Fig。54。6a,b  Mobile robots were introduced in the early 1980s for increased flexibility and reliability in factory logistics。

(a) The MORO (1984) developed at Fraunhofer IPA was one of the first prototypes to combine a robot arm on a wire- bound mobile platform which follows a wire buried in the floor。 (b) The KUKA omniRob features an omnidirectional platform and the LBR iiwa lightweight arm which form a highly kinematically redundant robot system (courtesy of KUKA)

Fig。54。7a–f  Examples of different designs of dual-arm robots (courtesy of (a) Motoman, (b) ABB, (c) Rethink Robotics,

(d) Kawada Industries, (e) COMAU, (f) Seiko Epson)

Fig。54。8a–d Statistics of worldwide industrial robotics use (after [54。1])。 (a) Estimated annual robot installations in selected countries (1000 units, estimate for 2015), (b) Number of multipurpose industrial robots (all types) per 10 000 employees in the automotive and in manufacturing industries 2014。 (c) Estimated worldwide annual shipments of indus- trial robots in main application areas。 (d) Estimated worldwide annual shipments of industrial robots in main industrial branches

gested to automatically load and unload machine tools (Fig。 54。6)。 Safety and power supply have been an ob- stacle to these system’s diffusion in industrial practice。 Currently, first solutions for mobile manipulation ap- pear [54。18]。

The ability to use human and robot workers either interchangeably or in workspace sharing/collaboration scenarios in human workplaces motivated the  design of anthropomorphic dual-arm robots (Fig。 54。7。 Even though industrial acceptance initially has been low, ad- vances in programming comfort, securing safe human– robot coexistence/collaboration and system cost have led to significant interest in  using dual  arms  in  ag- ile manufacturing concepts, particularly in assembly and handling applications [54。19]。 The dual-arm    sys-

tems suggest a new way of using powerful and lean type of robot which is easy to install by the man- ufacturing end-user with little adaptation of manual workplaces。

Today, industrial robotics is seen as a central pillar to future manufacturing competitiveness and economic growth:

● The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) es- timates that between 2000 and 2008 the robotics industry had created 8—10 million highly qualified jobs, either  directly  or  indirectly。  The prediction is that between 2012—2020 another 4 million jobs will be created in the robot ecosystem [54。20]。 The extent  of  job  creation  by  robotics  has  been dis-

cussed controversially。 It is undisputed, however, that a wider use of robots  in  manufacturing  is able to significantly strengthen a competitive posi- tion of a company or an industrial sector [54。21]。 Economically, manufacturing productivity gains are particularly effective for economic growth。 There is no sustainable product innovation without manufac- turing competence which includes knowledge and practice of planning, designing, and operating ad- vanced robotic systems [54。22] (Fig。 54。8)。

● The average price for a robot in 2014 was in the or-

der of US$ 46 800, which is about one-third of its equivalent price in 1990。 At the same time, robot performance parameters such as speed, load capac- ity, and mean time between failures (MTBF) have dramatically improved。 This means that automation has become more affordable, providing a faster re- turn on investment [54。1]。

● Traditionally, robot automation has not played a sig-