ABSTRACT
Until recently, robots were mainly used in factories for automating production processes. In the 1970s, the appearance of factory robots led to much debate on their influence on employment. The mass unemployment that was feared did not come to pass. Still, robots have radically changed the work in countless factories. Driven by a belief in efficiency, factories and labor have been redesigned over the last century. The first half of the twentieth century saw a far-reaching simplification and specialization of the work. This paved the way for the mechanization and automation of the production process. As a result, robots have come to play a central role in this ongoing attempt to rationalize production. In essence, robotization presents a way to rationalize a certain social practice by reducing its dependence on people, ultimately by replacing them with machines.
