Robot installations have grown exponentially in recent years.    Robots have been around in industry performing many tasks such as welding and material handling since the 1980s.  The recent boom is a result of decreasing costs and ease of use.  Emerging markets such as the area of   Collaborative Robotics  have stemmed further growth allowing robots to be used in many new applications.

Modern robots are easier than you may think to deploy.    Robot manufacturers such as Yaskawa with their  Smart Series  and   Singular Control  solutions, have made robot integration and deployment extremely streamlined and significantly easier for those new to robotics.   Mecademic ,  who offers the world's smallest and most precise robot takes the approach of allowing the robot to simply be a component in your existing controls architecture with the ability to be an EtherCat Slave device.  Collaborative robots have never been easier to use with   Precise Automation 's   simple web interface and the only manufacturer to offer SCARA and Cartesian mechanisms in additional to articulating arms.  For a truly lightweight 7-axis collaborative robot, look no further than Copenhagen based  Kassow Robots .