The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing

Today's factories are easy to envision as futuristic-seeming hives of automation, where industrial robots mimic the movements and, seemingly, the intentionality of human workers. Today's robots are not only working faster and more reliably than their human counterparts but also performing tasks beyond human capability altogether, such as microscopically precise assembly. But many of those robots are dumber than they look. That is, they may be more dexterous than humans, but they are programmed to perform a limited range of tasks. Many robots can't safely work in close proximity to humans and literally have to be caged or regulated in ways that safeguard human coworkers.