Michigan Does the Robot

Cars — well of course. Techno and — duh — Motown. Consider the Dream Cruise, Auto Show, Tigers, Lions, Red Wings, Pistons, UAW, Ambassador Bridge, University of Michigan and Madonna — Michigan is known for many things. Next up, we are slated to become the capital of another notable: robotics. The military is moving its research, development and production of robots to the industrial capital best prepared to welcome them, accoring to Crain's Detroit Business, in a story called, "Military robots bringing civilian jobs to region." Crain’s reports, "Robotic ground-vehicle projects will be responsible for at least 109 new local jobs in Southeast Michigan by next year and perhaps more than double that by the middle of the next decade, according to defense contractors and military officers at two robotics conferences held in Troy and Ann Arbor last week." Could robots be the new key to our industrial prosperity?

Col. James Braden is the project manager of the Warren, Mich.-based Robotics Systems Joint Project Office at the U.S. Army Tacom Life Cycle Management Command (Tacom). The Army moved its robotics base from Alabama to Michigan a year ago, and has been hiring new engineers, manufacturers and designers since then, according to Braden. He says, "…we've been doing a bit of hiring and transferring from within TARDEC (Tank-Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center, in Warren), but we're also managing to hire some good people who came over from the automotive industry." There are is no shortage of jobs if people are gaining the ability to jump back and forth between industries. And wherever they’re employed, prospering industrial workers means Michigan gets to hold on to our title as the country’s industrial capital.

It’s not just the military sponsoring the settlements. According to Crain’s, "Also new to Southeast Michigan is the Joint Center for Robotics, established at TARDEC in October 2006 and overseeing research and development related to robotics projects. Jim Overholt, director of the JCR office, said the military's new focus on [Michigan] for robotics is prompting some defense contractor companies to follow suit." The military’s concentration on southeast Michigan has sparked a whole trade that’s completely new to the area.

The dean of the University of Michigan College of Engineering, Dean David Munson, Jr., said, "The region has lost a good deal of manufacturing and blue-collar jobs, but Southeast Michigan still remains the capital of innovation in the world's auto industry, This is one of many ways to leverage that (talent)." The school is adding a robotics concentration and appointing new faculty to instruct it, further cementing the state’s newfound place in the robotics world.

iRobot Corp. is also trying to settle in Warren, close to Tacom. Crain’s reports, "About 1,700 robotic units thus far have been furnished by Bedford, Mass.-based iRobot Corp…. ‘Our customer is there,’ said Nancy Smith, vice president of marketing for iRobot. ‘So it is important to be positioned to confer with and respond to them on a daily basis." Also joining in the fun will be "…Waltham, Mass.-based Foster Miler Inc., a division of QinetiQ North America and makers of the Talon family of explosive-ordinance disposal robots, Braden and Overholt said," as well as "Northrop Grumman Remotec, a robotics division of Northrop Grumman Corp. with offices in Troy…" who "…has added a small local presence since the RSJPO relocated, Braden said. A separate division of Braden's office, the Joint Robotics Repair and Fielding office, is expected to add 20 employees soon to the Tacom complex in Warren." All these companies are inspired to move to southeast Michigan. It behooves them to be located in one another’s vicinity, to be able to physically network with the military’s robotics capital in order to advance in the industry and its development. It equally behooves the citizens of Warren and southeast Michigan, who have new job opportunities in an industry that will only grow from here as other companies are born and move in, and as technology advances even further.

While the buyers of robotics products are primarily military for now, heading up the nation’s robotics manufacture and development signals our control over an industry that is sure to have new uses and investment interest the more the industry develops. Combining the advanced technology of robotics with the industry we’ve housed since its birth, the auto industry, could mean innovation like we’ve never seen, let alone what it could mean for all kinds of technology-based industries. Control over robotics means a level of control over the future. And it means we’ll have no shortage of jobs or prosperity in the state for ages to come. Welcome, robots, to your new home.

Diversified Industrial Staffing is a recruiting / staffing firm based in Troy, Michigan. Our job is to match ideal candidates to open manufacturing, construction and logistics jobs in Detroit and southeastern Michigan. We find and place CNC machine programmers & operators, manual lathe & mill operators, welders, pipe fitters, general labor, skilled trades professionals, machine repair personnel, truck drivers, hi-lo drivers, carpenters, painters and drywall repair people in addition to other positions.    Our homepage is www.diversifiedindustrialstaffing.com