by J. A. Collins, aBE President of the British Robot Association T is my pleasure, on behalf of the Council and myself, investment in productive assets of which the robot can be Ito welcome you to the 9th Annual Conference of the seen as an important yardstick. It is therefore with British Robot Association. This year, 1986, has been considerable pleasure that the BRA is able to announce designated Industry Year to draw attention to the place the publication, this year, ofa survey of robots in industry of British industry in the life of the community as a covering the period since their introduction into British whole. This, by various means, both official and some industry to the present day. unwitting, has raised the political visibility of manu­ The research for this work has been carried out by the facturing industry. Of particular note was the publication Policy Studies Institute (PSI) on behalf ofthe BRA and the of the Select Committee of the House of Lords report on costs of the work have been borne by the generous assist­ British Overseas Trade, in that it draws attention to the ance of the Gatsby Foundation, the DTI and NEDO.