Did you see the original “I, Robot” movie starring Will Smith? Made in 2004, it’s loosely based on the famous robot stories of Isaac Asimov. The premise is that while robots are ubiquitous, they’re not independent; rather, they’re all directed and controlled from a central master artificial intelligence. The movie was pure science fiction, but some of its ideas may be turning into reality in the world of manufacturing.
That was Then
For most of the history of factory automation, equipment control was handled in the machine layer at the local level. Each piece of equipment was programmed locally. When a process needed adjustment, a technician would simply go to the machine and make the change.
This model of automation doesn’t work as well today. Change is much more frequent, and globalization has taken hold as a driving force in manufacturing. In order to manage their distributed operations, enterprises have been embracing a Manufacturing Operations Management or MOM model, where equipment is managed at the process level. This has brought not only more consistent management, but greater agility and responsiveness to change. It’s much easier to launch a new product when all production lines can be centrally managed and improved from a process perspective.
Now this trend is picking up steam thanks to the cloud and a new generation of robot technology.
This is Now
A new report by ARC Advisory Group, “Cloud-based Control and New Industrial Robots,” says that cloud-based control of industrial robots may soon have an impact on manufacturing. The report states that “There is increasing need for flexible production due to shorter product life cycles, increasing product mixes, and ever-changing customer demands.” By controlling robots centrally through the cloud, says the report, manufacturers can overcome problems such as time-consuming configuration, limited scalability, hardware dependencies, and other issues. “Cloud-based control and robots that can be personalized are technological trends that can have significant impact on industrial manufacturing for technology users and suppliers alike,” says ARC.
Naturally, Google is getting in on the act. The company is investing heavily in industrial robots, acquiring robotics firms of various kinds in Japan, the U.S. and Great Britain. Google’s goal, apparently, is to make industrial robots as versatile and easy to use as smart phones. In fact, they talk about “apps” that can be downloaded via the cloud to give robots new capabilities. The company even plans to follow the smart phone model: develop the hardware, intelligence, and some basic apps, and rely on third-party developers to create useful software solutions.
The Future?
Getting back to the Will Smith movie, the centralized control – Artificial Intelligence or AI – turned evil, out of control, and then had to be destroyed. I’m sure we can expect better from our modern manufacturing enterprises, but companies don’t have much time to prepare. According to ARC, these developments are only three to five years away from having a serious impact on manufacturing.
A new generation of robots is coming. Statistic Brain tells us there are 1.3 million robots currently in the world, at least as of February 2014 (source). But it is unlikely these are “IoT” enabled, or can be readily programmed centrally from the cloud or other central server. The question is how many manufacturers will be ready to invest in the next generation of them, and be up for the management task?
Gordon can be found on Google+ .
