A Conceptual Framework for the Study of the Adoption of Robots in Manufacturing Industry

Abstract

Past research on the diffusion of innovations focus mainly on the study of successful innovations and consider them as monolithic, static, and having a known and unchanging potential use. Furthermore, the assumption that the innovation should be adopted and its rate of adoption should be speeded up is a commonly held one. 
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\nThe present paper is a preliminary attempt to develop a conceptual framework of an interdisciplinary character to study the adoption of robots. This framework, however, is appropriate for the study of adoption at the early stages of diffusion, when uncertainty is high and the imitation forces have not been unleashed; and should be useful for structuring the problem as the basis for assessment and forecasting. 
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\nA classification of the factors (technical, economic, labor, managerial) affecting the decision to introduce robots at different levels (the operation, the manufacturing system, the firm) is described as means of analyzing the complexities of the problem. Finally, clusters of interacting factors and crucial variables are identified in an attempt to provide a synthesis of the classification. 
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\nPioneer adoption of robots results only in situations where the environment encourages management and labor to perceive the introduction of the technology as advantageous and compatible with the system, and where incentives exist worth of the managerial involvement and the labor acceptance.