Productivity, payback and what actually pays
Measured outcomes rather than vendor projections: productivity effects, investment appraisal, and the gap between the two.
12 works. Metadata and abstracts from OpenAlex, harvested 2026-08-23. We have not summarized, graded or characterized this research ourselves, and the abstracts below are the authors' own.
Robots at Work
We analyze for the first time the economic contributions of modern industrial robots, which are flexible, versatile, and autonomous machines. We use novel panel data on robot adoption within industries in seventeen countries from 1993 to 2007 and new instrumental variables that rely on robots’ comparative advantage in specific tasks. Our findings suggest that increased robot use contributed approximately 0.36 percentage points to annual labor productivity growth, while at the same time raising total factor productivity and lowering output prices. Our estimates also suggest that robots did not significantly reduce total employment, although they did reduce low-skilled workers’ employment share.
Robots and Firms
We study the microeconomic implications of robot adoption using a rich panel data set of Spanish manufacturing firms over a 27-year period (1990-2016). We provide causal evidence on two central questions: (1) Which firm characteristics prompt firms to adopt robots? (2) What is the impact of robots on adopting firms relative to non-adopting firms? To address these questions, we look at our data through the lens of recent attempts in the literature to formalise the implications of robot technology. As for the first question, we establish robust evidence for positive selection, i.e., ex ante better performing firms (measured through output and labour productivity) are more likely to adopt robots. On the other hand, conditional on size, ex ante more skill-intensive firms are less likely to do so. As for the second question, we find that robot adoption generates substantial output gains in...
Circular economy practices and industry 4.0 technologies: A strategic move of automobile industry
The fourth industrial revolution (IR4.0) toward automation and digitalization is the new trend among automobile production systems. Indubitably, the automobile industry has been scurrying in this revolution due to investment and governmental support availability. The current study examines the role of industry 4.0 on circular economy practices and supply chain capability to improve firm performance. Cross‐sectional data were collected from 286 respondents through a closed‐ended questionnaire. The adoption of circular economy practices improves the economic and operational performance of the firm. Also, industry 4.0 has the potential to make significant improvements in business operations. The empirical results confirm that industry 4.0 plays a positive role in implementation of circular economy practices and supply chain capability. Furthermore, circular economy practices provide...
Robot adoption and energy performance: Evidence from Chinese industrial firms
A Strategic Roadmap for the Manufacturing Industry to Implement Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 (also referred to as digitization of manufacturing) is characterized by cyber physical systems, automation, and data exchange. It is no longer a future trend and is being employed worldwide by manufacturing organizations, to gain benefits of improved performance, reduced inefficiencies, and lower costs, while improving flexibility. However, the implementation of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies is a difficult task and becomes even more challenging without any standardized approach. The barriers include, but are not limited to, lack of knowledge, inability to realistically quantify the return on investment, and lack of a skilled workforce. This study presents a systematic and content-centric literature review of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies, to highlight their impact on the manufacturing industry. It also provides a strategic roadmap for the implementation of...
Industrial robots and firm productivity
Robot adoption and export performance: Firm-level evidence from Spain
Robot Imports and Firm-Level Outcomes
We use French data over the 1994-2013 period to study how imports of industrial robots affect firm-level outcomes. Guided by a simple model, we develop a novel empirical strategy to identify the causal effects of robot adoption. Our results suggest that, while demand shocks generate a positive correlation between robot imports and employment at the firm level, exogenous exposure to automation leads to job losses. We also find that robot exposure increases labour productivity and some evidence that it may raise the relative demand for high-skill professions.
Virtual/Remote Labs for Automation Teaching: a Cost Effective Approach
Current advances in Information Technology have allowed the development of high performance communication systems in automatic control applications, as well as high fidelity manufacturing system simulators. A hybrid proposal that combines virtual and remote laboratories approaches for teaching industrial automation courses is presented. Several competencies and skills based on different challenges and active learning techniques are promoted. The proposal requires low investment and operating costs, in addition to being easily scalable. Some elements that influence the teaching/learning process are analyzed. Early results have been successful and can serve as a guide to improve teaching/learning process in experimental automation courses.
Understanding the key takeaway of construction robots towards construction automation
Purpose The construction industry is the major sector in China but it has been exposed to a series of problems including low productivity and workforce shortage. However, construction robots as an effective and sustainable approach to overcome the difficulties in construction industry have not been widely adopted. Few studies attempted to investigate on the adoption of construction robots in China. In order to fill this gap, this study aim to address the barriers to the adoption of construction robots in China. Design/methodology/approach Through literature review, semi-structured interview 24 factors hindering the adoption of construction robots are summarized. Next, a total of valid 150 questionnaires delivered to the 7 stakeholders were collected. Ranking analysis was used to identify 21 critical factors was determined by the mean score analysis and factor analysis extracted 21...
Aging, automation, and productivity in Korea
Design and application of virtual simulation teaching platform for intelligent manufacturing
Aiming at the practical teaching of intelligent manufacturing majors faced with lack of equipment, tense teachers and other problems such as high equipment investment, high material loss, high teaching risk, difficult to implement internship, difficult to observe production, difficult to reproduce the results, and so on, we take the electrical automation technology, mechatronics technology and industrial robotics technology majors of intelligent manufacturing majors as an example, and design and establish a virtual simulation teaching platform for intelligent manufacturing majors by using the cloud computing platform, edge computing technology, and terminal equipment synergy. The platform includes six major virtual simulation modules, including virtual simulation of electrician electronics and PLC control, virtual and real combination of typical production lines of intelligent...
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