Robots in industry: Your coworkers will just keep getting smarter.
We’re on the cusp of the fourth industrial revolution, and never has robotics offered so much promise to businesses and society. Our collaboration with the start-up Veo Robotics speaks to that. We believe that additional investments in this field will shape industries. Here’s why.
True masters of their craft have solutions for any eventuality. They call them “tricks of the trade.” These aren’t tidbits learned from “how-to” manuals — this knowledge comes from reacting, adapting and applying lessons to future situations. It’s learning by doing. It’s the future of autonomous robots.
“Soon the younger generation will come and take our jobs”
For decades, robots have been performing tasks that were once only delegated to humans. These robots took on dangerous, dirty or just plain tedious jobs in tightly controlled environments like assembly lines. And they continue to serve us well. They operate at a high level of precision because that’s how they’ve been programmed. Their environments follow a strict model, and they carry out monotonous, repetitive tasks. But once you remove humans from the system altogether or spontaneously change any single parameter, suddenly they “cannot compute”. This kind of automated system cannot learn by doing. They will never react, adapt or apply new knowledge.
The next generation of autonomous robots, however, can. They might even be putting their automated predecessors out of a job! These smart machines have new skills: They can perceive and act within a dynamic, changing environment without detailed programming or human control. Because of that, they have significant market potential with many applications in both industry and services.
In order to fulfill their potential, however, the industry must overcome significant challenges and develop innovative solutions on various fronts. The robots need Artificial Intelligence to allow them to learn on the job; they need reliable hazard detection systems that enable them to work safely with and alongside humans; their manipulation capability needs to improve so they can handle increasingly demanding tasks. The global robotics community of start-ups and research institutes is working tirelessly on providing solutions for advanced robotics. next47 has the resources to collaborate with them in implementing these solutions and in shaping the way this fascinating field develops.
Working (human) hand in (robotic) hand
The wheels of the fourth industrial revolution have already started turning. In a seismic paradigm shift, industry is moving away from mass production and toward highly customizable products made in equally flexible factories. The automated systems required to realize this future to its full potential must self-optimize, self-diagnose, self-configure, coordinate their behavior and, last but certainly not least, collaborate safely with humans. That’s exactly the area next47-funded start-up Veo Robotics is addressing.
“What the human does well — using its senses, dexterity and judgment — must combine with what the robot does well — being fast, strong and precise,” explains Patrick Sobalvarro, cofounder of the young, Boston-based company.
It is currently fusing smart sensors with Artificial Intelligence to develop new software that enhances robots’ control and monitoring abilities. Why is this necessary? They need to be able to operate safely in an industrial space — alongside their human colleagues. In automotive factories, for example, the human workers are traditionally the ones installing the hoods of vehicles using the suspended lift-assist device.
In the past, robots lacked the dexterity to do this, but Veo Robotics is making it possible for robots to safely lift, move and position the hood without human assistance. And this saves time.
In fact, there is a great deal of research currently under way to enhance the dexterity of robots through development in the fields of kinematics (moving a jointed body) and haptics (technology that makes it possible to mimic the sensations of touch). Many researchers, including some at Siemens, are currently developing robot “hands” based on human anatomy: multi-fingered grippers that allow for proper object manipulation. Innovations like these, when coupled with parallel advances in Artificial Intelligence, will make it possible for robots to handle increasingly demanding tasks.
Autonomous machines in all shapes and sizes
Science fiction through the ages has always anthropomorphized robots when it comes to their appearance. Indeed the very word robot has been synonymous with a loose human form: a biped that stands upright and speaks in a monotonous voice. This isn’t always the case with autonomous machines and systems; in reality, they come in all different shapes and sizes. A self-driving car, for example, is also an autonomous system.
Equipped with sensors, navigation systems, communication capabilities and Artificial Intelligence, a self-driving car will learn as it goes. It must sense, plan, act and react to whatever situations arise in perhaps the most dynamic environment that any autonomous machine will have to negotiate.
And let’s not forget the airborne drone: perhaps the most popular autonomous machine these days. Drones are on course to take over tasks that are expensive and require considerable technical effort. Things like delivering parcels to remote mountain regions or even replacing the planes currently used to seed clouds for rain.
Smart drones can navigate their own trajectory and are equipped with cameras and imaging technologies that allow them to enter yet another sphere of useful application thanks to sensor data. Systematic inspection and monitoring of oil and gas pipelines is one application that Siemens has already developed, but the technology can be used countless other ways, such as for inspecting solar or wind farms, electricity grids, water pipelines or buildings and transportation systems.
Do you have the next big idea?
If so, let’s hear it! At next47, we’re excited about technological advances in a wide variety of robotics applications. This could take the form of hardware and software for robots in the logistics, manufacturing and healthcare sectors or for driverless vehicles and drones used in security or maintenance services. It could even mean base technologies for Autonomous Machines, such as indoor navigation systems and 3-D cameras used in agriculture. But given the limitless possibilities of this rapidly advancing technology, we want to open up even more areas.
This is the first in a series of upcoming articles that highlight innovation fields that, we believe, have the potential to shape tomorrow’s industries. Up next: Connected (E-)Mobility.
