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AI Factory Boss Will Tell Workers and Robots How To Work Together (fastcompany.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the come-together dept.

tedlistens writes from a report via Fast Company: Robots are consistent, indefatigable workers, but they don't improvise well. Changes on the assembly line require painstaking reprogramming by humans, making it hard to switch up what a factory produces. Now researchers at German industrial giant Siemens say they have a solution: a factory that uses AI to orchestrate the factory of the future, by both programming factory robots and handing out assignments to the humans working alongside them. The program, called a "reasoner," figures out the steps required to make a product, such as a chair; then it divides the assignments among machines based their capabilities, like how far a robotic arm can reach or how much weight it can lift. The team has proved the technology can work on a small scale with a test system that uses just a few robots to make five types of furniture (like stools and tables), with four kinds of leg configurations, six color options, and three types of floor-protector pads, for a total of 360 possible products.

Siemens's originally gave its automated factory project the badass Teutonic moniker "UberManufacturing." They weren't thinking of the German word connoting "superior," however, but rather of the on-demand car service. Part of their vision is that automated factories can generate bids for specialty, limited-run manufacturing projects and compete for customers in an online marketplace. "You could say, 'I want to build this stool,' and whoever has machines that can do that can hand in a quote, and that was our analogy to Uber," says Florian Michahelles, who heads the research group.

24 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. and it comes down to this by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    xkcd and all that

    1. Re:and it comes down to this by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      I was just thinking about the part where a robot directs other robots that work next to humans. What could possibly go wrong?!

    2. Re:and it comes down to this by MrKaos · · Score: 1

      I was just thinking about the part where a robot directs other robots that work next to humans. What could possibly go wrong?!

      Metal robots and meat robots fall in love and create a metal meat robot.

      .

      --
      My ism, it's full of beliefs.
    3. Re:and it comes down to this by spacepimp · · Score: 1

      Metal fever or robosexual?

    4. Re:and it comes down to this by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

      They start building skynet

    5. Re:and it comes down to this by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      Great, another letter to append onto the LGBT acronym, my kids are laughing at me for trying to figure out this crap; it just not fair!

  2. The value of a project manager. by geekmux · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "The program, called a "reasoner," figures out the steps required to make a product..."

    Can't believe it took us this long to determine a project manager could be replaced by AI rather easily...

  3. No it won't by 110010001000 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Anything with "AI" in it is bullshit. There is no AI, and likely never will be. All we have are parlor tricks and algorithms.

    1. Re:No it won't by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      There's a lot of things that use AI that folks like, for example how a washer spins their loads for efficiently. There's also the new car collision avoidance stuff. Then there's the Cardiac devices the examine and heal certain defects in humans, and lab pigs.

      Consider NLTK, AIML, and Blender3d for Robotics applications. Are your solutions 3 Laws Safe?

    2. Re:No it won't by skovnymfe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We just have to figure out how our unconscious mind is able to calculate intuitive decisions based on previous experience and knowledge, and connect seemingly unrelated experiences to form new original thoughts, and then emulate it all in a computer program. How hard can it be?

    3. Re:No it won't by gweihir · · Score: 1

      Actually, there are non-intelligent planning algorithms. Take away the BS reporting, and you see a pretty nice one of these at work here.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    4. Re:No it won't by ranton · · Score: 1

      Anything with "AI" in it is bullshit. There is no AI, and likely never will be. All we have are parlor tricks and algorithms.

      This comment is as insightful as sacrificing virgins to help with the next harvest. We know with nearly 100% certainty we will have AI at some point. We already know human-level intelligence is possible, so it is only a matter of time until it can be recreated artificially. The only thing stopping AI is the extinction of our species before we figure it out.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    5. Re:No it won't by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      Poor A/C, you apparently "think" you understand how AI works. PHP? Really? Most kids use javascript, but you're doing ok...

    6. Re:No it won't by DanielRavenNest · · Score: 1

      I've been calling this method a "process compiler", by analogy to software compilers. You have a high level process in manufacturing, and want to convert it to individual steps for machines or people to execute, taking into account what their capabilities are, and schedule availability. The need for this comes up with flexible manufacturing, where you are not making a long series of identical items. To make it work, you need metadata on the CAD parts files, that identify materials and heat-treating and such, and similar information on what various pieces of equipment are capable of. If the factory doesn't have the right machines or equipment for a given step, it can be spit out as an order for an outside supplier or a new piece of equipment to add to the factory.

      Like software, the compiled production process may benefit from hand-optimization by people who understand the details of production, but for routine flows you can let it go directly to the production floor as instructions for the computer-controlled machines and work orders for the humans.

    7. Re:No it won't by gweihir · · Score: 1

      I think this is a pretty good analogy.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  4. Obligatory from circa 2000 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

    Also, for a similar concept, see http://www.f3.to/omega/

  5. Having an AI boss == bad idea. by sethstorm · · Score: 2

    If the human isn't in full command, bad things tend to happen.

    --
    Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
  6. in Germany the mandated to cover a standard set of by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    in Germany they are mandated to cover a standard set of benefits, which includes most procedures and medications There are also limits on out-of-pocket expenses

  7. I see where this is going by Hylandr · · Score: 1

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    --
    ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
  8. Manna by Meneth · · Score: 2

    It's called "Manna", short for "Manager".

  9. So if the human workers have nothing to do... by drolli · · Score: 1

    will the AI let them dance in order to earn money on youtube?

  10. Manna strikes again by Chozabu · · Score: 1

    Seems this story is slowly getting more and more relevant :) http://marshallbrain.com/manna...

  11. Re:UberManufacturing by gweihir · · Score: 1

    The thing here is that the "Teutonic Marker" would have been "ÜberManufacturing" or "UeberManufacturing", which looks and sounds quite different to a German native speaker than "UberManufacturing". They would never have used the former.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  12. Yeah, wait'll they form an AI union! by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 1

    We'll see how the AI factory boss performs siting across the table from the AI union.

    --
    Do you have ESP?