它们不会顶嘴，不会生病，一周七天，每天能24小时不辞辛苦地工作，不用上卫生间，只需偶尔充充电即可。从表面看，机器人是完美无缺的员工。但如果一开始没有安排好，后果会很严重。"我见过员工们拔掉机器人的插头，明目张胆地损坏机器人。员工们担心自己或者工友会因此失业，"大卫•伯恩(David Bourne)如是说，他是卡耐基梅隆大学机器人研究所(Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University)机器人系统方面的首席科学家。
尽管肆意损坏行为仍属凤毛麟角，但它们的发生很好地警示了以后可能发生的事：倘若员工感到应用技术后，自己的生计遭受巨大威胁，就会想方设法使出"阴招"。然而，在汽车制造厂，工业用机器人（经编程后自动执行多种工作的机器）通过把员工从最脏、最危险的工作（如焊接、喷漆、以及搬举沉重的零配件）中解放出来，已提高了生产率。如今新一代的机器人能够完好无损地拿起鸡蛋，或者能在莴苣叶中找出蜗牛，它们能够承担过去需要"眼快手巧"的日常杂务。若部署得当，机器人可以让企业为现有及未来员工创造有意思的工作岗位，削减成本，增加产能，并防止制造业转移至劳动力成本低的国家。就拿德国来说，相比英国，它挽留住了更多的工程师，同时为每1万名员工配置了5倍于英国的机器人。
但倘若机器人"抢走"了每周让你领取固定薪水的工作，那么所有这一切对你来说压根就不是宽慰的消息。正如一位裁员的老板所说："当你的员工在车间第一线为你效力了30年，你很难告诉他们变化是生活的一部分。"
虽说勒德式（Luddite，19世纪捣毁机器的英国工人）的态度会给企业制造麻烦，但率先采用新技术也会带来问题。伯恩教授说，企业通过时刻关注先行使用机器人的其它同行，就能顺利地紧跟创新的时代步伐。"早期购置的机器人系统使用起来往往不顺利，"他说。"若你看到竞争对手使用某种技术，并因此获益，那么你不仅能够购置同样的机器人系统，而且还可以着手提高其性能。"
逐步采用自动化有助于融洽劳资关系：赢得时间，让被替换的工人得到重新安置、自然减员，或者接受再培训，成为机器人看管员。英国肉饼制造商Ginsters通过改用机器人做包装及搬运工作，使产量提高了一倍以上。该公司生产总监理查德•贝恩(Richard Bain)说，在企业扩张期间逐步引入机器人，成功实现了在不裁员的情况下产能翻番。
并非所有的员工都如此幸运。有些企业在哪些人看护机器人，哪些人重新安置，哪些人离岗方面面临痛苦的抉择。ABB机器人公司负责英国及爱尔兰的销售及营销经理奈杰尔•普拉特(Nigel Platt)说，他的公司曾帮助客户执行挑选员工担任机器人技术员的棘手任务。他表示，相比教会自动化工程师如何焊接，教会焊工维护自动化系统要容易一些。"但并非所有的焊工都有强烈的意愿或者必要本事来学习机器人技术。"他说。
有关工作场所与机器人"相处"的建议
●别当试验品。"购置最新款的机器人系统是件愚蠢的事，"卡耐基梅隆大学机器人研究所的大卫•伯恩如是说。"至少得等第二版面世。"
●不要低估你的员工。"焊工与机修工有足够技能成为机器人技师，"伯恩教授说。
●争取员工支持。奥迪请车间工人找出改进机器人表现的地方。找到的员工升任机器人操作员、编程人员或者调至正在扩大的部门，如电动汽车生产线。"否则员工就不会真心帮助我们，"奥迪规划总管阿恩•雷科特(Arne Lakeit)说。
●用够你的供货商。Ginsters邀请机器人供货商派遣实习工程师及设计师到工厂充当操作员。供货方员工发现机器人实际工作状况以及如何使性能更上一层楼。英国发那科机器人公司(Fanuc Robotics UK)的做法是：让客户派遣最棒的学徒与它的团队联手，从而鼓励客户把机器人技术完美契入生产经营。
●工作场的机器人有时可能太像真人。适当体现一些人体特征能够养眼，但伯恩教授说，机器人若能以假乱真，则会让人害怕。
培训要求也不应低估。2004年，阿尔拉食品公司(Arla Foods)在它位于瑞典延雪平(Jönköping)的奶牛场实现了货盘及板条箱的自动化控制后，订单处理更为快捷、也更准确。但在最初运行的几个月里，叉车司机使用旧经验、老办法，不断试图加快电脑控制的工作流程，而没有意识到机器人不会象真人一样操作。随后机器人工作出现了紊乱，客户有关订单延误及装货错误的大量投诉接踵而至。"我们自认为员工培训已经很充分，" 阿尔拉食品公司技术经理奥拉•阿尔文(Ola Allvin)说。"但随后发生的事清楚表明：我们还需要做很多。"
倘若一切能重来的话，阿尔文先生说他会少花些时间在课堂，多花些时间在工作第一线，提高操作员与机器人之间的相互默契能力。
奥迪汽车公司主管规划的阿恩•拉科特也有同感。他说，没有基层的反馈，再完美的计划也会前功尽弃。"你在设计过程的细枝末节时，必须利用目前完成这些工作的人员的知识。"
让留下操纵机器人的工人拥有更大的设计发言权，也能提振其士气。肯•扬(Ken Young)是英国华威大学(University of Warwick)的机器人自动化教授，他曾亲眼目睹团队解散后造成的不信任，他认为重振留下人员的积极性乃是当务之急。"如果操作员有心让整个系统良性运转，系统就能良性运转，"他说。但如果他执意不想让整个系统好好运转，系统就不会顺利运转。
那么机器人行业观察人士如何看待未来？随着他们的能力渐趋增强，有些机器人看上去开始更像真人。对于能够从装配工作转行包装工作的双臂机器人，制造企业——安川电机美国莫托曼机器人公司(Yaskawa America Motoman Robotics)选择了人形的外形曲线。"我们想让员工把机器人看成是他们自身个体的延伸，而非冷冰冰的机器，"公司技术总监埃里克•涅韦斯(Erik Nieves)表示。
但是，看上去最似人的机器人也许要算"机器宇航员2号"(Robonaut 2)了，它头戴头盔，拥有灵活的躯干、胳膊以及类似人的双手，能够自主操控人类使用的工具。"机器宇航员2号"由美国国家宇航局(Nasa)和通用汽车公司(General Motors)联手设计，预定于11月1日搭乘"发现号"航天飞机奔赴国际空间站(International Space Station)。
在地面，通用汽车公司机器人技术首席工程师马蒂•林恩(Marty Linn)计划使用"机器宇航员2号"作为平台，以测试相关的机器人技术，能够有朝一日让员工免于从事挑战人体工程学的工作，这些工作可能造成重复性劳损。
