Unmanned production using intelligent robots is proposed in this paper. At present even if all direct works in a production environment can be automated, there are needs for supporting personnel who deal with and restore a trouble when it occurs. In order to eliminate such "a human island," the recent results on research and development of intelligent robots can be applied. One of the most serious and frequent troubles is minor stoppage of an automatic assembly line due to parts feeding trouble. Visiting 7 plants at 7 companies, we investigated troubles in parts feeding. Simulation and experiments for unmanned production were conducted on a pilot plant. Then we are confident that the intelligent robots can be substituted for supporting personnel for unmanned production.

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