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History of robot development
America is the birthplace of robots. As early as 1962, the world's first industrial robot was developed, at least five or six years earlier than Japan, which is known as the "robot kingdom". After more than 30 years of development, the United States has now become one of the world's robot powers, with a solid foundation and advanced technology. Throughout its development history, the road is tortuous.

During the ten years from 1960s to mid-1970s, the American government did not list industrial robots as a key development project, but only carried out some research work in several universities and a few companies. For enterprises, they would rather miss the opportunity and insist on using rigid automation equipment than take risks to apply or manufacture robots when they only see immediate benefits and the government has no financial support. In addition, the unemployment rate in the United States at that time was as high as 6.65%. The government is worried that the development of robots will lead to more people losing their jobs, so it refuses to invest or organize the development of robots. This cannot be said to be a strategic decision-making mistake of the US government. At the end of 1970s, although American government and business circles paid attention to it, they still focused on the research of robot software and the development of advanced robots in special fields such as military, cosmos, ocean and nuclear engineering, which led to Japanese industrial robots coming from behind and rapidly surpassing the United States in industrial production and application and robot manufacturing, and their products were more competitive in the international market.

After entering the 1980s, the United States felt the urgency of the situation, and the government and business circles really paid attention to robots, and their policies were also reflected. On the one hand, they encourage industry to develop and apply robots, on the other hand, they make plans, increase investment and increase research funds for robots, and regard robots as the characteristics of American re-industrialization, which makes American robots develop rapidly.

In the middle and late 1980s, with the maturity of robot application technology of major manufacturers, the technical performance of the first generation of robots could not meet the actual needs. The United States began to produce the second generation robots with vision and force, and soon occupied 60% of the robot market in the United States.

Although the United States has gone through a tortuous road of attaching importance to theoretical research and neglecting application development research in the history of robot development, American robot technology has always been in the leading position in the world. Its technology is comprehensive, advanced and adaptable. Specific performance in:

(1) has reliable performance, comprehensive functions and high precision;

(2) The research on robot language has developed rapidly, with many language types and wide applications, ranking first in the world;

(3) With the rapid development of intelligent technology, artificial intelligence technologies such as vision and touch have been widely used in aerospace and automobile industries;

(4) Military robots and space robots with high intelligence and difficulty have developed rapidly, which are mainly used for mine clearance, mine laying, reconnaissance, standing guard and space exploration.

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As early as 1966, Unimant robot from Unimation Company of the United States and Washatlan robot from AMF Company were the first to enter the British market. 1967, the two major British machinery companies also promoted robots in Britain for two American robot companies. Then, the British Hall Automation Company developed its own robot ramp. In the early 1970s, the Scientific Research Council of the British government issued the Lighthall Report denying artificial intelligence and robots, and took severe measures to limit the development of industrial robots. As a result, the robot industry has collapsed, ranking almost last in Western Europe.

However, the vigorous development of robots in the world soon made the British government realize that the backwardness of robot technology greatly reduced the competitiveness of its products in the international market. Therefore, since the late 1970s, the British government has adopted a supportive attitude and implemented a series of policies and measures to support the development of robots, such as widely publicizing the importance of using robots, giving financial subsidies to enterprises that buy robots, and actively promoting the combination of robot research units and enterprises, so that British robots have begun a prosperous period of wide application and vigorous development in the production field.

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France is not only in the forefront of the world in the number of robots, but also in the world's advanced level in the application level and scope of robots. This is mainly because the French government has paid more attention to robot technology from the beginning, especially to the application research of robots.

The development of French robots is relatively smooth, mainly through the research plan strongly supported by the government, and a complete scientific and technological system has been established. That is to say, the government organizes some research projects on the basic technology of robots, and the industry supports the application and development, which complement each other and make robots develop and popularize rapidly in French business circles.

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The total number of industrial robots in Germany ranks third in the world, second only to Japan and the United States. Germany mentioned here mainly refers to the former Federal Republic of Germany. It is about five or six years later than the introduction of robots in Britain and Sweden. The reason for this is that Germany's robot industry encountered a domestic economic downturn as soon as it started. But the social environment in Germany is conducive to the development of the robot industry. Because of the war, the shortage of labor force and the high level of science and technology in the country are all favorable conditions for using robots. In the middle and late 1970s, the government took administrative measures to pave the way for the popularization of robots. The Plan for Improving Working Conditions stipulates that robots must replace the labor of ordinary people in some dangerous, toxic and harmful jobs. This plan has opened up a broad market for the application of robots and promoted the development of industrial robot technology. Germans are a pragmatic people, and they always adhere to the principle of combining technology application with social needs. Except that robots are mainly used in the automobile industry like most countries, the outstanding point is that Germany has transformed the original enterprises in the textile industry with modern production technology, scrapped old machines and bought modern automation equipment, computers and robots, which reduced the cost of the textile industry, improved the quality of the textile industry and made the products more marketable. At 1984, this industry known as "dying industry" finally revived. At the same time, Germany saw the role of advanced automation technologies such as robots in industrial production, and put forward the goal of 1985 to transfer to advanced intelligent robots with feelings. After nearly ten years of hard work, it is recognized as a world leader in the research and application of intelligent robots.