那么，机器人将来会不会异军突起，全面主导车间第一线工作？伯恩教授预测未来机器人会承担所有的制造工作，而让人类专司设计。更为近期的目标是建造身手异常敏捷的机器人，能够进军iPhone和黑莓(BlackBerry)等产品的装配市场。
目前，这些电子小器件更新换代的周期非常快，所以机器人基本上难以涉足它们的生产领域。"等到你完成开发你的机器人，最新的电子产品已经更新换代了，"伯恩教授说。
让机器人与装配线工人肩并肩一起工作是个工程挑战，但鼓励人类接纳机器人工友的管理挑战同样够呛。
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001035441
They don't answer back; they don't get sick and they can toil away 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with no comfort breaks and only intermittent need of replenishment. On the face of it, robots are the perfect workers. But bungle their initiation and the consequences can be dire. "I've seen people literally sabotage robots by unplugging them. They were afraid that they or their friends would lose their jobs," says David Bourne, the principal systems scientist at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University.
All the same, wanton acts of destruction are rare. The fact they can occur is a salutary reminder of what can happen if a workforce feels so threatened by a technology that it tries to block it. Yet industrial robots – machines programmed to perform a variety of tasks automatically – have made car plants more productive by relieving employees of the dirtiest, most hazardous jobs, such as welding, paint spraying and hefting heavy parts. Now a new robot generation that can pick up an egg without crushing it or spot a snail on a lettuce leaf is taking on chores that once relied on manual dexterity and keen eyesight.
Deployed effectively, robots allow businesses to create interesting jobs for existing and new employees, reduce costs, increase output and stop manufacturing flying out of the door to low-cost labour markets. Germany, for example, has held on to more of its engineering roles than the UK while installing five times as many robots for every 10,000 employees.
None of this, however, is any solace if a robot poaches the job that pays your weekly wages. As one labour-shedding employer puts it: "[When you have] people who have been working on the factory floor for 30 years, bringing the message home that change is part of life [is a challenge]."
While Luddite attitudes can hold a business back, being first into a new technology can also cause problems. By keeping an eye on what the pioneers are buying, Prof Bourne says, businesses can keep up to date with innovations without experiencing the glitches. "Often times, the systems the early adopters buy are the ones that don't work," he says. "If you see [a competitor] use a technology and like the results, not only can you put in the same kind of system but you can start to improve on it."
