We’re edging ever closer to the moment when robots toiling in industrial settings break free from their metal cages and begin working alongside their human colleagues as efficient and helpful companions.

While nobody expects robots to begin organizing for shorter working hours or to join their human colleagues for Happy Hour, a growing number of robotics experts are envisioning factory floors with robotic assistants performing tasks that human workers find either hazardous or excessively burdensome, particularly in fields such as automotive, aircraft and heavy equipment manufacturing.

A delicate new world

Life is grim for today’s industrial robots, which are generally relegated to performing…