Contents



Preface

When the IntechOpen editorial team asked us to edit a book on robotics, we had no doubt about the main subject: Industrial Robotics. There are many books that covered the historic use and deployment of robots in industrial environments. Our approach is different as it is adapted to our present times. There are two main factors that distinguish the industry nowadays: the high degree of industrialization in the world; and the change to a new industrial revolution: Industry 4.0. Both factors have started an evolution in many subjects closely related to robotics: new materials, new sensors/actuators, new floor management, and new applications that present cutting edge technologies. Based on data from the International Federation Robotics IFR, worldwide robot installation grew by 6% (to 422,271 robots), representing 16.5 billion USD (without peripherals and software), and the operational stock of robots was accounted by 2,500,000 units (+15%). Even the more involved industries (customers, automotive and electrical/electronics industry) was surprised at this increase in robotic figures due to a difficult year due to the uncertainty in the global economy. However, the automotive industry is still the largest customer with a total of 30% in installed units, ahead of electrical/electronics (25%), metal and machinery (10%), plastics and chemical products (5%), and food and

The new technologies involved in Industry 4.0 will reshape the way that industrial processes are done nowadays. The trend is gathering force, and company executives need to carefully monitor the coming changes and develop strategies to take advantage of the new opportunities. The trend will be driven by four disruptions: the dramatic increase in data volumes, computational power and connectivity; the emergence of analytics and business-intelligence capabilities; new forms of human-machine interaction; and improvements in transferring digital instructions to the physical world, such as advanced robotics and 3D printing. With Industry 4.0, manufacturers will be able to operate smarter factories, in which they can more easily tailor products for specific customers. While some of these technologies are not yet ready for application at scale, many are now at a point where their greater reliability and lower cost are beginning to make sense for industrial

This book is intended to cover some classical topics and subjects in Industrial Robotics with the latest technologies. The eruption of Industry 4.0 brings a new kind of use of robotics in industry environments; cooperative, collaborative, and co-robot techniques are entering the floor with strength. Humans are sharing the environment with the new robot designs; security, communications and interaction, simulated and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) are important issues. The book emphasizes the new industrial applications that emerge with the use of autonomous robots; unmanned aerial and surface vehicles are new technologies that open classical applications to be automated. Those robots need

beverages (3%).

applications.
