Industrial Automation

Industrial automation is the use of control systems, such as computers or robots, and information technologies for handling different processes and machineries in an industry to replace a human being. It is the second step beyond mechanization in the scope of industrialization.

Increase Quality and Flexibility in Your Manufacturing Process

Earlier the purpose of automation was to increase productivity (since automated systems can work 24 hours a day), and to reduce the cost associated with human operators (i.e. wages & benefits). However, today, the focus of automation has shifted to increasing quality and flexibility in a manufacturing process. In the automobile industry, the installation of pistons into the engine used to be performed manually with an error rate of 1-1.5%. Presently, this task is performed using automated machinery with an error rate of 0.00001%.

Advantages of Industrial Automation

Lower operating cost: Industrial automation eliminates healthcare costs and paid leave and holidays associated with a human operator. Further, industrial automation does not require other employee benefits such as bonuses, pension coverage etc. Above all, although it is associated with a high initial cost it saves the monthly wages of the workers which leads to substantial cost savings for the company. The maintenance cost associated with machinery used for industrial automation is less because it does not often fail. If it fails, only computer and maintenance engineers are required to repair it.

• High productivity

  Although many companies hire hundreds of production workers for a up to three shifts to run the plant for the maximum number of hours, the plant still needs to be closed for maintenance and holidays. Industrial automation fulfills the aim of the company by allowing the company to run a manufacturing plant for 24 hours in a day 7 days in a week and 365 days a year. This leads to a significant improvement in the productivity of the company.

• High Quality

  Automation alleviates the error associated with a human being. Further, unlike human beings, robots do not involve any fatigue, which results in products with uniform quality manufactured at different times.

• High flexibility

  Adding a new task in the assembly line requires training with a human operator, however, robots can be programmed to do any task. This makes the manufacturing process more flexible.

• High Information Accuracy

  Adding automated data collection, can allow you to collect key production information, improve data accuracy, and reduce your data collection costs.  This provides you with the facts to make the right decisions when it comes to reducing waste and improving your processes.

• High safety

  Industrial automation can make the production line safe for the employees by deploying robots to handle hazardous conditions.

Disadvantages of Industrial Automation

• High Initial cost

  The initial investment associated with the making the switch from a human production line to an automatic production line is very high. Also, substantial costs are involved in training employees to handle this new sophisticated equipment.

Conclusion

Industrial automation has recently found more and more acceptance from various industries because of its huge benefits, such as, increased productivity, quality and safety at low costs.

NASA Has a Plan to Put Robot Bees on Mars

Mars as seen by NASA's Viking 1 orbiter.

Credit: NASA/JPL

NASA has two teams of researchers working to design a robotic bee that can fly on Mars.

The space agency announced the project on March 30. It's in its early stages, but the idea is to replace modern rovers — which are slow, bulky and very expensive — with swarms of sensor-studded, fast-moving micro-bots that can cover much more ground at a relatively low cost.

Literally called Marsbees, the little bots are "flapping wing flyers of a bumblebee size with cicada-sized wings," NASA officials wrote.

As Live Science has previously reported, the largest species of bumblebee grows to be up to 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) long, but the American bumblebee is about a quarter of that size. Cicada wings, according to a range of formal scientific descriptions, can vary from 1.2 inches (3 centimeters) to more than double that length, depending on the species.

NASA hopes to send little bee bots flying over Mars.

Credit: C. Kang/NASA

One reason this idea is at all feasible: Mars' low gravity. The planet has just one-third of Earth's gravitational pull, offering the Marsbees an advantage despite the thin atmosphere.

The Guardian reported that these "bees" will not only map the Martian terrain but also collect samples of the planet's thin air, in hopes of finding methane gas — a possible sign of life. NASA's Curiosity rover has detected low levels of the gas previously, Science reported, though whether it was biologically produced is unknown.

