Managing Automation- July 2008

[ SPECIAL REPORT] THE ROBOT REVOLUTION Talk about culture shock. Advancements in artificial intelligence and more powerful, yet affordable, technology are moving robots out of enclosed environments and integrating them into the workforce. BY STEPHANIE NEIL obots are going where no man has gone before. They rove around Mars and explore the ocean floor. They even dig under debris looking for survivors after a catastrophic event. Now, robots are beginning to do something that until this point has been unimaginable: interact with human beings. Dubbed human-centric robotics, the stage of robot development now upon us will be life-changing, observers say. Robots will assist physicians in surgery, act as personal attendants to the elderly, and become an extension of human workers on the factory floor. “If you take the paradigm from the medical room to the shop floor, it’s the same,” says Bruno Siciliano, professor of control and robotics at the University of Naples, Italy, and co-editor of the Springer Handbook of Robotics, published in May. “Robots can extend human dexterity. So it’s not about replacing humans with a machine, but getting close to the machine to do something together.” This is very different from the traditional view of deployment that has kept robots isolated in separate work cells. “The new, advanced industrial robot will share the working environment with the user,” Siciliano says. “This is a revolution compared to the use of robots behind fences.” There are a number of reasons that robots are beginning to break out of the cages that have contained them for so many years. First, a new set of safety standards is defining how a robot can be deployed as an integrated part of the factory — not as a separate entity. Second, price reductions in computing power, vision systems, and sensor technology make the investment more affordable for even small and medium-sized businesses. To that end, programming these complex machines and integrating them with other control technologies are becoming easier. And third, artificial intelligence and probabilistic algorithms are allowing robots to learn repetitive tasks. Robots are getting smarter, and, as a result, they are becoming a more important part of manufacturing. New robot makers, such as Seegrid Corp. and Kiva Systems, are emerging in the area of automated guided vehicles (AGV) and applying multi-processing computing, workflow algorithms, and on-board intelligence, for example, which allow robots to operate in multi-vehicle “swarms” or even to move individually on their own around a warehouse or office. Meanwhile, traditional robot vendors, such as FANUC Robotics, are building small-footprint systems that can handle smaller payloads used in new applications such as mixing test tubes. And these same vendors are finding new uses for their big system models in the industrial setting. “We are at a tipping point. A lot of the things that people have been talking about for a long time we are starting to see,” Claude Dinsmoor, general manager for controller product development at FANUC Robotics America, says, referring to developments such as integrating safety control with robot function; running machine vision natively within the robot, which eliminates the need to synchronize communication protocols; and integrating the robot into the industrial network. Adding more functionality into the robot, itself, lowers the cost and simplifies the robot by using one control program rather than switching between programs. “The technology is reliable, cheap, and now we are going from ‘wouldn’t it be nice’ to ‘when can I do this because the technology [is ready] for industrial applications,’ ” Dinsmoor says. More eyes are on robots as a way to rejuvenate manufacturing in America. FANUC Robotics, for example, has launched an initiative, called “Save Your Factory,” that highlights the use of robots to cost-effectively manufacture product in the United States while maintaining high quality. “There is a focus on the health of manufacturing in this July 2008 25 ma Photos courtesy: Kiva

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation- July 2008

Managing Automation- July 2008 Contents Take 1 HP's Acquisition of EDS May Face Integration, Global Delivery Challenges Rimini Plans to Woo SAP Support Users Rockwell Steps Up Its Activities in Software Microsoft Targets the Process of Innovation Supply Chain Standouts Honored by AMR Notes Who Are Today's Influential Thinkers? The Robot Revolution Is the Price Right? Without a Trace Harvesting the Suggestion Box Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

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