Robotic results: the importance of automation

It was a record-breaking year for industrial robots in 2011, with around 165,000 units sold worldwide — an increase of 37 per cent compared with 2010.

The first industrial robot was installed in 1961 by General Motors, and since then more than 2.3 million industrial robots have been sold globally.

General Motors’ Unimate was designed to transport die castings from an assembly line and perform spot welding — jobs that posed potential health risks to human workers at  the plant.

Fast forward 51 years and the remit of the industrial robot — to perform repetitive or dangerous tasks to a consistently high standard — has remained largely unchanged, despite  the technology becoming more capable and user friendly.

In 10 good reasons to invest in robots, ABB Robotics reiterates how machines such as Unimate and those that followed can help  a business comply with safety rules and improve workplace health and safety.

Leading the charge towards automation through robotics, China, Germany and the US are cited by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) as being responsible for robot sales growth rates of between 39 and 51 per cent in 2011.