This article was taken from the November 2014 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
It's a rare thing for reality to outpace a science-fiction writer's predictions. But Isaac Asimov's 1964 claim that the robots of 2014 will "neither be common nor good" is being debunked. "Better control systems and the possibility of running complex algorithms have had dramatic impacts on speed and precision," says Arturo Baroncelli, president of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). "Robots are smaller, faster, more agile and can even safely co-operate with human operators."
UK industry was slow to adopt robots, but investment in the technology is increasing: according to the IFR, in 2012 sales of industrial robots to the UK more than doubled. And they're not just building cars. Robots are now machining reactor vessels for nuclear power stations and carving giant sculptures for special-effects companies. And they're saving lives, by accelerating drugs research.
Although automation is, in some cases, replacing humans, it is also making surviving workers' lives easier. Take Slough-based pharmaceuticals company UCB, where an automated system sets up experiments, freeing scientists' time for more important pursuits. "We have very bright people -- moving plates around is not a good use of their time," says Simon Tickle, principal scientist in charge of automation. "Robotic systems allow them to focus on proper analysis, the stuff that requires real intellectual input." Here are seven UK-based robots leading the revolution.
1. Artem, Special effects London
The robotic-cutting division at London-based special-effects company Artem has taken on some unusual challenges in the past year -- from a 20-metre polystyrene whale to a scale model of Cristiano Ronaldo's head. "It takes weeks for a hand sculptor to carve as much as the robot can in a single day," says the robot's operator, model maker Andy Freeman. "Humans can't grasp something at that size, they have to keep stepping away to look at it." With Artem's robot, Freeman can use standard CGI software to create a model at a more manageable computer-screen scale. This is then exported straight to the robot control software, which will direct the machining arm to cut it at full size, in blocks two to three metres high. artem.com
2. GKN Aerospace, Automated assembly Bristol
To produce the 27m-long rear-wing spar for the Airbus A350 XWB, aerospace company GKN has to join three carbon-fibre sections with less than a millimetre of tolerance. "We allow for about the thickness of a human hair," says VP, chief engineering, Chris Gear.
GKN's facility near Bristol produces 13 spars a month. "All of the spar sections are aligned, then the joints are scanned by a laser-headed robotic arm," Gear says. "The data is sent to a machine which creates a unique carbon splice plate for that particular join. In the old days that would have been several skilled people working with files to make it all fit." The robot is just as accurate when attaching the landing gear to the spar, even when it's drilling titanium and carbon fibre. gkn.com
3. Marks & Spencer, Distributed centre Castle Donington
Every week, two million items move through Marks & Spencer's distribution centre in Leicestershire. In total the site stores 16 million products across a 83,600m<sup>2</sup> space. The warehouse-control system knows the location of every dressing gown, bath mat or candlestick -- and where to send it. "On entry, every item is scanned to recognise its contents," explains operational-development manager, Neil Poole. Whenever you use the M&S website, you're communicating with this algorithm. If you order a winter coat from one end of the warehouse and a hat from the other, it coordinates them so that the workers packing them receive them at the same time. marksand spencer.com
4. National Composites Centre, Tri-robot cell Bristol
When you require power, three robots are always better than one.
Eight times better, in fact. "Most robots are not very stiff," says Colm McKeown, the NCC's engineering capability manager for digital manufacturing, automation and tooling. "When it comes to applications that require force, such as drilling or milling, they tend to flex back away from it."
The NCC's tri-robot cell is unique in that it allows multiple robotic arms to attach together and work with one shared tool to deliver eight times the rigidity achieved with a single arm. "You could have ten robots joined together if you wanted to,"
McKeown says. The robots can cooperate in combinations of up to 25 attachments, with more variations in the works. nccuk.cm
5. Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, Laser cladding Sheffield
This robot uses a 15kW laser to cover reactor-pressure-vessel sections with up to 10kg of melted stainless-steel powder an hour.
This reduces the time required to apply the corrosion-resistant cladding from several weeks to a day. And the NAMRC's additive-manufacturing-technology lead, Udi Woy, has bigger plans. "The intention is to build attachments directly on to the vessels," she says.
In other words, to use the robot as a giant 3D printer. These attachments are currently forged separately, after which big chunks are cut out of the vessel section in order to weld them to the main body. "We've trialled the concept and know we can do this,"
Woy says. "In five years' time additive manufacturing might well be used to make the entire vessel." namrc.co.uk
6. DPE Automotive, Auto-parts welding Durham
For car parts manufacturer DPE Automotive, it's a good thing robots can't get bored. Although the Durham-based factory produces around 500 car parts, working on as many as 50 components at a time, the job of an individual robot rarely changes. "At full capacity they can be running solidly for 21-and-a-half hours a day, producing the same car part for six years at a time," explains managing director Peter Coates.
Currently, a single two-armed robotic welding cell churns out 800 Nissan Juke exhaust brackets in each six-hour session, with an operator loading a set of four on to one side of a carousel while the robot welds the previous set on the other side. "It's increasing the output by tenfold from conventional hand welding,"
Coates says. dpe-automotive.co.uk
7. UCB, Antibody discovery Slough
There are 100 million B cells (which manufacture antibodies) in a mouse's spleen. Yet the tiniest fraction in just some mice will produce an antibody with the potential to be developed for the treatment of diseases such as osteoporosis or cancer. The task of UCB's Slough-based antibody discovery team
is to find them. "Sometimes we've had to screen literally a billion cells in order to find a single antibody that does what we want," explains Daniel Lightwood, UCB's director of antibody discovery. Before the introduction of automation, UCB's scientists could sample 100 wells, containing 20 million cells, per week. Now, the company's automated discovery platform performs that task five times faster. ucbpharma.co.uk
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
