THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, October 1, 1983

Modern Day. Golem: The Industrial Robot

(Editor's Note: The fol-
lowing story is reprinted
from the Technion Maga-
zine. It was written by
Ben-Ami Einav under the
title, "The Golem and
How to Control 'em.")
It was in the 17th century
that the first Jewish robot
was created. The fertile
mind of "The Maharal
Rabbi" gave the world the
story of the Golem of

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1. TITLE OF PUBLICATION: The
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2. DATE OF FILING 9/30/83
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CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ,
Bus. Mgr./Vice Pres.

FOR COMPLETION BY
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U.S.C. 3626 provides in pertinent
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CARMI M. SLOMOVITZ,
Bus. MgrJVice Pres.

Prague, whose task was to
lessen that gentleman's
burden of daily chores.
Though fictional, the Golem
of Prague became uncon-
trollable and had to be de-
stroyed by his creator, but
not before this first
mechanized robot had cap-
tured the imagination of
those who were exposed to
his ill-fated tale.
Today, 300 years and
countless other "Golem" la-
ter, the challenge to man-
kind to control his own crea-
tion remains the same, only dom" — joints and arms
this time far less "literary" that can swivel, turn, bend
robots have been assigned down and raise up. This
the task of work.
makes them useful, not only
The new industrial revo- for machine tooling, but
lution — the dawn of the also for transferring and
Age of the Robot — is an loading materials. The im-
established fact today in plications of using robots in
most industrialized coun- manufacturing are obvious,
tries. Robots are redefining but do they indicate a basic
the role of human beings in change or merely a fancier
industry and setting new kind of automation?
standards for production.
A recent study by Prof.
While in many fields Is- Roland Weil, a Technion
rael stands in the foref- expert on industrial
ront of advanced robots, attempted to an-
technology, it has been swer these questions.
slow to join the robot
According. to Weil,
revolution. About a year "Breakthroughs in man-
ago, the Technion ap- ufacturing technologies
pealed to government have conferred very high ef-
and researchers alike to ficiency on the modern
begin work in this impor- machine. However, other
tant field.
production operations such
The institute pointed out as handling, positioning,
that the special advantages transferring, etc., have re-
of the robot to both the indi- mained manual for the most
vidual and the economy part and are still dependent
could greatly aid the coun- on the human operator with
try's development. The in- all his inherent limitations:
frastructure needed to fatigue, unreliability,
utilize this technology emotivity and social re-
already exists in Israel.
quirements."
Today the country is tak-
Indeed, the aim of robo-
ing its first steps into the tics is to replace the human
Age of Robots. At the Techn- operator in the manufactur-
ion's Robotics Center a proj- ing system with more effi-
ect of the Palm Beach Chap- cient and reliable auto-
ter of the ATS, the indus- mated devices, while still
trial robot is being studied, maintaining some of the
researched and developed human qualities (e.g., in-
simultaneously.
telligence and flexibility).
The defense industry and
"The modern industrial
10 other manufacturing robot is intended to fulfill
firms have embarked on the various functions of
projects for the development handling and assembling in
of robots in the fields of the small- and medium-
welding, assembly, agricul- sized spectrum of industrial
ture, hospital services, etc.; applications," says Weil,
the Chief Scientist of the "which represent in the end
Ministry of Industry and the largest proportion of
Trade is encouraging re- industrial components."
search and development in
The robot can work in
the field of robotics by environments that are
awarding financial grants alien to human beings.
for such work.
These include extreme
All these are just the heat or cold, gaseous or
first steps toward what noisy atmospheres.
can become a major and Moreover, employers
new challenging course tend to regard kindly
for Israel's science-based workers who never get
industry.
tired or call in sick, do not
Robotics is still such a form unions or complain
new field that a definition of to the boss about salary
a robot seems necessary, or working conditions
both to clarify its function and have never been
and to remove the last liter- known to take a coffee-
ary taint from the modern break.
The need for robots in in-
Golem.
The official definition, dustry is -accompanied by
provided by the Robot Insti- economic and social needs.
tute of America, states: "A Dr. Gideon Halevi, former
robot is -a reprogram_mable, head of the Center for Plan-
multi-functional man- ning and Development of
ipulator designed to move the defense industries, re-
materials, parts, tools or cently completed a study of
specialized devices through the economic influence of
variable programmed mo- robots in developed coun-
tions, for the performance of tries, with clear and un-
equivocal findings: robots
a variety of tasks."
Robots are commonly significantly improve the
characterized as having five quality of planning and per-
or more "degrees of free- formance.

