Japan's factory floors are getting adroit, accurate and tireless help from workers who may look tough and unforgiving but are more people-friendly than ever before. Although they do not attract as much attention as their humanoid service cousins, industrial robots are making steady strides in their skills, dexterity and versatility. Having played a key role in improving factory floor efficiency, they are now capable of handling different work procedures to carry out small-lot, wide-variety production. Some have vision and intelligence to recognize colour and other differences in parts to fine-tune movements on their own. At the International Robot Exhibition 2009 held at the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition centre in November, an assembly and packing robot made by Fanuc Ltd. showed off its skills. At a speed almost quicker than the eye could follow, the M-1iA robot picked up randomly placed parts of different colours and lined them up in boxes assigned to each colour. It was also deft enough to insert a part into a platform at an angle. The acceleration of its hand movement is six times greater than gravity acceleration, and it stops at a designated place at an accuracy of one-fiftieth of a millimetre, according to the company. "Making robots 'intelligent' so they can take in outside information and optimize their movements will expand the scope of their applications," said Fanuc Senior Managing Director Ryo Nihei. Japan's first domestically produced industrial robot made its debut in 1969. Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd.'s hydraulic Kawasaki-Unimate 2000, used at automotive plants, weighed 1.5 tons but could lift only 12 kilograms. It took the machine four seconds to complete one spot weld. Industrial robots have come a long way since, helped by price reductions and improvements in semiconductors and motors. Their use has quickly spread since 1980. While U.S. and European workers feared robots might take away their jobs, resistance in Japan has been minimal. Of about 1 million industrial robots in use in the world, 36 percent work in factories in Japan, according to the Japan Robot Association. Many of the robots used overseas are also made in Japan. Of about 113,000 units shipped globally in 2008, about 80,000 were made in Japan. Industrial robots, once used for simple, repetitive work, are becoming more versatile. Robot makers are focusing on technology that will enable a small number of robots to handle much of an entire production process.