would become the first in a long line of robotic arms to revolutionize modern manufacturing. Devol and Engelberger created the first modern robotic startup in 1961, Unimation Inc. It was based on Devol’s 1954 patent of his Programmed Article Transfer machine. Pioneers in their field, Devol needed someone to find investors and dispel the science fiction fears of the time, and Engelberger needed a genius. Together, the pair showed the world why robotics was the future. Booting Up Unimation It took 19 years and over 35 rejections for Unimation to turn a profit. This may be no surprise to entrepreneurs; even today, companies struggle to balance advertising with cash flow. But good ideas extend beyond failed startups, and luckily, Unimation found its success with its first partnership with General Motors. The Unimate cut its teeth at a casting plant in Trenton, New Jersey, then spot-welding factories in Ohio. However, Engelberger found true potential overseas: The partnership between Unimation and Kawasaki Aircraft in 1968 provided the funding to commercialize the robot arm. More importantly, it ignited the hotbed that was – and still is – the Japanese robotics industry.