By Shane O'Meara, Margaret Naughton
It took 75 years for the telephone to reach 100 million users and only two months for ChatGPT to reach the same. You won’t be surprised to hear Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a growing trend within industrial mobile robotics — but it’s certainly not the only trend.
We began this blog series discussing how the automation of tasks is becoming commonplace in all facets of our lives. It seems fitting as we close out the series to discuss what the future holds for industrial mobile robotics and what we can expect to see in the coming years.
Robots are the icon of the digital era and the most important interface between AI and the physical world. Machine Learning and Generative AI are creating cognitive (or real-time aware) robots that learn from their environment, make autonomous decisions, and adapt to changing scenarios.
Robots are becoming self-learning, which helps them respond to dynamic environments or implement corrective action. They can even enact or re-enact human behaviors. In the 1990s, robots had insect-grade intelligence. Today, AI has unlocked full autonomy for robots, making them safe to interface in many human environments.
With greater intelligence moving to the edge and with ultra-low-power convolutional neural network accelerators in the market already, there is growing potential for AI engines to run on localized systems. This could unlock more efficiencies that will take automation to new heights.
Finally, with the rowing acceptance that AI is all around us and is used in many sectors, industrial processes and systems like mobile robotics are primed for AI-expanded capabilities.
Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) have proven their worth, and their next evolution is already on its way. Mobile manipulator (MoMa) robots combine the mobility of an AMR platform with the dexterity of a mounted robotic arm, bridging the gap between mobility and automation.
Improved sensory perception is enabling MoMas to become part of the robotic workforce. They have excellent accuracy and precision, allowing them to perform inspections and carry out maintenance tasks with the aid of advanced sensor and camera technology. Mobile manipulators will no longer just be the vehicle that connects disparate parts of the manufacturing process; they will transport material, inspect operations, and maintain systems around the clock.
With continued advancements in algorithm developments for path planning, obstacle detection and collision avoidance, the sky is the limit for what these robots will be capable of in the coming years. Move over AMRs, here come MoMas.
“Many hands make light work,” as the saying goes, and it’s just as true for robots as it is for people — a novel and transformative concept in AMRs. A swarm of smaller mobile robots working together can accomplish more than ever before.
Seamless real-time communication is the key to the swarm’s success. To collaborate on tasks that require precision handoffs or parallel work, robots must be able to send and receive information amongst themselves without any latency. Messages received out of order (or, worse, lost in the ether) can disrupt the entire operation.
As communication protocols advance, the merging of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) networks is enabling the potential for robot swarms. Edge-to-cloud connectivity, near real-time communication, and hybrid networks of wired and wireless technology are pushing the boundaries of what mobile robots can achieve in process automation.
The ecosystem of how mobile robots are deployed, developed, and designed is evolving alongside the technologies above, making the future of mobile robotics smarter and more versatile than ever. Future robotic innovations will require more system integration, so closer collaboration between robot developers and customers will become essential.
Learn more at analog.com/mobile-robotics.
Read more from the Industrial Mobile Robotics blog series.