The author frankly states in the Preface, “This book is a very restricted and narrow-scoped guide to planning for a robotic systems solution, and selecting the appropriate machinery, for a given set of tasks.” He goes on to say, “. . .this book is written for people who are new to robot technology and who wish for some practical guidance to use robots.” The reader will learn very little about robots, what types are available, and what jobs can be handed over to them. But, taking time to read through this compact publication of 195 pages, the reader will be given a lot of basic recommendations that should be well considered before embarking on the implementation of a robotic system.

With this very practical approach the author takes the reader through the three parts of this book: (1) Defining the need for a robot system, (2) Areas that require special attention, and (3) Case studies. The aspects of the definition and choice of a robot that are described and discussed in the first six chapters (Parts 1 and 2) are well focused and summarized for application in the five case studies presented in Part 3, especially in the section Case Studies--Summary and Analysis. The three Appendices that follow, which close the book, are of moderate usefulness.

The book is small and neatly presented, yet some errors have escaped the reviewers and editors. Those errors may be simple, such as printing “extend” instead of “extent” (sixth line from the bottom of p. 5), or a misplaced dot for “Number of axes” in Fig. 2.1 of p. 30. Some are confusing, such as the references, in Fig. 9 of p. 125, to letters that do not appear in the figure. Others are, worse, mystifying, such as is the use of the word “motivational” on p. 61, instead of motive or driving. In fact, when the author attempts to classify or generalize, the book practically loses all its attractiveness. On p. 60, section 4.2, a set of subsystems, referred to as “building blocks,” is given as making up the “robot system.” These same systems are referred to by slightly different names in Fig. 4.1 and in the functional description that follows on p. 61. Anyway, this is one of the few occasions when software is mentioned. This is particularly surprising because in the Introduction the author compares automation using robots with the automation that has been known since the last century, and concludes that robots belong to a “new automation [that] is reprogrammable and is therefore adaptable to many jobs or processes.” But this concept is not developed any further in the book. The versatility of a robot, which has been defined as its key characteristic [1], can be utilized only if the robot can be programmed easily. Therefore, the choice, procurement, and maintenance of software should constitute an important chapter in any book on robotics, consonant with their influence on initial costs, operational costs, and quality of the results. In this book the word “software” gets three timid entries in the index and they are out of alphabetic order, a fact that points to two other serious deficiencies. The index is small and poorly compiled: for “interface” there are nine entries, most of them referring to occurrences in the same page, while none of the case studies gets even one entry as reference. And there are no references for further reading on any of the subjects developed or mentioned in the book. For an introductory book, which must touch on many subjects without attempting to be thorough, this is certainly a serious drawback.

A nice characteristic of this book is that, along with the traditional considerations of layout, financing, and productivity, safety considerations have a prominent position. The author states on p. 62, “Simply replacing a man with a robot does not mean that less attention should be given to human health and safety precautions. . . .Indeed, when a robot is used, additional safety precautions will be needed.” These are some of the remarks that draw attention to the changing but ever-present need for safety precautions. As the robotic system prototype is transferred from the laboratory to the factory, increasing attention must be paid to its capacity to work alongside humans. The end-user, again, as in many other activities, ensures by being demanding that sufficient safety features are built in. Not all operational safety depends on the machine, and this point is well made by the author, showing that a careful location layout and setup, integrating the robotic system with the other elements, are what make the operation safe.

The author also offers some useful tidbits in the form of remarks or even drawings, as he proceeds with his subject through the book. Thus, the decision-maker would do well to remember that the incentives to automate are not determined by the price of labor only (pp. 14 to 18 and p. 75). In gauging the accuracy of his prospective robot, the project manager, at little cost, may have a convenient gadget made in his own shop. The author gives the idea and the engineering drawing as part of his recommendations (p. 51 to 53). Further down, on p. 55, engineers are reminded that they “. . .will have to learn what cannot be done with the robot.

In sum, this is a book written for action in a period of uncertainty; that is, we must use robots although we may not know as much about them as we would like to feel sure of our decisions. It is strictly based on the author’s experience, obtained in the design and implementation of 14 robotic systems. Although four out of the five case studies presented refer to European firms outside of the United Kingdom, the book as a whole is, in fact, restricted to British experience and, within it, to that of the author only. If this considerable limitation is kept in mind, this concise, easy-to-read book may prove helpful as a source of hints, checklists, and progress steps to follow when planning to acquire a first robot.