Future Directions in Automation and Robotics for Manufacturing

The current emphasis on designing flexible manufacturing systems, particularly in the electronics manufacturing industry, is bringing automation and robotics technologies to the factory at increasing rates. The rate of advance in these technologies raises serious concerns among engineers and managers about how to proceed in building modern manufacturing systems. A large portion of this uncertainty results from the difficulty of fitting technological advances into the existing models of manufacturing. What is needed is a new framework within which to perceive automation and robotics which will permit the adoption of more encompassing design strategies and principles to be followed in the practice of modernizing and maintaining advanced electronics manufacturing systems. This paper provides a framework that might be adopted to structure new strategies for incorporating automation and robotics in manufacturing. The approach is one that we at SRI have found useful in considering automation and robotics issues for the NASA Space Station and other complex systems which need to incorporate new technologies throughout long lifetimes. These same issues are becoming increasingly important in electronics manufacturing system design and development.