G2

ITGS Global Collaboration Project 2008 Home Page =GROUP 2 - Job Obsolescence= Our topic is "Job Obsolescence" and that means the loss of value or usefulness resulting from advances in technology and the passage of time.    media type="custom" key="735747"

===**1. Title page (title, names, needs to be attractive) **  ===


Industrial Robots and their Impacts on Business and Employment ===<span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">**<span style="COLOR: rgb(247,64,64)">2. Introduction (what are robots, the purpose of this thread) **  === A robot is a reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator that is designed to automatically move materials, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks. Robots are now used for many purposes especially for labor work such as in the car industries where the work load requires heavy lifting of mechanical parts.
 * What is a robot?**

However, robots today are not exactly the walking, talking intelligent machines you see in movies, stories and dreams. Today, we find most robots working for people in factories, warehouses, and laboratories. For example, the car industries rely on robotics on constructing vehicles. Robots offer specific beneficial factors to workers and industries. When used effectively, robots can improve the quality of life by freeing workers from the tough, dangerous, and heavy labour. With these improvements in our work, robots have the potential to change our economy, our heath, our living standards, our knowledge and the world in which we live. As the technology progresses, we are finding new ways to use robots effectively. ===<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">**<span style="COLOR: rgb(224,26,26)">3. IT background ( robots types, ) **  === <span style="COLOR: rgb(32,24,24)">Typical applications of robots include ironing, painting, welding, assembly, pick and place, packaging and palletizing, product inspection, and testing. Amongst the following, robots are able to process their actions with high endurance, speed, and precision. The most commonly used robot configurations are articulated robot; SCARA robots and Gantry robots (aka Cartesian coordinate robots, or x-y-z robots). Of these robots, they have proven to be the most popular for straightforward applications.<span style="COLOR: rgb(32,24,24)">

SCARA robots are used wherever maximum precision and speed are required. The fastest in their class, they master even the most complex tasks in the most confined spaces. They are therefore first choice when it comes to fast, precise handling of small components. There are multiple companies that design these intelligent robotic devices such as Adept’s SCARA robots and KUKA SCARA robots.

Gantry robots on the other hand is a more basic type of industrial robot whereas the three major principal axes of control are linear and are right angles to each other. The three major principal axes have multiple uses, the first is for physical principal axes of a rigid body, second is the for the principal axes of an aircraft, and last is for rotations around principal axes. Among these principal axes, in order to make the Gantry robots mobile, the method of coordination are used in milling and drawing machines where a pen or router translates across an x-y plane. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24)"> ===<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">**<span style="COLOR: rgb(227,38,38)">4. IT back ground ( history of robots in car industry - technical) **  ===

<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)">
<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">  It all began back in 1961 when the first industrial robot was used for industrial purposes. Although there has been no real records of when the very first robot was made, however the thought of creating an intelligent mechanized machine that performs human task was not new. The company General Motors thought about using robots to manufacture vehicles; ever since this began, the auto industry was never the same. There are huge motorized arms that weigh 4000 lbs / 1814 kg that are programed to direct movements to construct vehicles. Commands are stored onto a magnetic drum that tells the robot what to do such as lifting, pulling, pushing, etc. There are different types of robots used for industrial labour such as the SCARA and Gantry robots which both contain their own specified types of movements and jobs. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left"> ===<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">**<span style="COLOR: rgb(242,13,13)">5. How it works? ( how robots are used) <span style="COLOR: rgb(231,24,24)"> **  === ===<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="COLOR: rgb(231,24,24)">   === <span style="COLOR: rgb(32,24,24)">The repetitive action robots are determined by programmed routines that specify the direction, acceleration, velocity, deceleration, and distance of a series of coordinated motions. Some robots are programmed to carry out specific actions repetitively without variation and with a high degree of accuracy. These actions are determined by programmed routines that specify the direction, acceleration, velocity, deceleration, and distance of a series of coordinated motions. Other robots are much more flexible as to the orientation of the object on which they are operating or even the task that has to be performed on the object itself, which the robot may even need to identify. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left"> A robot the size of a person can easily carry a load over one hundred pounds and move it very quickly with a repeatability of +/-0.006 inches. Furthermore these robots can do that 24 hours a day for years on end with no failures whatsoever. They are reprogrammable, in many applications they are programmed once and then repeat that exact same task for years.

A six-axis robot like the yellow one below costs about $60,000. Deploying the robot costs another $200,000. Thus, the cost of the robot itself is just a fraction of the cost of the total system. The tools the robot uses combined with the cost of programming the robot form the major percentage of the cost. May as well use a new robot. Fanuc makes this particular robot. Fanuc is the largest maker of these type of robots in the world and they are almost always yellow. This robot has six independent joints, also called six degrees of freedom. The reason for this is that arbitrarily placing a solid body in space requires six parameters; three to specify the location (x, y, z for example) and three to specify the orientation (roll, yaw, pitch for example).

