Startup Gets Ready For Factory Robots Working Alongside Humans (bloomberg.com)

A startup called Veo Robotics is preparing to roll out sensor technology that lets industrial robots work safely side-by-side with humans. "Veo's proprietary technology uses lidar sensors to create real-time maps of factory work spaces, so that robots can slow or stop completely when human workers get too close," Bloomberg reports. From the report: There are more than 2 million industrial robots in operation worldwide, mostly toiling inside metal safety cages. The seclusion is fine for repetitive tasks that can be done entirely by machines, such as arc welding, but the majority of work even in the most automated factories requires involvement of people. Embedding force sensors into industrial limbs is one way to prevent them from plowing through obstacles, but the same technology that makes the arms safe also makes them weak. Most so-called cobots cannot handle weights heavier than 10 kilograms (22 pounds). Computer vision offers a way to get robots into more complex environments, without compromising their strength. Another obstacle is that manufacturers increasingly have to make multiple products on the same assembly line and are constantly retooling their production to accommodate shifting consumer tastes. There are also not enough workers to do the job.

Veo, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, is working closely with the world's biggest robot makers Fanuc Corp., Yaskawa Electric Corp. and Kuka AG. But Veo's first customers are likely to be car companies, manufacturers of durable goods such as household appliances and oil and gas equipment makers, where the shale revolution created demand for more customization. The technology could be used to get machines to present parts to human workers, for loading and unloading fixtures and in palletizing.

Comments

Sigh

[Anonymous Coward]

Factory robots *already* work 'alongside' people, genius. They have for decades. This isn't, 'I, Robot', no matter what your millennial imagination may be telling you. Is there anything actually happening in tech anymore? SlashDot is beginning to read like Omni magazine circa 1986. Been there, done that. Bored.

Re:Sigh

[Anonymous Coward]

Most places with robots put them in cages which are spaced far enough that the robot likely won't or often can't reach said boundary of cage. The cages themselves have doors with cut-offs preventing the robot from moving so long as the doors are open and which are designed with a sliding latch so they cannot be accidentally shut with a person inside. This is all precisely because most robots are hydraulic and could do serious damage to a human including kill them.

So, no, as a rule robots don't work "alongside" people in a meaningful sense. Honestly, I wouldn't feel safe relying upon just about any robot outside of a cage with any freedom of movement. Why? Because factories are dirty and robots have to be designed to fail safe. Those two properties make it almost guaranteed that someone will have to be constantly fighting to make said robots keep working and that will cause accidents.

Re: Sigh

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually a lot of warehouse robots work alongside people. They have tape on the floors to tell the meatbags where to avoid as the robots aren't built to see or react to them being in their path.

But they do exist.

The old dude posting above is an idiot otherwise though. Robots are the bane of humanity. They are the new slaves and the only people who really want them around are fat lazy slobs and ridiculous middle managers and IT techs on power trips, sad that slaves aren't around anymore.

Re: Sigh

[Anonymous Coward]

Technically they may work beside humans in that there's no cage to protect the workers, but I wouldn't call that meaningfully calling it "alongside' when you have taped off "death zones". Somewhat, though, it does feel like quibbling. It'll probably fell less so the first time someone accidentally falls down into the taped area and is crushed.

Personally, I don't have a problem with robots. Yes, they do translate to less workers, but a lot of that robot work is entirely monotonous stuff that, when the robot breaks, you end up having some temp worker doing for 8 hours straight until they have things sorted out.

What I'd rather see is more effort to having shorter work hours and fewer work days. It doesn't necessarily need to be mandatory. It'd be enough that it's pushed heavily as something optional. People say you couldn't live on the money, but people scrape buy on full time minimum wage jobs. Those same people could start out in part time factory jobs, then be given the option to move onto longer hour work.

You see, the future is we're going to have less need for workers in the 40 hour/week range. There's no way around that, not even with robot automation taxes. The best thing we can do at least in the short term is push for jobs that offer decent pay to employee more people buy splitting up job hours more. It's nothing close to a cure, but perhaps it'll help progress the whole economy towards less hours per week as the norm. Honestly, society as a whole would be a lot better off if we weren't spending ~24% of the week working--especially when it comes to having hours to sleep during the weekdays.

PS - The truth is, when the robots break usually that means 7 days/week work mandated for a lot of people, possibly for months, to catch up. They already have three shifts for most things, so there's no way to bring on more people off hours in a day. There's too many machines used so they can't just parlay the work out, and there's no desire to create a whole duplicate backup of the machines to deal with these issues. Meanwhile, the pay is well good so a lot of people will put up with it. Oh, and that 7 day/week stuff makes things even worse for maintenance, of course; that's the main reason that a lot of stuff doesn't run 7 days/week--that off time is the only chance to try to fix a lot of stuff without interfering with production.

Re: Sigh

[Type44Q]

Well said.

Re: Sigh

[Shotgun]

Technically they may work beside humans in that there's no cage to protect the workers, but I wouldn't call that meaningfully calling it "alongside' when you have taped off "death zones". Somewhat, though, it does feel like quibbling. It'll probably fell less so the first time someone accidentally falls down into the taped area and is crushed.

