Robotics, AI, and the Future of Automation: Insights from Automate

Speaker A: Foreign. Welcome to another edition of Advanced Manufacturing now, the podcast for manufacturing professionals. I'm your host, Steve Plumb, editor and chief of SME Media, and I'm joined today by my colleague Steve Bauer, digital content producer. Steve, great to see you again.

Speaker B: Great to see you as well, Steve.

Speaker A: Even though we're only a few rows over from each other, we don't always see each other, especially as we've been traveling, uh, throughout the last couple, uh, months.

Speaker B: That's true.

Speaker A: And I have to admit, I'm a little bit jealous. You got to go to one of my favorite, uh, non SME sponsored shows, Automate in Chicago, which happened, uh, a couple weeks ago in June at McCormack Place. I think it was your first time there, right?

Speaker B: Yeah, it was my first time there. Uh, although I've worked kind of in the capacity, uh, in manufacturing over the last couple of years where I've had opportunities. Uh, uh, this was my first time I've actually been able to make it to, uh, Automate, so it was really exciting.

Speaker A: So Chicago's pretty close to Detroit, but there's several different ways to get to the show. Um, you opted to take the train this time and you, you're all the way out in Waterford, which is a good half hour or so outside of Detroit. What was your method?

Speaker B: Well, yeah, uh, so it's not the first time I took the Amtrak to, uh, Chicago, but it has been about a decade. Um, so yeah, I, uh, took the train right from, uh, where it starts. So, uh, that route actually starts in Pontiac and finishes out in Chicago, then comes right on back and finishes out in, uh, Pontiac. So I got to, uh, ride the entire route from Pontiac to Chicago.

Speaker A: I know you got up bright and early on, uh, that Monday morning to make the trek out there. Uh, what were you expecting to see and what, uh, were your initial impressions?

Speaker B: So, I mean, I was, I was really expecting to see robots. I mean, you think of Automate, you think of, of robotics. I mean, um, there was in. And what actually really surprised me is there was a lot more than just robotics there. I mean, you had, you had companies that were optics companies, so they made just lenses for cameras, you had grippers. Uh, they specialized in just the gripping, the, the end of the robot to grab for pick and place. Um, so I was really kind of blown away just by all the different companies and the different facets of automation that go into making a total full solution that you just don't really think about.

Speaker A: Yeah. So talk to me a little bit. Uh, let's set the um, scorecard for the listeners automated produced by A3. But you know, how big are we talking about? How many exhibitors, how many products? You know, what Was it like? McCormick Place is massive. But did it take up all McCormick?

Speaker B: So it took up two of the, two of the four, um, halls. So it was in north hall and south hall. And there was over a thousand exhibitors this year and let me tell you, there was definitely over a thousand. And I did not see them all as much as I tried. I, I tried to walk up and down every row but I could not see everything that was uh, that was at Automate. It was, it was huge.

Speaker A: Even on the speed version of some of the videos you shot there, where you're going up and down the, the aisle, it definitely looked like there were a lot to, to see. Uh, you know, what, what stood out? What were some of the, the highlights.

Speaker B: So um, you know they had the, the Humanoid Pavilion this year. So that was kind of the. All the robots that are, you know, made and designed to look like their human counterparts. And so you saw um, you know, a lot of like service robots, uh, you know, robotic baristas, robotic bartenders and you know right now they're a little bit slower. The, the technology is, is, is, is kind of in its infancy a little bit. But you can really see you know, in the next couple years how much that's going to explode. And you know, before you know it, you're going to, you're probably going to be ordering uh, your, your favorite caffeinated beverage from a, from a robotic barista.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think you said the, it was actually called the Humanoid Pavilion which sounds like something out of a, a futuristic uh, sci fi, um, movie.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: There's been some debate on do we need robots that look like humans, especially with uh, two legs that are operating, uh, in a plant. Were they doing traditional manufacturing activities? It's fun to see the baristas, but

Speaker B: uh, I'd say for the humanoid robots a lot of the technology you're seeing right now isn't going to be as manufacturing focused as it is more, I guess novelty wise. You saw there was a, there was a humanoid robot walking its robotic dog. So you know, I mean if you buy one of those robotic dogs and you can't get it out for a walk, you can always buy yourself one of those humanoid robots and, and have that take the dog for a walk for you. Um, but when it comes to the, the stuff that's more traditional manufacturing, you really are, that's going to be More of the, the like industrial robots, the you know, picking um, and placing items, moving things around. Um, I, I tend to see those more so on the manufacturing side than, than the humanoid robots.

Speaker A: Yeah. Ah, so you came from a manufacturing, uh, background. It worked at uh, a, ah, nearby company, um, for the last ten years or so. Um, what were you guys using robots for and what were some of the untapped potential that you saw there?

Speaker B: So I worked for a company that made assembly tools. Um, and so we kind of, the, the space that we were in was more of kind of an integrator. So you know, end of end of arm tooling. Um, you know the way that I was seeing my, my previous company utilizing automation was, was really just to, to integrate a lot of the various components together. Like, like I mentioned, uh, you know, you have, you know, your vision systems, you've got your cobots, you've got your, your end of arm tool, um, need to be integrated together and they all have to be speaking the same language so that they can all work together. And so that's kind of what I was seeing um, at my previous role, um, in automation, um, just how. Trying to integrate all of those pieces of the puzzle together.

Speaker A: Yeah, so at Automate there's always some, some good keynote, uh, speakers there and you know, some of the, my favorite people and companies. Will Healy, I know from Universal Robots or Teradyne, I know he spoke to him there. Any trends or insights, uh, that he shared with you?