Adept is America's largest robot company and the world's leading producer of SCARA robots. This is actually the most common industrial robot. SCARA stands for Selective Compliance Articulated Robot Arm. The robot has three joints in the horizontal plane that give it x-y positioning and orientation parallel to the plane. There is one linear joint that supplies the z positioning. This is the typical "pick and place" robot. When combined with a vision system it can move product from conveyor belt to package at a very high rate of speed (think "Lucy and the candies" but way faster).

The robot's joint structure allows it to be compliant (or soft) to forces in the horizontal plane. The machine at bottom can be called a Cartesian robot

Three linear joints provide the three axes of motion and define the x, y and z planes. This robot is suited for pick and place applications where either there are no orientation requirements or the parts can be pre-oriented before the robot picks them up (such as surface mounted circuit board assembly).

===<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="COLOR: rgb(242,38,38)">   ===

<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">**<span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"><span style="COLOR: rgb(215,15,15)">7. How it impacts business? **<span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"> - Obviously, many robots save labor costs. Robots are expensive to design, install, and program. But once they're operational, they can work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without vacations, strikes, sick leave, or coffee breaks. - Robots can also improve quality and increase productivity. They're especially effective at doing repetitive jobs in which bored, tired people are prone to make errors and have accidents. - Robots are ideal for jobs such as cleaning up hazardous waste and salvaging undersea wreckage from downed plans - jobs that are dangerous, uncomfortable, or impossible for human workers. <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">

<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">
<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="COLOR: rgb(222,23,23)">   <span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">**<span style="COLOR: rgb(222,23,23)">8. What is happening( the condition in this world with robots in car industry) (the problem with using robots) **

<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">
<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left"> If automation is good news for factory owners, it poses a threat to blue-collar workers who keep traditional factories running. In a typical high-tech manufacturing firm today, approximately half of the staff are engineers, accountant, marketing specialists, and other white-collar workers. Automation has threatened workers since the earliest days of the industrial revolution. Every year brings new technological breakthroughs that allow robots and computers to do jobs formerly reserved for humans. When many people hear the word automation, they think of industrial robots and assembly lines, but automation has eliminated service jobs, too. Of course, computer technology creates new jobs, too. Somebody has to design, build, program, sell, run, and repair the computers, robots, and networks. But many displaced workers don’t have the education or skills to program computers, design robots, install networks, or even read printouts. Those workers are often forced to take low-tech, low-paying service jobs as cashiers or custodians, if they can find jobs at all. Because of automation the unskilled, uneducated worker may face a lifetime of minimum-wage jobs or welfare. Technology may be helping to create an unbalanced society with two classes: a growing mass of poor, uneducated people and a shrinking class of affluent, educated people. In the long run, education may not be enough. It seems likely that at some time in the future, machines will be able to do most of the jobs people to today. We may face a future of jobless growth – a time when automation alone creates adequate productivity increases, and no new jobs are created.

===<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">**<span style="COLOR: rgb(237,49,49)">9. Solution to the problem **  ===

<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">
<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left"> If a worker is replaced by a robot, should the worker receive a share of the robot's "earnings" through stocks or profit sharing? Should governments and businesses encourage job sharing and other systems that allow for less-than-40-hours jobs?

We need to adapt our education system to these new issues. The facts suggest that we can no longer afford to think of education as a one-time vaccination against illiteracy. In the information age, learning must be a lifelong process. To prepare students for a lifetime of learning, schools must teach students more than facts; they must make sure students learn how to think and learn. ===<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">**<span style="COLOR: rgb(242,54,54)">10. Last page (conclusion) (add names of people working on it and citation) **  ===

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<span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(233,47,83); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><span style="COLOR: rgb(69,39,45)"><span style="DISPLAY: block; COLOR: rgb(32,24,24); TEXT-ALIGN: left">
 * Research on**
 * articulated robots
 * different configurations to the articulated robots

**Citations:**
Bertain, Doug. "Robotics." __CETA__. 8 Jan. 2000. 6 May 2008 <www.engineering-ed.org/Robotics/documents/robo-wk1.ppt>.

Beekman, George, and Michael J. Quinn. __Computer Confluence - Tomorww's Technology and You__. Seventh edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 2006.

Brumson, Bennett. "SCARA Vs. Cartesian Robots." __Robotics Online__. 2008. Robotics Industries Association. 6 May 2008 <[|http://www.roboticsonline.com/public/articles/details.cfm?id=518>.]

"Industry Articles." __Robot Worx__. 2008. 6 May 2008 <[|http://www.robots.com/articles.php?tag=11943>.]

"RRG/Learn More/History." __Robotics Research Group__. 2008. University of Texas At Austin. 6 May 2008 <[|http://www.robotics.utexas.edu/rrg/learn_more/history/>.]

"SCARA Robots and SCARA Robot Products." __Adept__. 2008. Adept Technology, Inc. 6 May 2008 <[|http://www.adept.com/products/index.asp?pl=scara>.]