There is a renewed interest in using intelligent robots, automation, and predictive analytics driven by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and edge computing.
Manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and retail are some of the industries becoming increasingly robotized. Industry 4.0, the power of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and high-speed networks are enabling a new wave of intelligent, cooperative robots.
Furthermore, the use of immersive technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, paired with digital twins, allows for monitoring, controlling, and interacting with robots in real time without physically being in the same location.
Additionally, some organizations are using AI to help workers and technicians work hand-in-hand with their robotic counterparts, creating new ways of collaboration and improving safety.
For example, at several logistic and fulfillment centers, Amazon asks some of its operators to wear special vests that continuously send signals. Since Amazon centers are heavily robotized, people walking around could be at risk. The vests signal the proximity of humans, and nearby robots immediately stop.
The Metaverse starts at the industrial level, with digital twins and factory automation
Today, we are bombarded with recent news about the Metaverse, Omniverse, and other versions of immersive digital worlds. We are encouraged to look forward to a future where we can freely interact with everyone everywhere using augmented and virtual reality to enhance our lives. While significant investment is going on in this direction, some individuals are still not convinced that the Metaverse will be such a revolutionary change in society.
Combining AR, VR, and advanced imaging helps industries interact with different assets and workers using digital twins. Today, digital twin applications include simulation, predictive maintenance, building management, remote operation, and advanced robotics.
The use of AR and VR technologies in industrial applications is growing significantly, helping manufacturers, logistic operators, and other organizations improve productivity, reduce costs, and be more efficient and competitive.
Researchers at Binghamton University are working on an innovative solution using augmented reality, bridging the gap between human behavior and robots at an industrial facility.
“Usually, people use AR for visualization of what a robot is currently doing,” said Assistant Professor Shiqi Zhang. “But here, we provide a bidirectional communication channel where the human can comment on the robot’s plan or behaviors. The communication channel is not very complicated, but it’s the first time we have that kind of interaction.”
Amazon, which has nearly a million mobile drive robots to support its warehouse logistics, uses digital twins and NVIDIA Omniverse Enterprise to optimize warehouse design and flow, train more intelligent robot assistants, and gain overall productivity.
Professor Karthik Ramani of Purdue University works with manufacturers to create virtual factories. They can explore labor-saving technologies using AR before implementing them in a factory setting. “AR lets users see exactly where a robot will move just by looking at their surrounding environment; there is no need to translate a location from a map overlay to the real-world environment, which might incur an additional cognitive burden, as that work has already been done for them.” They can simulate how factory workers interact with the robot. In turn, they can determine if the robot can help improve productivity. They can also virtually experiment with floor arrangements to maximize productivity in the factory.
5G cellular networks enable remote robotics through VR and AR technologies
For most consumers, 5G is a no-brainer. If our new smartphone shows the 5G symbol on the screen, we know it is connected to a 5G network. But what is the difference in user experience from the previous 4G networks? Not much! Unless we are heavy smartphone video game players and connect to a 5G mmWave antenna, we won’t notice any significant difference in bandwidth and performance.
The most significant part of the 5G revenue opportunity is likely to come from enterprise use cases, including robotics . The real benefits of 5G, with features such as ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) and network slicing, are for critical applications such as robotics and remote operations, requiring the stability and reliability of the wireless network.
AI is critical for fully autonomous robotics
Combining AI with robotics creates smarter autonomous systems. Robots can learn and respond to requirements beyond simple commands with machine learning, image recognition, and advanced algorithms.
AI-driven robots can perform functions and tasks expected of them autonomously with machine learning algorithms. AI robots can be explained better as intelligent automation applications in which robotics provides the body while AI supplies the brain.
According to Microsoft, “Intelligent robotics uses AI to boost collaboration between people and devices. AI helps robots to adapt to dynamic situations and communicate naturally with people.”
Early this year, at the same time that Elon Musk announced his intention to buy Twitter, he also disclosed that Tesla was designing a fully autonomous anthropomorphic robot.
Musk believes that robots as real human assistants won’t be helpful until they acquire “enough intelligence to navigate the world and do useful things without being specifically programmed to do something.”
“In order to solve self-driving, you need to solve real-world AI,” said Musk, “and when you solve real-world AI for a car, which is really a robot on four wheels, you can then generalize that to a robot on legs as well.”
AI-driven robotic future
AI and robotics are digital technologies that will significantly impact humanity’s development in the near future. They have raised fundamental questions about what we should do with these systems, what the systems themselves should do, what risks they involve, and how we can control these factors.
“AI and robotics have challenged the human view of humanity as the intelligent and dominant species on Earth,” said Vincent C. Müller, Professor for Philosophy of Technology at the Technical University of Eindhoven (TU/e). “We have seen issues that have been raised and will have to watch technological and social developments closely to catch the new issues early on, develop a philosophical analysis, and learn from traditional problems of philosophy.”
AI and robotics will likely lead to significant gains in productivity and, thus, overall wealth. Also, using technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, digital twins, and the Metaverse can speed up the adoption of robotics in many workplaces.
How robots interact with humans and where the challenges and opportunities of AI and immersive technologies lie are the questions that engineers, designers, academics, and many other professionals need to answer today and tomorrow.
