INDUSTRY – MANUFACTURING
INTRODUCTION
While labour-saving automation of manufacturing processes started in the 18th century, it was in 1959 that computer numerical control (CNC) technology was introduced to program machine tools. (In 1970, Nick programmed a drill press using APT, a special-purpose computer language developed at MIT.) The first industrial robot, patented by George Devoi in 1954, was installed by General Motors in 1962. Now there are over 1 million robots installed world-wide, used for such applications as welding, painting, assembly, pick and place for printed circuit boards, packaging and labeling, palletizing, product inspection, and testing – and manufacturing industrial robots.
The most disruptive technology that will decimate jobs in the manufacturing industry is additive manufacturing (often referred to as 3D-printing). This is the technology that builds 3D objects by adding layer-upon-layer of material (which may be plastic, metal, concrete, or human tissue), under the control of 3D modeling software. The technology was invented in Japan in 1981. Besides learning to work with different materials and layering techniques, current research includes varying the location of the x-y axis to change the physical properties of the product, and introducing a 4th dimension – time – in which a 3D-printer can be used to manufacture a 3D object that, when later heated or cooled to a specific temperature, will transform into a different 3D shape.
The initial use of 3D-printing was rapid prototyping (eliminating the need for molds), which significantly reduced and improved the quality of new product design. Now almost any shape or product can be manufactured, including such diverse products as guns, the exterior of houses, and human organs.
Studies have indicated that each industrial robot replaces over 6 shopfloor workers (and that does not include the reduction in supervision and support services) – and that over 8 million workers would have been required in the US if robots were not used. As the functionality of robots continues to expand, there will be manufacturing plants without human workers!Â
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REVIEW THESE INFORMATIVE ARTICLES - AND READ THOSE THAT INTEREST YOU
RENTING A ROBOT WORKER—FOR LESS THAN A HUMAN (Staffing/Robotics - 2022-01 - Wired)
Chicago’s Polar Manufacturing hired its first robot employee. The robot arm performs a simple, repetitive job and gets paid for the hours it works. It costs the equivalent of $8/hour, compared with a minimum wage of $15/hour for a human employee.
ROBOT FACTORY WILL MAKE ROBOTS IN SHANGHAI IN 2022 (Robotics - 2021-10 - Railly News)
Swiss technology giant ABB is building an automated factory to make robots in Shanghai, with production starting in 1Q2022. Production will be based on cellular automation with robots moving from station to station, providing flexibility with greater customization compared to traditional, linear manufacturing systems.
ROBOT JUST MOVES BOXES IN A WAREHOUSE (Warehousing/Robotics - 2021-03 - New York Post)
US robotics company Boston Dynamics announced a new robot ‘Stretch’, designed to perform a specific warehouse job: moving boxes weighing up to 50 pounds at a rate of up to 800 boxes/hour. Stretch has a small mobile base and is equipped with an arm and a smart-gripper using advanced sensing and computer vision cameras.
APPLE COMPONENTS ARE MADE IN A FULLY-AUTOMATED FOXCONN PLANT MANNED BY ROBOTS (Factory/Robotics - 2020-11 - Daily Mail)
Foxconn factory in southern China’s Shenzhen, making Apple devices and iPhone components, is entirely staffed by robots. Self-driving vehicles move in a dark room. Saves costs on labour and energy while improving product quality.
Adidas adds automated weaving robot to shoe 3D printing technology (Shoes/Additive Manufacturing - 2020-10 - 3DPrint)
Adidas’s Futurecraft line has included several 3D-printed midsoles over the past several years. The latest pair of sneakers includes soft uppers made using an autonomous weaving robot.
AI can help make manufacturers more efficient today; the future may be self-organizing factories (AI - 2020-09 - MIT Technology Review)
Using AI to simulate and optimize the operation of a manufacturing design, and eventually integrating AI technologies into real-time operation. The future may mean that a factory can self-organize itself to manufacture compleletely different products.
Robots assemble a PS4 every 30 seconds (Computers/Robotics - 2020-07 - PC Mag)
Sony’s production facility in Japan is capable of producing a PS4 console every 30 seconds. The whole process requires only four human workers (at the start and end) and the rest of the work is carried out by robots on a production line that’s just 31.4 meters long.
Autonomous robots will work with warehouse workers (Warehousing/Robotics - 2020-06 - ZDNet)
Third Wave Automation is planning to create autonomous forklifts. Warehouses are fast-moving environments where human operators make mistakes. The Third Wave systems identifies problems, select corrective action, and confirms the action with human operators. Next time the situation occurs, the forklift will know what to do.
Roombots: Modular robots that become Adaptive Furniture (Furniture/Additive Manufacturing - 2020-04 - Forbes)
Biorobotics Laboratory researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne in Switzerland have created a group of modular shape-changing robots called Roombots that are 3D reconfigurable to change shapes and become adaptive furniture.
Covariant uses simple robot and gigantic neural net to automate warehouse picking (Warehousing/Robotics - 2020-02 - Engineering.com)
Covariant, founded In 2017 by UC Berkeley and OpenAI, has taught a standard industrial robotic arm to pick and pack varied products with a standard industrial arm, suction gripper and 2D camera system, relying on a large neural network. Its system has worked reliably in a German warehouse for four months, growing from handling 15-95% of products.
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