At the end of the 50s of the 20th century, industrial robots were first put into use. Joseph F. Englberger used the inspiration of servos to develop an industrial robot, the Unimate, together with George Devol, which was first used in General Motors' production workshops in 1961. The original industrial robot structure was relatively simple, and the function it completed was to pick up car parts and place them on the conveyor belt, and there was no ability to interact with other working environments, that is, to accurately complete the same repetitive action according to a predetermined basic program. Although the application of "Unimet" is a simple and repetitive operation, it shows the bright prospect of industrial mechanization and also opens the prelude to the vigorous development of industrial robots. Since then, in the field of industrial production, many heavy, repetitive or meaningless process tasks can be completed by industrial robots instead of humans.
In the 60s of the 20th century, the development of industrial robots ushered in the dawn period, and the simple functions of robots were further developed. The use of robot sensors has improved the maneuverability of robots, including the tactile sensors adopted by Ernst, the pressure sensors used by Tomovich and Bony on the world's first "dexterous hands", and McCarthy's improvements to the robot by adding a visual sensing system, and helping MIT introduce the world's first robotic system with vision sensors that can recognize and locate building blocks. In addition, using technologies such as sonar systems and photocells, industrial robots can correct their exact position through environmental recognition.
Since the mid-60s of the 20th century, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the University of Edinburgh have successively established robotics laboratories. The United States is emerging to research the second generation of sensor-induced, "sentient" robots, and is moving towards artificial intelligence.
In the 70s of the 20th century, with the development of computer and artificial intelligence technology, robots entered the era of practical use. For example, Hitachi launched a robot with tactile and pressure sensors and a 7-axis AC motor, the world's first small computer-controlled robot launched by Milacron in the United States, which is driven by an electro-hydraulic servo and can track moving objects for assembly and multi-functional operations, and robots suitable for assembly operations include the SCARA planar articulated robot invented by Yamanashi University in Japan.
At the end of the 70s of the 20th century, the PUMA series of robots launched by the United States Unimation company are multi-joint, multi-CPU two-level computer control, all-electric, with special VAL language and visual and force sensors, which marks that industrial robot technology has been fully mature. PUMA is still working on the front lines of the plant today.
In the 80s of the 20th century, robots entered a period of popularization, with the development of the manufacturing industry, industrial robots in developed countries to popularize, and to high-speed, high-precision, lightweight, complete sets of serialization and intelligent development, in order to meet the needs of more varieties, less batches.
In the 90s of the 20th century, with the progress and development of computer technology and intelligent technology, the second generation of robots with certain sensory functions has been put into practical use and began to be promoted.
In 2020, the operating income of China's robot industry exceeded 100 billion yuan for the first time. During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the output of industrial robots increased from 72,000 sets to 212,000 sets, with an average annual growth rate of 31%. From the perspective of technology and products, key technologies and components such as precision reducers, high-performance servo drive systems, intelligent controllers, and intelligent integrated joints have accelerated breakthroughs, and innovative achievements have emerged, and the performance of the whole machine has been greatly improved, the functions have become more and more abundant, and the product quality has been increasingly optimized. Industry applications are also expanding. For example, industrial robots have been widely used in 52 industries and 143 industries such as automobiles, electronics, metallurgy, light industry, petrochemicals, and medicine.
In 2022, Jiateng Robot launched the first differential 20-ton AGV drive unit in China, which adopts a differential heavy-duty power module and control strategy to enhance the practicability and durability of the product. It is reported that heavy-duty AGVs can be used in aerospace, high-pressure vessels, large-scale infrastructure projects, modular construction projects and other industries.