Present state and prospects in industrial robotics in Czechoslovakia

The paper reviews the stage reached in, and presents further prospects for, the development of robotics in Czechoslovakia. During the last 15 years, several significant successes have been achieved in the automation of manufacturing technologies in engineering industries (machining, shaping, welding, surface treatment etc.), as well as in that of various metallurgical and chemical processes and in the field of energy.

A wide range of universal and adaptive robots, manipulators and automatic handling and transport systems is at present being produced and implemented in Czechoslovakia. In 1986–1990 - in comparison with the period 1981–1985 - the number of installed robots is expected to increase 4.56 times and the number of implemented robotized technological complexes 2.26 times.

The author describes the main long-term tasks in the development of robotization, which include:

• 1.

  - Modelling of the system structures;

• 2.

  - Development of production integration shcmes;

• 3.

  - Assessment of trends in innovation and use of robots;

• 4.

  - Assessment of social implications related to the process of intensive robotization; and

• 5.

  - Increased cooperation efforts in the promotion and realization of robotics, including international division of labour.

The current robotization development programme adopted in Czechoslovakia makes provision for effective solutions of these problems.