This is now an annual publication produced jointly by the United Nations and the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). It follows the pattern of presentation of previous years and for comparison purposes it would be useful to refer to the review given in this journal of the 1998 publication (see Kybernetes, Vol. 29 No. 1, 2000, pp. 147‐50 ).
The publishers claim, and with some justification, that this is “the world’s only publication which presents comprehensive global statistics on industrial robots as well as on service robots, in uniform tables allowing consistent country comparisons”. This may be, of course, true, but the tables of data are necessarily based on statistics that end in 1998. Anyone wanting immediate information about individual countries and current trends has to look elsewhere. The most likely sources are those that are quarterly‐based and record market movements of this sector.
With this proviso it is extremely useful to have detailed statistical data for some 20 countries broken down by experts into application areas, industrial branches, types of robots and by other techno‐variables.
For the researcher, having data about robot densities and other statistical information is important and saves a great deal of extra analysis of the raw data provided by many countries. Market‐watchers will be delighted in being provided with data on production, exports and imports of not all, but certainly the main, global leaders.
The only way of getting an immediate analysis is to have the whole database online so that it is available in an updated form to reflect the current situation across the world. Even so, a yearly based analysis is still invaluable for comparison purposes.
It must be noted, however, that, although the actual data are available to 1998, developments in 1999 are analyzed in some detail and forecasts up to 2002 are included. The publication also devotes space for “case histories”, which is a section concerning actual robot installations and the scenario of their costings, production and employment structures as well as their overall profitability. It is worth noting a paragraph in the Foreword, written by the compilers. They say:
Total accumulated yearly sales of robots since the beginning of the 1970s amounted at the end of 1998 to over one million units of which about 720,000 are estimated to be in operational use. Driven by advances in semiconductor and computer technologies and the vast potential for new applications, not only in industry but also in construction and in services (hotel, health care, laboratories, surgery etc.), there was every reason to believe that robotics will continue to expand rapidly and play an increasingly important role in production rationalization.
This is a fitting prologue to the five sections which are comprehensively covered: Introduction to the detailed coverage, which includes the all‐important definitions and classifications of robots, types, industrial branches and application areas; Worldwide diffusion; Structure of the diffusion; Forecasts (1999‐2002); Profitability – analysis of case studies. Annexes A and B provide data about industrial robots‐sales, stockshipments, etc.
A revealing short Editorial by General Marvin Runyon (US Postal Service) provides a short account of “ robotics as the future of the US Postal Service”, highlights the introduction of a “robot compatible environment” into their operations. This brings a sense of reality to the statistics provided later because it actually involves humans, in particular, the impact of widespread introduction of robots on a workforce.
We have been told so many times over the last decade that “we will all inevitably be affected by the ‘Robotics Revolution’, when machines will perform the work and human employees will service the machines”. This annual global statement of the continued advance of robot technology and its implementation worldwide merely confirms with supporting data that it is continuing at great pace.
It is also useful for readers to know the sources of the data provided and where it concerns individual robotic systems, the basis for both classification and device definitions. So many countries have in the past “sanitised’ their data on robots that it became almost impossible to give credence to the resulting statistical tables. This “yearbook”, we are told unequivocally, is based on data collected and transmitted by more than 20 national industrial robot associations. Compiled by the UNO and the IFR it should give us a reliable insight into what is happening in world robotics.
It is obviously an essential text for anyone working in the field, whether scientist or business entrepreneur. Although, as has been suggested, it contains mainly statistical tables, the comment and explanatory texts are readable and informative. There is no doubt that the presentation improves yearly. It measures up to what the compilers claim to be a “unique yearbook” and is “almost encyclopaedic in its scope”.
