Of all the fields of modern technology, robotics is likely to be one of the most influential in changing the very nature of our society.

In the past, the term "robot" has tended to conjure up pictures of automatonlike machines, often seen as a threat to people themselves. The concept of the robot goes back many decades, but-with the introduction of modern microelectronics - the whole field of robotics has been given a new impetus and exciting prospects. We can achieve almost automatic manufacture of a whole range of goods and products. Moreover, these can be made by robots with consistency of quality, both in mass production and in smaller batches. The manufacturing operations which can be automated are not only those of assembly but also of joining.