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In the former Soviet Union (mainly Russia), the discussion of robotics in theory and practice began in the second half of 1950s. At the end of 1950s, the research of robot prototype began. 1968 successfully trial-produced the deep-water working robot. 197 1 year, and developed a general robot for the factory. As early as the Ninth Five-Year Plan of the former Soviet Union (1970- 1975), the development of robots was included in the national science and technology development plan. Up to 1975, 30 models of 120 robots have been developed. After 20 years' efforts, the robots in the former Soviet Union are in the forefront of the world in quantity and quality. The state purposefully takes improving scientific and technological progress as a means to promote the development of social production and arranges the research and manufacture of robots; The research, production, application, promotion and improvement of robots are all arranged by the government in a planned and step-by-step manner.

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Some people think that the application of robots is only to save labor, and China is rich in labor resources, so the development of robots may not conform to China's national conditions. This is a misunderstanding. In China, the superiority of the socialist system determines that robots can give full play to their strengths. It can not only bring high productivity and huge economic benefits to China's economic construction, but also make outstanding contributions to the development of China's space development, marine development, nuclear energy utilization and other emerging fields.

In the Seventh Five-Year Plan, China listed robots in the national key scientific research plan, allocated huge sums of money to set up the first robot research demonstration project in Shenyang, and comprehensively carried out the research on the basic theory and components of robots. In the past ten years, we have developed a complete series of industrial robots, underwater robots, military robots and special robots, such as handling, spot welding, arc welding, painting and assembly. At present, the teaching and reproducing robot technology is basically mature and has been popularized and applied in factories. The robot painting assembly line produced in China has been put into production in Changchun No.1 Automobile Factory and Dongfeng Automobile Factory. 1986 the national 863 high-tech development plan, which started in March, has been included in the research and development of intelligent robots. At present, we should speed up the production of practical robots and some special robots with simple structure and low cost from the perspective of production and application, combined with China's national conditions.

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Japan was in a period of rapid economic development in the late 1960s, with an annual growth rate of 1 1%. After the Second World War, Japan's labor force was already tense, and the rapid economic development aggravated the difficulty of a serious shortage of labor force. Therefore, in 1967, Kawasaki heavy industries introduced robots and their technologies from Unimation company in the United States to establish a production workshop. 1968, Japan trial-produced the first Kawasaki "Unimant" robot.

It was precisely because of the obvious shortage of labor force in Japan at that time that robot talents were welcomed as "saviors" in enterprises. On the one hand, the Japanese government has adopted a positive economic support policy to encourage the research and development and popularization of robots, thus further stimulating the enthusiasm of entrepreneurs to engage in the robot industry. In particular, the government has a series of economic preferential policies for small and medium-sized enterprises, such as providing preferential and low-interest funds by government banks, encouraging fund-raising to set up a "robot long-term leasing company", and renting robots to users for a long time after the company invests, so that users only need to pay lower rents every month, which greatly reduces the financial burden required for enterprises to buy robots; The government regards computer-controlled teaching and copying robots as special discount products, and enterprises can enjoy a 40% discount on the usual new equipment and a 13% price subsidy. On the other hand, the state subsidizes the application of robot expertise and technical guidance for small enterprises.

This series of supporting policies has enabled Japan's robot industry to develop rapidly. After a short period of more than ten years, it has become a "robot kingdom" in the mid-1980s, and the output of robots and the number of robots installed have jumped to the top in the world. According to Sanben Waner, executive director of Japan Industrial Robot Industry Association, "The development of Japanese robots has experienced the cradle period in the 1960s, the practical period in the 1970s and the popularization and improvement period in the 1980s." And officially designated 1980 as "the first year of popularization of industrial robots", and began to widely promote the use of robots in various fields.

Japanese government and enterprises fully trust robots and use them boldly. Robots have lived up to people's expectations. They have played an increasingly significant role in solving labor shortage, improving productivity, improving product quality and reducing production costs, and have become an indispensable team for Japan to maintain its economic growth rate and product competitiveness.

In Japan, robots are widely used in automobile and electronic industries, which makes the output of Japanese automobile and electronic products soar, the quality is improving day by day and the manufacturing cost is greatly reduced. In this way, Japanese-made cars can enter the American market called "automobile kingdom" with cheap absolute advantage, and export practical robots made in Japan to the country where robots were born. At this time, Japanese cheap household appliances flooded the American market ... which made Uncle Sam regret it. Because of the manufacture and use of robots, Japan has strengthened its national strength and gained huge benefits, forcing many countries such as the United States, Britain and France to take measures to catch up.