Implications of Robotics and Manufacturing for Economic Growth in the Future: Taking a Closer Look

The manufacturing industry is one of the most unfamiliar R&D fields for the robotics and automation community, despite the fact that it is one of the oldest and represents one of the largest economic sectors in the country, until very recently. When it comes to R&D, there is a double investment in the case of manufacturing. In the old ages, the manufacturing industry enjoyed a very high level of technological development for its historical period, compared to other industries. There are many old civilizations that have built very long lasting structures, such as pyramids, acropolises, aqueducts, cathedrals, and so on. As part of their standard normal building procedures, they used innovative processes and elements that are still used today. There is no doubt that some of today's manufacturing processes have changed a lot over the past few decades. As an example, the process of building erection has not changed much over the last eight hundred years, especially when it comes to the materials used. The pulleys of the old ages have been replaced by cranes in the modern era. Although these machines are more sophisticated than those used centuries ago, they still follow the same principles: manual control, visual feedback to the operator, large positioning errors, etc. As far as the elements that have changed are concerned, the only changes are that electrical or diesel actuators have replaced the human force, and steel structures have replaced wooden ones. As a result of these two advances, the elevation speed, the payload, and the reachability have all increased, but the manufacturing philosophy itself has not changed much.