The one I worked around 25 years ago had a bumper that doubled as a kill switch. About 2lbs of pressure is all it took to stop it.

Well, sure

[rmdingler]

If you're only concerned with the human casualties.

Startup?

[JBMcB]

Kuka and Fanuc have been working on this for years. The current tech uses capacitive plates to detect when a robot hits something that isn't supposed to be there. It can come to a complete halt in a ridiculous time frame, something like 1/1000 of a second. Fast enough that, if it's traveling full speed and hits your shirt, it will stop before hitting your skin. Lidar will be a nice addition, but I wouldn't rely on it alone.

What will a

[AHuxley]

China, Indonesia, Malaysia do when its cheaper to use robots in the USA than move designs around the world for tax and a low cost of production?
Now design and production can stay in the USA.
No time zones, languages, shipping, tax, use of industrial zones, security, power and water costs, rent, cost of workers, gov changes to investment.

Design your advanced product in the USA. Great design that's next to the production line and better real time quality. Competitive US pricing.
Set up a production line in the USA with more robots and some workers.
More quality control and smaller parts than any low cost human only production line can support.
Export to the world. Great price. Great quality
Winning.

We'll all lose

[rsilvergun]

because the rich and powerful won't need us to buy their stuff anymore when they've got robots to make anything they want. The King didn't need you to buy his products, and neither will they.

What's gonna happen when Hulkamania^XAutomation comes for you!

Jokes aside, these kind of hybrid approaches are going to massively increase productivity in the near term, but companies are always looking to cut costs for short term stock gains. That's gonna mean worldwide firings (I refuse to call them "layoffs" since a layoff is when you're gonna someday get the job back when production ramps up). That'll crash the market for buyers, but as Apple has proven you can do good business just catering to the top end.

We need to be preparing for a world where the wealthy don't need us. Anyone read Battle Angle Alita? Like that. Or if you need something closer to reality think of the Indian reservations before Casinos. That's what happens to people that nobody wants or needs in a winner take all world.

Re:We'll all lose

[Anonymous Coward]

We should go back to weaving our cloth by hand. Things were much better then.

Re:We'll all lose

[ShanghaiBill]

because the rich and powerful won't need us to buy their stuff anymore when they've got robots to make anything they want.

Why do you think that only "the rich" will have robots? The robots that exist so far are not particularly expensive.

It was once predicted that only "the rich" would own cars, computers, washing machines, etc. Cell phones were once seen as something only the rich and drug dealers could afford.

Historically, technology has been a social leveler.

Re:We'll all lose

[AHuxley]

Re "Historically, technology has been a social leveler."
Not when a factory has the option to replace human workers in some low cost nation with robots and can move to another nation :)
Nations that design tech can have a production line in their own nation again. No having to have a factory in a China, Indonesia, Malaysia with all the politics, costs and rent.

Re:We'll all lose

[AHuxley]

The cost of design work in the EU, USA and a new set of robots on site. The cost of all the humans working and new robots in a China, Indonesia, Malaysia.
Go with much better robot tech on the new production line.
The human and tax savings in a China, Indonesia, Malaysia don't add up as the cost of the all the new robots is the same.
Robots line a new factory back in the USA. The design team can watch their new and advanced products getting made in the same US factory.

Re:We'll all lose

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Why do you think that only "the rich" will have robots?

The rest of us will get apes.

And it won't end well.

Re: We'll all lose

[Type44Q]

Why do you think that only "the rich" will have robots?

I guess history's not your strong suit.

Re:We'll all lose

[Anonymous Coward]

Historically, technology has been a social leveler.

Not true. When one technology is finally distributed to the masses, the rich and powerful will already be moving on to the next thing. The gap doesn't necessarily close.

Sometimes technology disrupts markets to the point some industries are destroyed (e.g rise of car brought down horse and buggy), but that just means a new set of rich and powerful people rise to power, not that things are more level. Different people may sit in different magical chairs, but the game is still magical chairs, with some winning and some losing.

Another thing about market disruptions is that people need to adapt to the changes in the economy, and generally the poor, because they're poor, are less equipped to adapt and deal with the changes. This is why historically it's usually the angry poor peasants who go for the torches and pitchforks: when change happens, they're the first casualties, and when pushed too far, they feel like violence is their only way out.

Kill all humans

[jfdavis668]

Hey baby, wanna kill all humans?

Re:Kill all humans

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey baby, wanna kill all humans?

Bender, is that you???

Re:Kill all humans

[jfdavis668]

Bite my shiny metal ass

Force makes you weak?

[Anonymous Coward]

Embedding force sensors into industrial limbs is one way to prevent them from plowing through obstacles, but the same technology that makes the arms safe also makes them weak. Most so-called cobots cannot handle weights heavier than 10 kilograms (22 pounds).

Who writes this crap? Sensors can work for multi-ton loads and still be sensitive enough to avoid damaging humans.

Not going to be popular in many industries

[Khyber]

Many industries literally work on or adjust their machines while the robots are in full-tilt operation. It is certainly done like that at my plant. Slowing down the robot with a technician nearby would defeat the purpose of being right there to see how your adjustment works before it sends out a fucked up waste of money.