Speaker B: Yeah, so yeah, I definitely, I got a chance to sit down with Will Healy of Teradyne Universal, uh, robots. And um, I think one of the trends that we're really starting to see is this machine learning in the real world. So um, you know, you see it a lot in software where the um, where the way that the machine learning works is it'll learn through trial and error. And it's kind of like you, you set it off on its own and it just through different iterations and, and as it fails it learns. Um, you're starting to see this in real world applications with robotic arms. Um, Terad has this really cool um, setup at their booth where you had a person uh, controlling these robotic arms, teaching the robot how to fold a box. And through the trial and error of the human doing it, it was teaching the robot and then they had another setup where the robot was doing it completely with no human intervention at all. So um, there was a lot of failure in, on that side where you'd watch the robot go to pick the box up and, and Try to fold it and you know, it would either rip the, rip something or the, the box would um, fold in in a different manner than it was supposed to. But it's learning through failure. And so it's really cool to see, you know, a lot of these, the technologies that were, you know, starting off in the software world to see it in the, in the real world and being able to interact with humans.

Speaker A: So Universal also is big into. In fact I think they may have been the first into the space of cobots or collaborative robots, uh, which aren't as fast as uh, traditional robots, but they're safer and they interact with humans. Was that a uh, big part of this show or is that uh, waned at all?

Speaker B: Looking at all the booths, there was a cobot arm in almost every booth. So I mean you really look at the big players like, like Universal robots, Abb, Fanuc, they were in almost every booth there. So the collaborative robots are here to stay for sure. They're, they're definitely um, they played a huge role in the show and I think they'll continue to play a huge role.

Speaker A: And I think you said you had uh, spoken with Bosch, uh, Rexroth as well.

Speaker B: Yep. I uh, I made it over to their booth and got to check out some of their, their conveyance technologies. Um, they had a tech demo set up where they were really int all of their technologies into, into one big demonstration, um, that just kind of really showcased how everything works together and, and um, you know, like I mentioned being an integrator, like the, how automation is kind of requires uh, a lot of integration. It can be difficult sometimes to, to really understand how they all work together. So it was really cool at the, at the Bosch Rexroth booth being able to see all of these technologies, um, working in unison.

Speaker A: Yeah. Um, you mentioned machine learning which is a subs. Another version is artificial intelligence. Uh, the next step up. Uh, you and I were on a call recently with uh, an AI based company and talking about applications that are already out there and really focusing on welding, grinding, uh, some of the traditional manufacturing jobs, some which uh, can be manual labor intensive, can be uh, grueling work. Did you get a sense that uh, that's really what the focus is on, uh, for these types of applications?

Speaker B: Sure, yeah. I think the, the big focus really is on trying to have automation take these, take um, on these jobs that are, have traditionally been very destructive on the human body. Um, you know, you mentioned the grinding and stuff. I sat down with Google, um, and they, they partnered with Titan Robotics to do a, an automated grinding solution. Um, and it was really interesting to see how they, they tackled that because grinding historically has been a very, just dangerous manufacturing um process. I mean you think about a, a tool that's, that's spinning at 10,000 RPMs and you know it's constantly vibrating. So finding ways to uh, to automate that so that it, a human doesn't have to destroy their body to do it is, is, is huge. And I think that you know, we're going to see a lot more of that going forward.

Speaker A: Yeah. Any other highlights from the show that you saw?

Speaker B: Um, yeah, I mean some, some pretty cool stuff. Uh, there was uh, Phoenix connectors. They, they gamified their solutions. So um, they, their entire ah, trade show booth was set up like an arcade. So it was, it was really cool. There was, there was a lot of buz. It was um, it was set up in a way where you know, you were able to understand how their technologies work because they set it up like a game. So you know it was, it was really, really interesting and a really fun way to, to learn um, what they, you know, what they were doing and, and how it worked.

Speaker A: Yeah. Gamification is definitely becoming a bigger part of the industry. We have an upcoming article in Manufacturing Engineering and Technology on the, the gamification of safety. Uh, training, um, just really makes it uh, easier and uh, more accessible to get, uh, especially next generation, uh, workforce that may not have as much experience in manufacturing.

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. And, and it gives, it gives you the, the, the sense of, of what the job is. Um, and in. Because I, I think that's, that's also a big thing. You know, we were just, we were just at Fusion um, a couple, a uh, couple months ago at this point and you know, just trying to get that next generation interested in manufacturing is a part of it is, is just knowing that these jobs exist and knowing how the, you know, how it works. You know, if they don't know what those jobs entail then it's harder to get them into it. So the gamification is really huge into uh, enticing that next generation workforce.

Speaker A: Uh, yeah. Was the attendee, uh, pretty broad based, uh, cross section of people there?

Speaker B: Oh yeah, definitely. It was quite a broad cross section. Um, there's everybody from teenagers to people who have been in the veterans of the manufacturing industry. It was not homogenous at all.

Speaker A: Yeah. And I think uh, the next iteration of Automate is uh, in Las Vegas. So I'm sure that will attract some people. Oh yeah, uh, uh next May. Um, Steve, thanks for taking the time to talk about Automate.

Speaker B: Thanks for having me.

Speaker A: Yeah. Uh, definitely a subject that we'll continue to cover. And for more videos that, uh, you shot at the show, where can people find them?

Speaker B: Like, and subscribe to Our Feed, advanced

Speaker A: manufacturing.org check out, uh, all the great videos that, uh, that Steve shot at the show. And we'll see you next time.

Speaker B: All right. Thank you so much, Ste.