Phasing in the process of automation can help industrial relations by buying time for displaced workers to be redeployed, shed through natural wastage or retrained as robot minders. Switching to robotic packing and palletising allowed Ginsters, the UK pasty maker, to more than double output from its factory. Production director Richard Bain says that introducing the robots gradually during a period of expansion allowed it to do this without putting staff out of work.
Not all workforces are as fortunate. Some businesses face painful choices over who to make a robot minder, who to redeploy and who to let go. Nigel Platt, sales and marketing manager at ABB Robotics UK and Ireland, says his company has assisted clients in the tricky task of picking workers to become robot technicians. Teaching a welder to look after automation is easier than teaching an automation engineer how to weld, he says. "But not all welders have the desire or the wherewithal to learn [robotics]," he says.
Tips for living with robots in the workplace
● Don't be a guinea pig. "Buying the latest robotic system is a stupid thing to do," says David Bourne of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. "At least wait for version two."
● Don't underestimate your workforce. "Welders and machinists have more than enough skills to be robot technicians," says Prof Bourne.
● Get the employees onside. Audi asks shopfloor workers to identify areas where robots could improve performance. A worker who spots an opportunity is offered a job as the robot's operator or programmer or in a line, such as car electrification, that is expanding. "Nobody would help us, otherwise," says Arne Lakeit, head of planning.
● Stretch your suppliers. Ginsters invites its robot suppliers to send their trainee engineers and designers to work as operators in its factory. The suppliers' staff discover what the robots are like to work with in practice – and how they could be made better. Fanuc Robotics UK encourages its biggest customers to embed robot expertise in their businesses by sending their best apprentices to work with Fanuc's team.
● Robots in the workplace can look too human. A few anthropomorphic features are appealing. But robots that could almost pass for human freak people out, says Prof Bourne.
Training requirements should not be underestimated. The automation in 2004 of crate and pallet handling at its Jönköping dairy in Sweden has al¬lowed Arla Foods to process orders faster and more accurately. But for the first couple of months, its fork-lift truck drivers kept trying to shortcut the system's computer-controlled workflow with their own commonsense improvisations, not realising that robots do not operate like people. Robot chaos ensued, followed by a volley of complaints from customers whose orders arrived late or wrongly assembled. "We thought we had done enough to educate our people," says Ola Allvin, technical manager. "But, as we saw later, we needed to do much, much more."
Given the chance again, Mr Allvin says he would spend less time in the classroom and more on the factory floor putting the robots through their paces with their operators.
Arne Lakeit, head of planning at carmaker Audi, has similar thoughts. Without grass-roots input, he says, the best-laid plans fall apart. "You have to design the details of the process using the knowledge of the people [who do the job]."
A bigger say in design can also lift the morale of workers kept on to operate robots. Having seen the mistrust that team break-ups cause, Ken Young, a professor of rob¬otics automation at University of Warwick, regards the task of re-enthusing survivors as a top priority. "If the operator is determined the system will work, it will work," he says. But if he is determined it won't, it won't.
How do robot watchers see the future? As they become more capable, some robots are starting to look more human. For a dual-arm robot that can switch from assembly work to packing, robot maker Yaskawa America Motoman Robotics chose contours evoking the human form. "We wanted people to see the robot as an extension of themselves, not as an [inflexible] machine," says Erik Nieves, technology director.
The prize for the robot that looks most like a person, however, probably goes to Robonaut 2, a helmeted model that sports a torso, arms and humanoid hands that can manipulate tools made for people. Designed by Nasa and General Motors, R2 is scheduled to blast off in the space shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station on November 1.
Back on earth, Marty Linn, GM's principal engineer of robotics, plans to use R2 as a "platform" for testing robot technologies that might one day relieve workers of the sorts of "ergonomically challenging" tasks that can cause repetitive strain injuries.
Will robots rise up and take control of the factory floor? Prof Bourne foresees a day when robots will do all the making, leaving people to the designing. A more immediate goal is to build robots nimble enough to penetrate the assembly market for goods such as iPhones and BlackBerrys.
For the moment, the fleeting life-cycle of electronic gadgets makes their production a largely robot-free zone. "By the time you've finished your robot, [the latest model has been and gone]," Prof Bourne says.
Getting a robot to stand pivot to shoulder with assembly line workers is an engineering challenge. But the management challenge of getting people to embrace robot co-workers can prove equally demanding.
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