Flapping-wing bots are pretty uncommon on Earth, the NASA statement noted, because rotary-wing bots like quadcopters are much more popular. But the flapping-wing design allows the team to integrate certain low-power, highly efficient technologies that will be important on the Red Planet, where the bots will have to return regularly to their home base to recharge.

Mars bees are still in their very early stages, with a team at the University of Alabama working on numerical models and a Japanese team slated to design and test a micro-flapping-bot prototype.

Meet 7 Versions of BB-8, the Lovable 'Star Wars' Droid

BB-8, droid superstar.

Credit: Lucasfilm

WASHINGTON — BB-8, the endearing recent addition to the "Star Wars" droid family, rolled off movie screens and straight into audiences' hearts when it appeared in two of the enduring franchise's recent films: "The Force Awakens" (Lucasfilm, 2015) and "The Last Jedi" (Lucasfilm, 2017).

But when the spherical droid's creators set out to build the charismatic robot, they had no idea that it would become so popular so quickly, audience members at Future Con learned on March 31.

At the panel "BB-8 and the Future of Droids," two of the engineers behind BB-8 — Joshua Lee, who worked on the movies as a senior animatronic designer, and Matt Denton, who served as the films' electronic design and development supervisor — explained how BB-8 came to life. They also told how they guided the droid through complicated scenes with its human co-stars, sharing stories of some of BB-8's most memorable moments on and off camera. [R2-D2 Gets Real: 'Star Wars' Droids Already Exist]

It certainly would have been possible to model and animate BB-8 using computer-generated imagery (CGI). But the film's director, J.J. Abrams, felt very strongly that the droid was important enough to the story that it needed to be a physical presence, Lee said. That way, the actors could interact with the robot directly, Lee added.

Lee said there was a lot of secrecy when he was brought on board for "The Force Awakens." He was told that he would be working on a new robotic character vaguely described as "a tricky droid," he told the panel audience.

Denton joined the team a few weeks later. The original concept drawing for a remote-controlled, rolling robot didn't provide the designers with a lot of detail; it showed two roughly penciled spheres, one stacked on top of the other, with something resembling a face sketched onto the "head" sphere.

The original concept sketch for BB-8 (left) was not rich in detail.

Credit: M. Weisberger/Live Science

The team created more-detailed concept sketches as they refined the design of BB-8's rolling body and mobile head, experimenting with different head sizes and different arrangements of sensors that would serve as the droid's facial features. The film's production team was already planning for BB-8 to emerge as a breakout star, but Lee and Denton didn't know about that yet, they told the audience at Future Con.

"We would have panicked," Denton said.

They ended up designing seven versions of BB-8; six of them appeared in the film, and each one had an unofficial nickname, Denton explained.

The version named "Puppet" had a puppeteer connected to it and was used when the robot's movement required human manipulation and control. The "Left and Right Trike" builds had two-wheeled rigs attached, on either side, to stabilize the remote-controlled droid during moving shots. The animatronic "Wiggler" was a fixed model with a plate on the bottom, but it could twist and turn and was used for close-ups. The static "Lightweight" model could be easily carried, while "Stunt," also static, was more durable.

And the "Bowling Ball" version of BB-8 operated just as its name implies. "You'd just lob it through the shot," Lee said.

Finally, there was "Red Carpet" BB-8. Built after production wrapped, this remote-controlled model was designed for appearing at public events.

A digital 3D model shows the "Trike" version of a mobile BB-8 model, supported by a two-wheeled rig.

Credit: M. Weisberger/Live Science

Once all versions of the droid were built, Denton and Lee had to figure out how to get BB-8 to perform in tricky situations, particularly during the desert scenes on a floodplain in Abu Dhabi. There, winds would whip sand and salt into BB-8's every crevice and crack, and it was so hot that the soles melted off the crew's boots, Lee and Denton said.

With so much behind-the-scenes detail to absorb, the audience hung raptly on the speakers' every word — that is, until Lee and Denton announced the arrival of a special guest. When BB-8 (the "Red Carpet" version of the droid) rolled out onto the stage to say hello, audience members leaped up to photograph the chirping 'bot. It took a few minutes before everyone settled down and went back to their seats.

