Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

9-30-1987

Degree Name

Master of Science in Management Engineering - (M.S.)

Department

Industrial and Management Engineering

First Advisor

John Mihalasky

Abstract

The increasing versatility of robots has led to their use in a widening range of applications. The robot population is growing at a remarkable pace. The increase in the use of robots in industry has changed the standards of productivity and quality. During past years, as labor costs has risen, safety and environmental regulations have been changed to provide more benefits to workers and capabilities of robots became more sophisticated. Therefore, robots became a valuable piece of production equipment.

Now, robots are able to perform all kinds of hazardous and heavy duty jobs which are harmful to human life or which humans are unable to perform. Beside these benefits of robots, application still faces a lot of obstacles. especially in the area of social implications, cheap labor, management capabilities and environmental restrictions.

The objective of this thesis is to identify the areas of robotic applications and discuss it's social, economical, environmental and political impacts in developing countries. Pakistan as a case study will be discussed in detail, while India, Thailand, Saudi-Arabia and Philippines will be discussed in general. Some additional developing countries will also be briefly discussed.

The thesis will also investigate the feasibility of robotics implementations and the workers' and the management's attitudes towards robotization in Pakistan's industry. In order to understand the degree of satisfaction working with robots, a questionnaire was developed and mailed to different categories of people in Pakistan. Face to face interviews were also a part of the survey.

Finally, this thesis will develop an approach that might assist the industrialists and scientists of developing countries to transfer advance automation technology like robots from developed countries to developing countries.

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