Robots aren’t currently having an easy time navigating in a non-controlled environment, that is to say, the real world. Watching how different solutions to this challenge are being developed will give us a better idea of what the future, especially in manufacturing businesses and warehouses for example, is going to look like. So let’s dive in!

Delivery Robots

MIT researchers have a new navigation system on offer which will make it easier for robots to make their way to your front door. Through the use of GPS, robots can already accurately make their way to your curb, but not quite take that extra step to ensure you won’t have to go meet the robot on the street, in your slippers. Mapping every single neighborhood in order to include pathways to doorsteps would be too immense of a task, so MIT figured out a way to let robots tackle their surroundings by themselves, without a map. This way of teaching robots to find their own way around will surely have uses outside of delivery, but I’m excited to receive my next package this way. Read more on TechCrunch.

Inspection and Maintenance in the Petrochemical Industry

An industry that relies heavily on timely maintenance and inspections to ensure safety and to meet the rising demand, benefits from looking at robots to help tackle these challenges. Maintenance and inspections are such a cost because of downtime, increased risk when having to inspect or work in dangerous areas, and the need for employees with specific skills. Robots could take on part of those tasks especially in reaching risky places, analyzing the need for specific actions more accurately and objectively, and using AI to develop better predictive maintenance. Jason De Silveira shares more with us on ThomasNet.

Tracking Workers’ Every Move: For Safety or Surveillance?

Warehouses can clearly benefit from using wearables to track their employees’ movements. Specifically, Bloomberg describes a device that vibrates when someone isn’t maintaining correct posture, and therefore has an increased risk of getting hurt. Great! But that data is obviously being used differently as well. If many employees are frequently making the same mistakes, that could be an opportunity to organize further training or rethink the processes. On the other hand, workers are also being tracked, and productivity tracking isn’t something I’d like to have hanging over my head while I go about my day. Injury prevention is obviously a good thing, but using devices like this always raises a question of how far you can go in keeping an eye on your employees. Read the full story on IndustryWeek.

Does the Paper Industry Have a Future?

The world is going digital, and the paper and packaging industry is feeling the consequences. Companies are going paperless, few of us are reading paper newspapers or magazines anymore, so how does this industry remain relevant? Technology may not be the enemy, but indeed the answer. Due to online shopping, packaging is important, and the companies supplying those materials could use technology to think out of the box: new materials, different ways of tracking, and so on. In optimizing the current processes to limit costs, and stay in business, technological solutions like automation could also provide an edge. Go to Manufacturing Technology Insights to find out more about the future of paper.

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