5. Industrial robots

5.1 Field of application

The field of application of industrial robots is an extension of that of automatic manipulators: they automate actions that require a different, higher level of competence than that of manipulators. The difference between these two categories only affects the complexity of the tasks or the flexibility of the job, but not the results, in terms of strokes, precision or mass. As the ideal robot is impossible, robotics has developed by specializing:

• to work requiring precise positioning of an object at different points in the accessible space (spot welding, positioning of parts). This specialization has made it possible to follow shapes, which is useful for torch welding, deburring, etc;

• ...