BOSTON—You’ll never understand your robot until you walk a mile in its screws. A new MIT study reveals that when co-working humans and robots cross-train, productivity improves.

EVERETT, WA—Inside Boeing’s assembly plant here, two robots glide along tracks on either side of a 106-foot wing for the 777. The robots wash the wing, apply solvent to remove dirt, rinse and then spray two different types of paint. They even reach into complex spaces inside the open wing root that must be painted for corrosion protection.

SAN DIEGO—Systems integrator JOT Automation has designed a robotic assembly line to make insulin pumps for Tandem Diabetes Care Inc.

EVANSVILLE, IN—Systems integrator Evana Automation recently delivered a lean, 21-step assembly and test system to American Axle & Manufacturing Inc.

BOSTON—Researchers from Harvard and MIT have created a printed inchworm robot that can fold and assemble itself.

A recent wordworking project has given me a greater appreciation of assembly line challenges. Has a home project ever informed your work in the assembly plant?

Well known for its engineering expertise, The EDAG Group develops vehicles and production systems for auto manufacturers all over the world. In conjunction with FFT EDAG, its sister company, The EDAG Group also creates complete production facilities for body in white modeling and vehicle assembly.

Kids have loved robots and toys for generations. The Rodon Group has decided that now is the perfect time for a robot named Baxter to help pack toys in the company’s highly automated manufacturing facility.

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.

It has become fashionable lately for some U.S. companies to tout how they’ve reshored production from overseas. Baldor Electric Co. isn’t one of them—it never left. The company has been manufacturing electric motors, drives, bearings and other motion control products in the United States for decades.