On the floor of the Chicago Amphitheater one night last week, a machinist pushed a button on a large lathe, then stood back, hands in pockets. In seconds, the automatic lathe fed itself a piece of roughly shaped metal, turned it into a stator (the stationary part of an electric motor), inspected it to make sure it was perfect, swept the waste metal into a receptacle, then started work to make another part. If the finished part had not been perfect, the lathe would have discarded it and made the proper corrections o make sure the next part was...
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