What happens after the Industrial Robot-lution with Dr. Kiyonori Inaba (FANUC) and moderator Catherine Shu.
Two centuries after the Industrial Revolution, robotics and deep learning are creating another paradigm shift in manufacturing. As more parts of production become automated, what will human workers gain and what will they lose?
FANUC needs to make robots more flexible and more intelligent to penetrate new markets outside of factories and warehouses.
They pill sorting and gear assembly robots.
They use deep learning where robots learn tasks by example. Currently, this means operators only annotate the images. It will make skill transfer easier.
By integrating with IOT, they are able to accelerate the learning time from 8 hours to 2 hours. AI can share and integrate learning to learning faster.
FANUC has collaborating robots that do not need a safety fence. Safe green colored robots work beside humans. They meet ISO safety standards.
They are integrating IOT, sensors, AI and collaborative robots. They want robots to work autonomously safely outside of the factory in partnership with humans.
Background
Dr. Kiyonori Inaba is Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Robot Business Division of FANUC Corporation, a global leader in factory automation, industrial robots, and advanced technologies used in manufacturing.
As General Manager of the Robot Business Division, he oversees robot business operations in both product development and sales/marketing. Dr.Inaba joined the Company in 2009 and spent his initial career in developing robot control software, pioneering the development of “learning robots”, robots which optimize their own motion to increase throughput and path accuracy. In 2013, Dr. Inaba was promoted to General Manager of the Robot Laboratory, and was elected as a member of the Board of Directors, and currently serves as a Senior Managing Director.
Dr. Inaba earned his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 2008 from University of California, Berkeley.
SOURCE – Live coverage of Dr. Kiyonori Inaba, EVP FANUC at TechCrunch Robotics-AI 2019
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
With Mexican Automobile assembly workers making $ 2.45/hour, which is about the same as it was when Nafta was created, it doesn’t make sense to invest the hundreds of millions required to automate production with robots.
It’s not like there is no precedence for such conditions currently in the world.
Conditions similar to the Appalachian states will be the new average.
Better outcomes tend to be the result of making better choices. I have no expectations those with the least options will abandon magical thinking and make choices to improve their condition in this world.
So what will happen after the industrial robot-lution? This article didn’t clarify the question for me. Hopefully, it will be a world like the one depicted in Star Trek Next Generation or a lot of human biomass is going to be scr*wed. Not necessarily by robots, which we might see in the new Star Trek D’generation.