As robots become increasingly ubiquitous, so does the demand for artificial intelligence. A robot workforce provides the biggest advantages when it can think, adapt, change, and learn all on its own. This necessarily leads to decreased human involvement and intervention. Factory owners can expect the field of AI to continue to evolve rapidly, and robots may soon possess computational skills that rival our own intellectual abilities.
The connection between the technologies
The goal of AI is to recreate the human thought process. So, it makes sense that if companies are implementing robotic automation to replace human workers in their factories, then AI has a key role in developing a superior automated process. In fact, this is already taking place. AI is responsible for making modern robots more flexible than their rigid predecessors. Individual units can be reprogrammed and repurposed for many tasks and several points in the assembly process. Like a human, AI allows these machines to learn how to perform these tasks more efficiently. Unlike a human, however, a robot with AI learns quickly and does not need retraining.
Industry Applications
Numerous industries already benefit from robotic automation. These same industries can compound those benefits with AI-powered process automation. Assembly, packaging, sorting, and machining factories are just some of the applications that can be leveled up by AI. But impressive hardware is only half of the solution. For example, AI is beneficial in adaptive vision systems for inspection. Accuracy, speed, and efficiency will improve when AI governs vision processing. Companies need to incorporate smart learning software too if they want to take full advantage of the 21st Century automated factory.
Chatbots
AI isn’t limited to the factory floor. Chatbots are already in use in our daily lives. From Siri and Alexa to intelligent phone systems that can redirect customers to the person best able to help them, chatbots have been quietly seeping into our culture for years. Like their factory floor counterparts, Chatbots handle the repetitive processes that do not require a human, and in some cases make the process smoother for all parties involved. Humans are great at jobs that require judgment calls. But if their just patching customers to the correct extension, they aren’t living up to their potential and the entire business loses out on having them in a more ideal position.
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Other Ideas for AI Applications
Are you set on implementing more AI in your business? Want some more creative ideas for applications? Not a problem. There are numerous resources. ElectronicsForU.com is just one of many places that provide ideas for neat little projects you can try at home. Tinker around with some of the most basic applications, and using this sandbox-method of brainstorming, who knows what you’ll be able to come up with? You can find tons of ideas on their website here.
New ideas are surfacing every day when it comes to how to merge AI and robotics. DIY-Robotics knows the marriage of these two fields is as promising as it is inevitable. For more ideas on how to implement versatile, dynamic robotic cells into your workflow, check out the resources at DIY-Robotics.com.
