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FIGURE 8.41 A U.S. Marine Corps technician prepares to deploy a device that
will detonate a buried improvised explosive device near Camp Fallujah, Iraq.

with a lot of sensors to guide the system to deliver documents, mails,
and light objects to various work stations identified by certain coding
techniques, Fig. 8.42. Employing robust proximity sensors, together
with servo motors and close loop servo techniques have contributed
to the success of robotic vacuum cleaners, Fig. 8.43.

8.16 The 2006 World Robot Market—Total Worldwide
Sales
The world market decreased by 11 percent in 2006. After the peak in
2005, the world market was down by 11 percent in 2006, at 112,203
newly supplied industrial robots. Nevertheless, developments were
quite dissimilar in the three large industrial regions of Europe, America,
and Asia, as shown in Fig. 8.44. After huge investments the previous
year, robot sales in Asia and America plummeted in 2006. Europe
recovered after a weak year in 2005. In 2006, world-wide shipments
to the automotive industry decreased by 17 percent compared to
2005. Across the total electrical/electronics industry (including office
and computing machinery and equipment; radio, TV, and communi-
cation devices and equipment; and medical, precision, and optical
instruments), installations surged by 88 percent in 2005, to 28,600
units. This was the second year in a row that has seen huge increases
in robot installations in these industries. Thus, it is not surprising that