The utilization of new
modern instrumentation
has been raised by 600 per-
cent; planning time is re-
duced by 5:1; production in-
vestment is reduced by 10:1;
production rate is increased
by 10 percent; and the man-
ufacture of poor quality, re-
jected products is reduced
by 15 percent.
• Summarizing the eco-
nomic advantages, Weil is
convinced that "the robot
has specific features which
give it the ultimate advan-
tage in industrial prod-
uctivity: around-the-clock
availability; high-speed op-
eration-for capital-intensive
equipment; and high relia-
bility and flexibility.
The Technion study
found that the number of
workers active in man-
ufacturing will decrease
from about 22 percent in
1970 to less than 10 per-
cent in the year 2000. The
reasons for this change
include unwillingness to
work in a production
environment, a search
for better working condi-
tions and a rising level of
education.
The "human factor" is
especially significant in
the case of dangerous or
tedious jobs and for this rea-
son the robot's integration
into world manufacturing
began with applications in
difficult areas, e.g., weld-
ing, forging, painting, as-
sembling and loading and
unloading of machine tools,
which are jobs usually exe-
cuted in dangerous
environments.
Indeed, more and more
legislation worldwide pro-
motes the use of automatic
handling devices; in the
U.S., for example, a new
regulation stipulates that a
person cannot place his
hands in punch press dyes to
load or remove parts.
Moreover, trade unions are
welcoming the robot, as it
relieves the worker of
dangerous or dull jobs.
Approximately 20,000
robots are at work in the
world today: 40 percent
of them in the automobile
industry and 25 percent
in the field of elec-
tromechanics. A simple
explanation for the ex-
tensive use of robot
technology is offered by
Prof. Yoram Koren, head
of the Technion Robotics
Center:
"The price of computers
went down and the price of
labor went up." Statistics
for 1979 indicate that there
are 15,000 robots being used
in Japan; 3,000 in the U.S.;
250 in Germany; 600 in

Sweden; 500 in Italy; 360 in
Poland; 200 in France; 185
in the U.K.; 200 in Norway;
130 in Finland; and 25 in
the U.S.S.R.
Japan, which began its
conversion to robot technol-
ogy about 10 years ago, is
today the leader in robot
production: last year 12
companies produced about
10,000 robots and Japan's
industrial leaders feel that
their biggest growth is yet
to come, with sales increas-
ing from $150 million in
1979 to $340 million in
1980.
Turnover for 1985 is an-
ticipated at $1 billion and
will rise to more than $5 bil-
lion in 1990. Japan has been
investing some $2 million
annually on R and D, with
about 50 university and 15
research institutions active
in robotics, involving sev-
eral hundred specialists.
Israel's robot popula-
tion is expected to grow
to several dozen this
year, and to several
hundred next year. An
Israel-produced indus-
trial robot is already at
work in the defense in-
dustries. Kibutzini have
taken an interest in
robots, viewing mechani-
zation as a solution to the
ideological discomfiture
of hiring outside labor.
Several have already or-
dered industrial robots
from Japan.
The Technion Robotics
Center has a Unimate-
Puma robot which will
serve mainly teaching and
research needs. The acquis-
ition of Technion's first
robot was made easier
through the efforts of the

r

Chief Scientist of the Minis-
try of Industry and Trade,
Prof. Arieh Lavie, whose
active intervention under-
scored the importance
placed by the state on this
area of development.
Prof. Koren is developing
a robot to aid bed-ridden
patients. The bed side robot
will perform various tasks,
thereby relieving the nurse
of some of her burden.
A team of graduate stu-
dents under the guidance of
Prof. Weil and Prof. Ehud
Lenz, vice president for re-
search, are working to in-
crease the intelligence of
the Technion's robot.
"Existing robots lack
high-precision capabil-
ities and must be aided.
They have to interact
with the environment
and should therefore ac-
quire some sensing
capabilities which are
not needed on 'normal'
machinery," empasize
the scientists who are try-
ing to give the robot a
sense of vision, touch and
hearing.
The team has developed
an innovative new gripper
for industrial robots that
makes it possible for robots
to work with extremely
thin, cylindrical parts with-
out causing damage. The
gripper was developed by
Yosef Tur-Haspa and Prof.
Lenz.

There is a moral as well as
an intellectual objection to
the custom, frequent in
these times, of making edu-
cation consist in a mere
smattering of 20 different
things, instead of in the
mastery of five or six.

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