Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

enterprise computing 183for aligning the workpiece (the object to be manipulated)and to make small adjustments for variations.In spring 1961 the first Unimate robot began operationson the assembly line at the General Motors Plant inTurnstedt, a suburb of Trenton, New Jersey. Most of thefactory’s 3,000 human workers welcomed the newcomerbecause Unimate would be doing a job involving the castingof car doors and other parts from molten metal—hot,dangerous work. That first Unimate worked for nearly 10years, tirelessly keeping up with three shifts of humanworkers each day.In 1980 Engelberger published Robotics in Practice. Thisbook, together with Robotics in Service (1988), became astandard textbook that defined the growing robotics industry.The two titles also marked a shifting of Engelberger’sfocus from industrial robots to service robots—robots thatwould do their jobs not in factories, but in workplaces suchas warehouses or hospitals.In the 1980s Engelberger founded HelpMate Robotics,Inc. The company’s most successful product has been theHelpMate robot. The robot is designed to dispatch records,laboratory samples, and supplies throughout a busy hospital.HelpMate does not follow a fixed track. Rather, it isprogrammed to visit a succession of areas or stations andmakes its own way, using cameras to detect and go aroundobstacles. HelpMate can even summon an elevator to go toa different floor!Along with other robotics entrepreneurs, Engelbergeris also looking toward a time when robots will be able toperform a number of useful tasks in the home. In particular,Engelberger sees great potential for robots in helpingto care for the growing population of elderly people whoneed assistance in the tasks of daily life. He points out thatno government or insurance company can afford to hire afull-time human assistant to enable older people to continueto live at home. However, a suitable robot could fetchthings, remind a person when it is time to take medication,and even perform medical monitoring and summon help ifnecessary.Joseph Engelberger’s achievements in industrial and servicerobotics have won him numerous plaudits and awardsfrom the industry. He has also received honorary doctoratesfrom five institutions, including Carnegie Mellon Universityin Pittsburgh—one of the great centers of robotics researchin the United States.Since 1977, the Robotics Industries Association has presentedthe annual Joseph F. Engelberger Award to honor themost significant innovators in the science and technologyof robotics. Engelberger was elected to the National Academyof Engineering in 1984. He also received the ProgressAward of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers andthe Leonardo da Vinci Award of the Society of MechanicalEngineers, as well as the 1982 American Machinist Award.In 1992 Engelberger was included in the London SundayTimes series on “The 1000 Makers of the 20th Century.”Japan has awarded him the Japan Prize for his key role inthe establishment of that nation’s thriving robotics industry.In 2000 Engelberger delivered the keynote address tothe World Automation Congress, which was also dedicatedto him. In 2004 he received the IEEE Robotics and AutomationAward.Further ReadingBrain, Marshall. “Robotic Nation.” Available online. URL: http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm. Accessed May 3,2007.Engelberger, Joseph F. Robotics in Practice: Management and Applicationsof Industrial Robots. New York: AMACOM, 1980.———. Robotics in Service. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1989.———. “Whatever Became of Robotics Research.” Robotics Online.http://www.roboticsonline.com/public/articles/articlesdetails.cfm?id=769. Accessed May 3, 2007.Henderson, Harry. Modern Robotics: Building Versatile Machines.New York: Chelsea House, 2006.Nof, Shimon Y. Handbook of Industrial Robotics. 2nd ed. New York:Wiley, 1999.Robotics Online. Available online. URL: http://www.roboticsonline.com/. Accessed May 3, 2007.enterprise computingThis concept refers to the organization of data processingand communications across an entire corporation or otherorganization. Historically, computing technology and infrastructureoften developed at different rates in the variousdepartments of a corporation. For example, by the 1970s,departments such as payroll and accounting were makingheavy use of electronic data processing (EDP) using mainframecomputers. The introduction of the desktop computerin the 1980s often resulted in operations such as marketing,corporate communications, and planning being conductedusing a disparate assortment of software, databases, anddocument repositories. Even the growing use of networkingoften meant that an enterprise had several different networkswith at best rudimentary intercommunication.The movement toward enterprise computing, while oftenfunctioning as a buzzword for the selling of new networkingand knowledge management technology, conveys a realneed both to manage and leverage the growing informationresources used by a large-scale enterprise. The infrastructurefor enterprise computing is the network, which todayis increasingly built using Internet protocol (see tcp/ip),although legacy networks must often still be supported.Enterprise-oriented software uses the client-server model,with an important decision being which operating systemsto support (see client-server computing).The need for flexibility in making data available acrossthe organization is leading to a gradual shift from the olderrelational database (RDBMs) to object-oriented databases(OODBMs). One advantage of object-oriented databases isthat it is more scalable (able to be expanded without runninginto bottlenecks) and data can be distributed dynamicallyto take advantage of available computing resources.(An alternative is the central depository. See data warehouse.)The dynamic use of storage resources is also important(see disk array).The payoffs for a well-integrated enterprise informationsystem go beyond efficiency in resource utilization andinformation delivery. If, for example, the marketing departmenthas full access to data about sales, the data can be