Lee and Denton's efforts to not only build a working droid — seven of them, in fact — but also create a likable character clearly worked. As production for "The Force Awakens" wrapped for BB-8, the little droid proved to already have plenty of fans among the cast and crew, Denton told the audience. On BB-8's last day of shooting, after the droid's final scene, the film crew gave the robot a resounding round of applause — a film ritual usually reserved for human actors.

While they cheered, Denton lifted BB-8 over his head (the production had been using the Lightweight model that day), and then carried the little droid through the crowd. As he did, they began singing the theme from "The Lion King," recalling the moment in the animated film when young Simba was held aloft to the kneeling animals on the savannah.

"You never imagine that happening in your career," Denton said. "I don't think it could happen twice."

'Killer Robot' Lab Faces Boycott from Artificial Intelligence Experts

A manned robot named "Method-2" goes on a test walk in December 2016. This robot, made by Korea Future Technology, is NOT one of the so-called killer robots, but it is an example of new robot technology.

Credit: Chung Sung-Jun/Getty, File

The artificial intelligence (AI) community has a clear message for researchers in South Korea: Don't make killer robots.

Nearly 60 AI and robotics experts from almost 30 countries have signed an open letter calling for a boycott against KAIST, a public university in Daejeon, South Korea, that has been reported to be "develop[ing] artificial intelligence technologies to be applied to military weapons, joining the global competition to develop autonomous arms," the open letter said.

In other words, KAIST might be researching how to make military-grade AI weapons. [5 Reasons to Fear Robots]

According to the open letter, AI experts the world over became concerned when they learned that KAIST — in collaboration with Hanwha Systems, South Korea's leading arms company — opened a new facility on Feb. 20 called the Research Center for the Convergence of National Defense and Artificial Intelligence.

Given that the United Nations (U.N.) is already discussing how to safeguard the international community against killer AI robots, "it is regrettable that a prestigious institution like KAIST looks to accelerate the arms race to develop such weapons," the researchers wrote in the letter.

To strongly discourage KAIST's new mission, the researchers are boycotting the university until its president makes clear that the center will not develop "autonomous weapons lacking meaningful human control," the letter writers said.

This boycott will be all-encompassing. "We will, for example, not visit KAIST, host visitors from KAIST or contribute to any research project involving KAIST," the researchers said.

If KAIST continues to pursue the development of autonomous weapons, it could lead to a third revolution in warfare, the researchers said. These weapons "have the potential to be weapons of terror," and their development could encourage war to be fought faster and on a greater scale, they said.

Despots and terrorists who acquire these weapons could use them against innocent populations, removing any ethical constraints that regular fighters might face, the researchers added.

Such a ban against deadly technologies isn't new. For instance, the Geneva Conventions prohibit armed forces from using blinding laser weapons directly against people, Live Science previously reported. In addition, nerve agents such as sarin and VX are banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention, in which more than 190 nations participate.

However, not every country agrees to blanket protections such as these. Hanwha, the company partnering with KAIST, helps produce cluster munitions. Such munitions are prohibited under the U.N. Convention on Cluster Munitions, and more than 100 nations (although not South Korea) have signed the convention against them, the researchers said.

Hanwha has faced repercussions for its actions; based on ethical grounds, Norway's publically distributed $380 billion pension fund does not invest in Hanhwa's stock, the researchers said.

Rather than working on autonomous killing technologies, KAIST should work on AI devices that improve, not harm, human lives, the researchers said.

Meanwhile, other researchers have warned for years against killer AI robots, including Elon Musk and the late Stephen Hawking.

Former NASA Engineers Building Real-Life Underwater Transformer

In its ROV mode, Aquanaut has two arms for doing work.

Credit: Houston Mechatronics

A transformer designed to do grunt work for the oil industry and military is coming, and it's… admittedly kind of fun to look at.

