Leading the cloud storage enterprise Nebulr, James Ambrose Meyer is a Dallas-based IT professional who excels in full-stack development and creating networked systems from the ground up. Demonstrating a strong focus on technology, James Ambrose Meyer has a passion for robotics, and follows developments in the quickly evolving field.
A recent BBC article brought focus to an ongoing effort at Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology to develop a collaborative robot, or cobot. The aim is to create a robot that goes beyond simply responding to commands, and actively anticipates what maintenance technicians require on the job.
The development strategy combines AI and having the robots learn through watching human demonstration of tasks. This is a much quicker method of training AI than through programming instructions alone. At the same time, natural language interfaces are being developed that will allow better communication between human workers and cobots.
The cobots are based on the design of the ARMAR-6 robot, which possesses five cameras and is able to recognize objects and track human movements. This advanced vision system, combined with the AI and language capacities, is likely to enable powerful industrial robots to work alongside human counterparts. At present, the majority of industrial robot arms operate behind cages, as they could severely injure any human that crossed their path of activity.