Chapter 6: Science & Engineering Indicators 93
Robot Technology
Robot technology, a high-visibility facet of advanced manufacturing, is easily associated with this broader technology sector. For this study, robot technology
was defined as program-controlled manipulators, including the manipulator, program control, gripping heads, joints, arm sensors, safety devices, and accessories; and excluding nonprogram-controlled manipulators, prosthetic devices, and toy robots. (Click here for footnote 50.)
Footnote 50:
The trends discussed for robot technology are estimates based on a sample of 2,357 records drawn from a population of 10,203 records listed in Derwent's World Patent Index Latest (wpil) database. The population consisted of all WPIL robot technology
records with basic patent publications published in 1981 through mid-1993 and priority applications in the United States, Japan, West Germany, East Germany, France, Great Britain, and South Korea. The sampling method was random sample, stratified by
priority country. The seven countries accounted for about 64.4 percent of total robot technology families. The then-Soviet Union accounted for about another 28 percent, but was not included because of incomplete data associated with that country's
breakup.
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