Houston Mechatronics, a small company founded and led by a team of former NASA robot engineers, announced May 1 some major strides toward building a transforming submersible the company calls "Aquanaut." The 2,315-pound (1,050 kilograms) unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) will transform itself in order to operate in two modes, according to the company: a sleek, submarine-shaped autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) mode, and an unfolded, two-armed remotely operated vehicle (ROV) mode for work.

"When Aquanaut moves through the water, we want as little drag as possible to extend the maximum range of what the vehicle can do on battery power," Houston Mechatronics spokesperson Sean Halpin said. "By enclosing the limbs, we're able to operate the vehicle over great distances, up to 200 kilometers [124 miles]." [24 Underwater Drones – The Boom in Robotics Beneath the Waves]  

The underwater drone's two big selling points, Halpin told Live Science, are its long arms and long range. Each arm is a significant chunk of the Aquanaut's length — 9 feet 6 inches (2.9 meters) in AUV mode, and 11 feet 6 inches (3.5 meters) in ROV mode — and highly articulated for a number of tasks requiring dexterity. Halpin said that the arms are the only part that's been fully completed, but that they're the most difficult bit to design.

The first challenge of Aquanaut, he said, was "elegance." The company worked to come up with a design that was fully transformable and highly functional in ROV, mode while using as few moving parts as possible."As you can imagine, things that move may break," he said. "Now, if you see the Transformers in the Michael Bay movies they have a million little parts that are moving when they transform. That would not be how a normal robot would do it."

The second challenge was intelligence, he said. Aquanaut, like all long-distance robot subs, has to function miles away from its home base, where the connection speed between it and its human controller might be just a "fraction of dial-up," so really weak, Halpin said.

That means that even as it obeys general instructions from its human controller, it has has to do a lot of its detailed decision-making on its own. Aquanaut is designed to inspect itself for damage and make fine motor adjustments under its own guidance.

Aquanaut is being funded primarily by the Defense Department and oil industry, according to Defense One.

Halpin said that Aquanaut's first fully-assembled underwater "tank test" should happen in the coming months, and that Houston Mechatronics expects to start marketing the robot to individual clients in 2019.

Watch Out: This Robot Could Run After You

Humanoid robot Atlas is on the move.

Credit: Boston Dynamics

You can run from Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot Atlas, but it wouldn't do you any good — the robot can run after you.

In a video shared to YouTube yesterday (May 10) by the robot maker, the uncannily human-like Atlas demonstrates running ability that is eerily reminiscent of a person's. The robot jogs methodically across an expanse of grass, against a backdrop of trees punctuated by a few isolated buildings.

The scene is almost peaceful and idyllic, except for the pervasive whirring and clanking of Atlas' motors, gears and joints, and the sense of growing unease that comes with witnessing the inexorable approach of our future robot overlords. [Super-Intelligent Machines: 7 Robotic Futures]

Boston Dynamics poses the video's title as a question — "Getting some air, Atlas?" — as though Atlas had somehow unexpectedly taken himself outside for a run, on a whim.

The robot, described as "the world's most dynamic humanoid" on the Boston Dynamics website, runs at a slow-but-steady pace over grass, up a slight incline to another field, and then stops in front of a log. Atlas steadies himself, bends his "knees," raises his "arms" and nimbly hops over the log, landing without a wobble. It's an impressive display — and so much like the actions of a person that it's also a little unsettling.

This isn't the first time that Atlas' antics have gone viral. Atlas appeared in a video compilation posted to YouTube on Feb. 23, 2016, that showed the robot walking flat-footed through a snow-covered forest, stacking boxes on shelves and recovering its balance after a Boston Dynamics employee pushed the bot with a hockey stick.

Another video, released on Nov. 16, 2017, showed Atlas hopping on and off blocks and even performing a backflip.

But this is the first footage to show Atlas "free running" outdoors. This new video may represent a test of the robot's balance and ability to navigate in a landscape that is more uneven than a warehouse floor, as the robot's sensors are intended to allow it to move smoothly over "rough terrain" and to quickly recover if it stumbles or falls over, according to the Boston Dynamics website.

