A TIME saving, injury-preventing robot made at Clifton Moor, York, has brought both elation and fear to Britain's glassmaking industry.

Elation, because the huge, gangling robot, dubbed IGAR, can think, measure and act to prevent injuries as well as massively speeding up production when it comes to taping the edges of plate glass.

Fear because its use has been resisted by many smaller glassmakers, who foresee IGAR taking over the jobs of humans.

Bosses at Forward + Thompson's factory in Atlas Road, where the robot is made, are celebrating the fact that it has just received a full worldwide patent - but admit the take-up of the machine, which costs up to £150,000, is for the moment not as great as expected because of shop floor resistance.

The robot is programmed to sense the size of newly-produced plate glass sealed units then perfectly tape their edges to prevent cuts and damage in transit.

It is a safety process usually carried out by up to eight glass factory operators per plant, who often have to process 4,000 glass plates per day, of varying sizes, at some risk of injury.

IGAR, however, is never ill, never takes holidays, and is unflagging for 24 hours a day. Where it takes two workers between 30 and 40 seconds per plate, IGAR - or Insulated Glass Articulated Robot - whips around the edges in as little as 15 seconds.

It can mean cutting manpower costs by up to 70 per cent.

Martin Askham, managing director of Forward + Thompson, said: "It is a concept that the glass industry has yet to fully appreciate.

"There is a market of 50 potential customers in the UK, but there has been some shop floor resistance to it by people who fear it will put their jobs at risk.

"But we are marketing the robot with rapidly expanding companies which can usefully redeploy existing staff, using them to ensure even greater quality control."

That, he said, was the case with a South Yorkshire company, which used 14 staff to tape glass over two eight-hour shifts until it bought two IGARS. Now the plant uses four people over two shifts.

"Because the company was increasing production they were able to move people into other areas of the business," said Mr Askham, who is confident that as health and safety regulations in the glass industry throughout Europe take effect, the market for IGAR will grow.

Meanwhile, his company, which also designs, manufactures and supplies robots with engineering applications for the automotive and plastics industries, is configuring ways of applying IGAR to sectors other than glass manufacturers.

Updated: 10:59 Friday, March 03, 2006