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IBM Robotic Coworker Will Help Engineers Fix Broken Systems

Posted by samzenpus on from the little-electric-friend dept.

coondoggie writes "When it comes to fixing broken systems, especially in remote locations, engineers could soon turn to a new mobile robotic system IBM is developing that could help them more easily find the broken equipment, offer up information about the system and provide real-time visual support from supervising experts. The mobile maintenance, repair and operations prototype includes an application that lets a supervisor monitor an engineer's progress towards the maintenance site, and a robotic arm coupled with a camera system, a microphone and laser pointer."

13 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. and it will mix up Chicago and Toronto by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

    and it will mix up Chicago and Toronto

  2. Re:Wonderful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Two... one... ze-- IBM has sold their Robotic Coworker division to Lenovo.

  3. The robot is the supervisor by Animats · · Score: 2

    Watch the IBM video. The robot is the supervisor. The robot tells the human what to do. Sometimes there's someone remotely controlling the robot; sometimes it's following canned instructions. The human is there to do the manual labor.

    This is the future.

    Machines should think. People should work.

    1. Re:The robot is the supervisor by In+hydraulis · · Score: 2

      Yeah, I've read this story before.

      http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

  4. Re:But ... by icebike · · Score: 3, Interesting

    But can it fix my broken coworker? Morale is horrible, wages are stagnant and our future is bleak. Please invent a robot to fix that.

    The operative words were in the Summary:

    lets a supervisor monitor an engineer's progress towards the maintenance site,

    That's basically the whole point isn't it! They could care less about actually helping the worker fix anything
    as long as they know he's not stopping off for a pint along the way.

    --
    Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
  5. For the Two Aisles! by EETech1 · · Score: 2

    You likely won't wanna service the computer of the future. Liquid cooled where it has to be, tightly packed and hot as hell everywhere else!

    The cool aisle will be replaced by the hotter aisle, and no human would wanna spend more than 5 minutes in it, even with a proper burn resistant suit on!

    Cheers!

    .

    1. Re:For the Two Aisles! by bws111 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Read it (and watch the video) again. The 'robot' is a smart phone with an app, a special pair of glasses, and a device with a camera, laser pointer, and microphone. A person is still doing all the work, the 'robot' is just a way to get assistance from someone in a remote location.

      From TFA: "IBM says the smart maintenance project is the result of collaboration with the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) which works to develop high-tech systems that can resolve advanced manufacturing problems."

      All the video talks about is solving manufacturing problems, nothing at all to do with datacenters.

    2. Re:For the Two Aisles! by crutchy · · Score: 2

      imagine a computer that could fit into a single shipping container and hold millions of pieces of information... this is divine inspiration folks :)

  6. What? by Charliemopps · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ok, that is the stupidest thing I've ever seen. It's a simple ticketing system just like any company has, but now it tracks the techs via GPS and watches what they do via webcam. I'm sure mentioning you use such a system will have potential employees jumping at the chance to let you track and video tape them throughout their workday. Whos idiotic idea was this?

  7. The next Clippy? by dan_linder · · Score: 2

    "I see you're trying to fix a linear accelerator, would you like some help?"

    And who is responsible when the system tells the human to incorrectly repair something? If taken to the extreme companies will (attempt to) hire the least expensive human asset and expect the computer system to provide infallible information.

  8. you are taking a long time in the bathroom should by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 2

    you are taking a long time in the bathroom should I call a doctor?

  9. It could be worse by fragMasterFlash · · Score: 2

    Thank goodness this is an IBM product rather than another MS abomination. Future history could have read 2014: The year Clippy became self aware and doomed the fate of Internet in a nanosecond

  10. Animatronic? by oheso · · Score: 2

    I'm thinking the real robot is the narrator. They need to work on increasing the amount of inflection in the voice to make it sound more natural ...