Manufacturers are working toward smarter factories, smarter networks, and smarter robots. But at least two sociologists think that dumb robots might actually have some benefits as collaborative machines. This is counter-intuitive, certainly, and it’s swimming against the tide as robotics researchers strive for safer and more collaborative robots. The experiment The Yale sociologists gave teams,… Read more »
One of the worries about automation is that people will be replaced by robots. Maybe this is the wrong worry, though. Maybe the most likely problem is that people will be treated like robots. Dirty, dull, and dangerous Automation is intended to take on the jobs that are dirty, dull, and dangerous. Machines are good… Read more »
Statista has collected data from the International Federation of Robotics to show which countries have most thoroughly embraced robots. They’ve compared the robot density — how many robots per 10,000 workers — in countries all around the world. South Korea is in first place, which is probably not a surprise — but did you know… Read more »
“Almost any horrible death you can think of,” says The Economist, “Americans are more likely to suffer it. Over 5,000 people died in 2021 in workplace accidents, up by 9% on the previous year; the figure in Britain was 123.” Why does the United States have more industrial accidents than other developed countries? The U.S…. Read more »
An uncanny valley experience is one in which human beings encounter something that is not exactly a human being, but quite a lot like one. This creeps us out. Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori first used thee term (in Japanese) in 1970 and Jasia Reichardt translated it into English in 1978. More observed that a more… Read more »
The key to servomotors, the thing that makes them amazing, is that they don’t just go. They go, stop, speed up, slow down, and generally monitor and adjust on the basis of a closed feedback loop. This allows for very precise movements, more precise in many cases than humans can achieve. They can be used… Read more »
One of the persistent concerns about automation is that it will take away human jobs and we will all be unemployed. Or not all of us, but some of us. A lot of us, eve One of the biggest controversies in these conversations is just which jobs are most threatened, and which of us will… Read more »
Elon Musk’s Optimus humanoid robot has been getting headlines for a couple of years now. They’ve been getting increasingly pessimistic, though, and the latest stories don’t change that trend. Musk joked, during an earnings call, that 10 million Optimus bots were active. There were chuckles all around before he admitted that there were actually just… Read more »
An Australian energy company needs to improve safety and efficiency in its offshore and remote operations. NASA needs to learn more about deploying robot workers in hazardous conditions such as might be found on the moon, on Mars…or in distant parts of Australia. Woodside Energy and NASA are going to work together, with the help… Read more »
Quality control isn’t optional in the manufacturing business—between legal compliance and our own standards for our products, quality control is a large part of what we do on our factory floors. But when you’re using a high degree of automation, quality control is a bit more complex. QA cycle If you wait for someone at… Read more »
