Where are all the woodworking robots? (1996).

Robots were a hot topic when I joined the editorial staff of Wood & Wood Products in 1985. They were going to revolutionize woodworking, much as they have done in the automotive industry.

Midway through my rookie year, I attended a robotics for woodworking seminar in Charlotte, NC, put on by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. What I remember most about the event has nothing to do with robots or woodworking for that matter. While waiting for an elevator in the lobby of the Adams Mark Hotel, I learned that the Space Shuttle Challenger had exploded.

In the ensuing 10 years, NASA fortunately has not experienced a similar tragic episode and, to the best of my knowledge, the SME has not sponsored another robotics for woodworking seminar. I think it's safe to say that the headline of an article I authored for our March 1986 issue rings true today: "Robots Still on the Sidelines of the Wood Products Industry."

This is not to imply that robots are not being used at all by the woodworking trade; they simply have not lived up to the early hype. The interest level of employing robots for wood finishing, assembly and material handling applications has taken a backseat to flat panel processes and the use of vacuum lifts, automated conveyors, feed-through technologies and multiple-task machining centers outfitted with automatic tool changers.

Editor's note: Fast forward to 2006. We still see a few robots at the major woodworking shows tending work ceils, but from my vantage point, most of what I wrote in 1996 still rings true today. The notable exception is the tragic Loss of the Columbia space shuttle and its crew in 2003.