Factories that learn: inside a robotic test line
In a test hall full of orange arms, engineers teach robots to adapt instead of repeat.
Cover image Photo by Simon Kadula / Unsplash
Industrial robots are very good at doing the same thing a million times. They are very bad at doing something slightly different once. The test line we visited is trying to change that.
Instead of programming every movement, engineers show the robot a few examples and let it work out the rest, under supervision. When a part arrives at a new angle, the arm adjusts rather than stops.
The goal is not a factory without people, the engineers insist, but one where changing a product takes days instead of months.
