NORDLINGEN, Germany—Six-axis robots and a rotary indexing table are the heart of a high-speed automated assembly system that produces 200,000 automotive sensors daily.

LONDON—Global sales of robots are expected to total $20.2 billion by 2016, growing at an annual rate of almost 11 percent annually, according to a new study.

PALO ALTO, CA—Robots will play an increasing role in electronics assembly in the coming years, says Douglas Alexander of Component Engineering Consultants.

Automation is wonderfully economical—except when it’s not. Time and again, I’ve seen smart engineers make dumb automation decisions, some of them ruinous.

The efficiency and reliability of an industrial robot largely depend on its end-of-arm tooling. However, engineers often forget that the interface between the end-effector and the robot arm also plays a critical role.

BOSTON—Rethink Robotics has developed a vision-guided, dual-arm robot that can safely work side-by-side with people on assembly lines.

CHICAGO—A video showcases some of the robots that were on display at McCormick Place this week.

ZILINA, Slovakia—Thanks to a small army of robots, the Kia automotive assembly plant here is one of the few plants in the world capable of building up to eight different models on the same line.

PAYSON, UT—Liberty Safe, a manufacturer of gun storage safes, completed testing of a new $10 million fully computerized assembly line here. The line will double the company’s output to more than 700 safes a day.

BEIJING—Chinese factories are automating at such a rate, that China may soon overtake Japan and South Korea as the world’s biggest market for robots.