Robots, becoming increasingly prevalent in factories and industrial plants throughout the developed world, are programmed and engineered to perform industrial tasks without human intervention.

Most of today's robots are employed in the automotive industry, where they are programmed to take over such jobs as welding and spray painting automobile and truck bodies. They also load and unload hot, heavy metal forms used in machines casting automobile and truck frames.

Robots, already taking over human tasks in the automotive field, are beginning to be seen, although to a lesser degree, in other industries as well. There they build electric motors, small appliances, pocket calculators, and even watches. The robots used in nuclear power plants handle the radioactive materials, preventing human personnel from being exposed to radiation. These are the robots responsible for the reduction in job-related injuries in this new industry.

What makes a robot a robot and not just another kind of automatic machine? Robots differ from automatic machines in that after completion of one specific task, they can be reprogrammed by a computer to do another one. As an example, a robot doing spot welding one month can be reprogrammed and switched to spray painting the next. Automatic machine, on the other hand, are not capable of many different uses; they are built to perform only one task.

The next generation of robots will be able to see objects, will have a sense of touch, and will make critical decisions. Engineers skilled in microelectronics and computer technology are developing artificial vision for robots. With the ability to "see", robots can identify and inspect one specific class of objects out of a stack of different kinds of materials. One robot vision system used electronic digital cameras containing many rows of light-sensitive materials. When light from an object such as a machine part strikes the camera, the sensitive materials measure the intensity of light and convert the light rays into a range of numbers. The numbers are part of a grayscale system in which brightness is measured in a range of values. One scale ranges from 0 to 15, and another from 0 to 255. The 0 is represented by black. The highest number is white. The numbers is between represent different shades of gray. The computer then makes the calculations and converts the numbers into a picture that shows an image of the object in question. It is not yet known whether robots will one day have vision as good as human vision. Technicians believe they will, but only after years of development.

Engineers working on other advances are designing and experimenting with new types of metal hands and fingers, giving robots a sense of touch. Other engineers are writing new programs allowing robots to make decisions such as whether to discard defective parts in finished products. To do this, the robot will also have to be capable of identifying those defective parts.

These future robots, assembled with a sense of touch and the ability to see and make decisions, will have plenty of work to do. They can be used to explore for minerals on the ocean floor or in deep areas of mines too dangerous for humans to enter. They will work as gas station attendants, firemen, housekeepers, and security personnel. Anyone wanting to understand the industry of the future will have to know about robotics.

机器人在所有发达国家的工厂日益普及，它们被编程、设计，在无人情况下执行工业任务。现今大多数机器人用于汽车工业，人们对其编程，从事如汽车卡车车身焊接、喷漆之类的工作。它们也装卸汽车和卡车框架的机器中所有的炽热、笨重的金属铸模。

机器人已经在汽车行业接任了人类工作，在其行业也开始看到它们的身影，虽然使用程度低一些。在那里它们制造电动马达、小型设备、袖珍计算器，甚至手表。用于核电站的机器人处理辐射材料，使职员不暴露于辐射。这些机器人可以减少这一新型工业中与工作有关的伤害。

什么使机器变成机器人，而不是其他的自动化机器呢？机器人与自动化机器的区别在于完成一项特定工作后，它们可以被电脑重新编程去执行一项任务。比如说，一个机器人做了一个月的点焊，可以重新编程，下个月转向喷漆。相反，自动化机器却没有许多不同用途，它们只是为了招待一项任务而被建造。

下一代机器人将能看见物体，具有触觉，能作出关键性的决定。精通于微电子和电脑技术的工程师正在为机器人开发人造视力，有了"看"的能力，机器人就能从一推不同的材料中鉴别检查出具体的一类物体。机器人礼堂系统采用包含多行感官材料的电子数码相机。当一个物体上的光，如机器零件，照射到相机上时，敏感材料就可测量出光的强度，把光线转换为一组数字。这些数字是灰度系统的一部分，其亮度由一系列数值测量。一个刻度范围是0到15，另一个是0到225。0用黑色表示，最高值用白色，其间的数值用不同的灰色阴影来表示。然后计算机进行计算，并将数字转换为表明该无题形象的图像。现在还不知道有一天机器人是否具有人类一样的好视力。技术人员想信它们会的，只是需要多年的开发。

在其他方面取得进展的工程技术人员正在设计和试验新型金属手臂和手指，使机器人具有触觉。其他工程人员正在编写新的程序使机器人做出如是否抛弃成品中有缺陷的零件的决定。要做到这点，机器人还必须具有鉴别有缺陷零件的能力。

集触觉、看和做决定的能力于一体的这些未来机器人将会做大量的工作。它们可以用于海底探矿或探测对人类太危险的深层区域的矿物。它们可以做加油站服务人员、消防人员、房屋管理员和安全人员的工作。任何想了解未来工业的人必须懂机器人。