For thousands of years, the ability to work independently and perform repetitious tasks was the exclusive province of human beings, from construction of the pyramids to the Industrial Revolution.
Fortunately, the situation is changing, led by articulated-arm robots for case packing, palletizing, depalletizing and other material-handling applications. The shift is due in part to a manufacturing environment where menial jobs are hard to fill and lean manufacturing encourages the use of machines for non-value added jobs. Another factor is the maturation of robotics technology and advances in complementary technologies. According to a recent survey by the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute, 35% of manufacturers plan to purchase robots this year, with palletizing robots the most likely application.