The Prospects and Introduction of Industrial Robots

This paper will review the history of industrial robots over the past ten years and it will consider the factors behind their increased use as well as the results obtained.

In the early stages of introducing industrial robots into the automobile industry, there were problems with their “crazy motion.” In some cases, defective motors of the magnetic memory drums caused robots to malfunction, crushing both the workpiece and the robot itself. In other cases, the axle bearings were found broken when the robots were overhauled to correct their imprecise stopping. The robots at that time were not durable enough or reliable enough to meet the application requirements.

Today -- Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. uses 1,000 playback robots. Our vehicle body assembly division has become about 97% automated, and through their contribution the rate of automation has been increasing every year.