A Floating 'Brain' Will Assist Astronauts Aboard the Space Station

CIMON says: "I'm ready to be an astronaut!"

Credit: Airbus

The crew on board the International Space Station (ISS) will soon welcome a new member — one that is 3D-printed from metal and plastic and is described by its creators as "a kind of flying brain."

It goes by the name CIMON, short for "Crew Interactive Mobile Companion." Built by the aerospace design company Airbus in collaboration with IBM, CIMON houses artificial intelligence (AI) in an autonomous, spherical body that would "float" in the space station's microgravity environment, with a screen that can display data readouts for astronauts — or present an image of a friendly face — as well as a voice shaped by IBM's AI technology.

The robot is tasked with supporting the ISS astronauts as a type of assistant, and free-flying CIMON would be the first AI-based mission on the ISS, Airbus representatives said in a statement. [From Reactive Robots to Sentient Machines: The 4 Types of AI]

As an "intelligent" machine, CIMON could help the ISS crew to solve problems during their routine work by processing and displaying diagnostic data. But its neural network — a computer system that works like the human brain — would enable it to go a step further and also engage with astronauts as a "colleague," according to the statement.

CIMON weighs about 11 lbs. (5 kilograms) and is already "training" with an astronaut — Alexander Gerst, who represented the European Space Agency (ESA) on the ISS from May to November 2014. Gerst will return to the ISS, bringing CIMON along, from June to October 2018, on ESA's Horizons mission.

Since 2016, a team of 50 technicians has been working to prepare the AI for its trip into space, feeding it data about the ISS and ensuring that the robot can orient itself and move freely. At the same time that CIMON was learning about the layout of the ISS, it was also becoming familiar with its astronaut colleague Gerst, through photos and voice samples.

Once CIMON is in space, astronauts and the AI will work together on a series of tasks that includes working with crystals, solving a Rubik's Cube and performing a medical experiment in which CIMON will serve as an interactive camera, Airbus representatives said in the statement.  

Watch a Robot Solve a Rubik's Cube in 0.38 Seconds

A robot built at MIT has reportedly set a world speed record for solving a Rubik's Cube, cutting the previous record of 0.637 seconds (set by another robot in 2016) down to just 0.38 seconds. If robots had grandparents, this one's would be very proud.

The Rubik's-solving robot was constructed at MIT this January by Ben Katz, a mechanical engineering graduate student, and Jared Di Carlo, an electrical engineering and computer science student, at a student-run hacker lab. According to a news release from MIT, the two became inspired when they noticed a design flaw in footage of the previous robot record-holder, a compact sphere of whirling motors created by German engineer Albert Beer. [Super-Intelligent Machines: 7 Robotic Futures]

"We watched the videos of the previous robots, and we noticed that the motors were not the fastest that could be used," Di Carlo said in a statement. "We thought we could do better with improved motors and controls."

In their new speed-solving bot, Katz and Di Carlo engineered individual motors to control six metal rods gripping the cube's six faces. Two webcams send footage of the cube to a nearby computer, helping the robot identify which colors fall on which face of the cube at a given time. Working from this information, the robot solves the cube with an algorithm previously used in other Rubik's-solving robots.

In the video above, you can see the whole process in action — just don't blink.

While our fleshy human fingers cannot hope to best the whirling motors and metal grips of robots like these, professional human speedcubers have set some pretty mind-boggling speed records of their own. The current world speed record for solving a Rubik's Cube is held by SeungBeom Cho, who solved a jumbled cube in 4.59 seconds at a 2007 World Cube Organization competition. According to the Rubik's Cube community Ruwix.com, Cho beat the previous world record by just one-tenth of a second.

Members of the machine uprising resistance movement, take heart: Although robots may be much faster than humans at solving Rubik's cubes, flipping hamburgers and climbing up sheer vertical walls, they still look ridiculous trying to open doors.