The Dawning ofthe Robot Age

This summer's computer, comic and automated machinery exhibitions in Taipei all featured robotics sections. For instance, this August the "RoboFun" exhibit normally displayed in the lobby of the Taichung Precision Machinery R&D Center was moved to Computex Taipei, where the robots displayed amazing skill while completing difficult tasks, such as doing tai-chi and push-ups, standing on one leg and standing on their heads. The star of Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan, Paro the Robot Seal, also appeared in person, blinking his big, black, curly-lashed eyes. The heartstring-tugging actions and sounds he makes when touched make him a lovable cyberpet. Some 600,000 people attended the five-day event, a record attendance that introduced more people to the superhuman allure of robotics.

One hardly need mention Transformers, a movie about robots invading the Earth, boasting computer-animated special effects. It was undoubtedly this year's biggest blockbuster, making US$320 million at the box office in the US, and NT$360 million (US$10.9 million) in Taiwan.

Perhaps real-world robots will never be like the vehicles changing instantly into destructive, towering robots as featured in Transformers, but robots have long taken on many forms: mechanical arms, six-legged bugs, wheel-shaped machines and such, doing everything from exploring the surface of Mars to cleaning sewers.

Locked deep inside factories, the industrial robots that have been quietly working for over 40 years are mankind's best helpers. Since 1961, when General Motors employed the first industrial robot, automobile welding and painting work has been steadily taken over by robots.

Each year, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), founded in 1987 and headquartered in Paris, announces the current status of the robotics industry. The federation estimates that the auto industry is still the largest user of industrial robots, with an average of one robot for every ten human workers. Next in line are the electronics, chemical engineering, metallurgy and machine industries.

In auto body welding, robots can precisely target each weld point without making errors. They can work all day without tiring, unaffected by heat, glare, noise or dust. It's estimated that 25% of industrial robots are engaged in welding work.

Estimating from the average robot lifetime of 15 years, there are some 1.2 million robots on duty worldwide. In 2005 the total number grew by 126,700, a record growth rate of 30%. Within this figure, the Asian region showed the highest regional growth rate at 45%, due to strong demand in the electronics industry.

Recently, Taiwan, South Korea and China have been vigorously investing in the optoelectronics industry, which has a pressing need for industrial robots, mainly used in clean rooms to make semiconductor wafers and LCD screens. For example, arc welding, coating, stacking, hauling and conveyance of glass panels varying in weight from three to 500 kilograms are all done by robot. Automated manufacturing from raw materials to the finished product is completed entirely on one production line, so there's no room for error. Furthermore, with the microscopic components needed in the IT field, even an error of a few microns can result in poor quality. The high-tech industry has exacting standards for the reliability, endurance and precision of its operators, and only robots can fill such superhuman demands.

Industrial robots, with unit selling prices ranging from millions to tens of millions of NT dollars, incorporate a range of techonologies, including structural design, precision machining, molding, materials, communications, IT and electronics. Despite Taiwan being a major power in the technology industry, it still relies heavily on imported manufacturing equipment; an estimated 90% of robots in Taiwan are imported from Japan, the world's greatest producer of industrial robots.

Taiwan's late start doesn't mean that there are no opportunities for Taiwan in the robotics industry. Robots are like people: they fill every job from blue-collar labor to personal companionship. Taiwan should be able to build a niche for itself and catch up.

The IFR estimates that in responding to the human need for better quality of life and leisure, a third of robots in the future will not be engaged in the drudgery of factory work, but will instead provide services and entertainment. Sales of robot toys and robot vacuum cleaners will soon overtake those of industrial robots, and by 2009 there will be a global demand for 5.5 million service robots, with a market potential of US$2.6 billion. Scientists in South Korea, where smart robots are seen as an industry for the new century, estimate that there will be one robot for every six households by 2020.

The difference between industrial and service robots is that industrial robots "live" in stark, forbidding factory settings, working in areas often bounded by red-painted lines where only specialists may enter and requiring precision and safety. On the other hand, service robots are let loose among the general population. Though they all need drive motors, sensors and control programs, the hallmark of service robots is autonomous behavior: the ability to adapt to changes in environment. That is, it moves when it should move and it stops when it's about to collide with a person, and for this reason the sensory and control technologies are more complex.

In the Japanese manga series Doraemon, the robot cat of that name can travel anywhere and even alter time; this is the stuff of science fiction. However, Doraemon plays with his master Nobita, goes for walks with him, helps him with his homework, and looks things up for him; he even goes out to buy soy sauce for Nobita's mother. Such is the long-range vision of the service robot, a goal that's being realized bit by bit.

What Makes a Robot?

As prospects for service robots are poised to boom, Taiwan has fixed its sights on this high-added-value market and is taking action.

In 2005, an Executive Yuan strategic review board on industrial technology designated three areas of R&D--smart robots, smart cars and smart living spaces--in the name of convenience technology and smart living. First, institutional investors such as the Industrial Technology Research Institute, Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taichung Precision Machinery R&D Center and the Metal Industries Research and Development Centre developed robotic tour guides, cleaning robots and entertainment robots. After the technology matured, it was licensed to private businesses. To accelerate the growth of the budding robotics industry, more than 40 IT companies, including Hiwin, BenQ, MSI, GPM and Mirle, founded the Robotics Association Taiwan earlier this year, investing in parts manufacture and product development for service robots.

Considering the fondness of Taiwan's high-school and college students for competing in robotics contests, the dynamic robotic creativity and imagination found on school campuses may become a source of new products in the future.

Robot housekeepers are about to come off the assembly lines and start shuttling around the homes of ordinary folk. Are you ready?

Service robots are gradually entering our daily lives. Here, Professor Song Kai-tai of National Chiao Tung University and his students have developed a robot hand (left) with fingers that can pick up bottles and cans, as well as an image recognition system that can discern family members.

A directional microphone can detect sound sources from any location, and by employing an array of microphones in conjunction with processing algorithms, the robot can discern sources, directions and speech sounds, and also figure out its current position.

The cool appearance of the robots portrayed in the Hollywood movie Transformers, about a war between good and evil robots, inspired a worldwide robot mania.

Service robots are gradually entering our daily lives. Here, Professor Song Kai-tai of National Chiao Tung University and his students have developed a robot hand (left) with fingers that can pick up bottles and cans, as well as an image recognition system that can discern family members.