From Washington: The robot revolution: an interview with James Albus

Abstract

There is growing awareness among U.S. manufacturers that time is running short to reorganize production processes and begin investment programs for new technology. Sales of accessories—robots, computer controls, and materials-handling systems—are expected to climb to $30 billion world-wide by 1996, compared with the 1982 total of $4 billion. * There is also much discussion about the feasibility of Japan's plans for a fifth generation of computers the danger of their outstripping us, and, in general, what the advent of robotics will do to the quality of life. Do you see the pervasive use of robots as a practical reality?