Innovations To Bring Industry 5.0 to the Masses DX Week Experts say the Future Will Be Democratized, Decentralized

Digital transformation in manufacturing moves far beyond solidifying the efficiency, productivity, and quality control industrial robots can ensure. Christian Ramsauer , professor in the department of Innovation and Industrial Management at Austria’s Graz University of Technology, said that up until recently no sustainable augmented reality business model existed in an industrial setting. That changed during the pandemic when original equipment manufacturers were unable to send repair teams into factories to install, maintain, repair, and replace their machinery.

“They started to use head-mounted devices, virtual reality, augmented reality, and all of a sudden, found its way into the industry,” he said. “I see the fashion industry getting involved, as well. When we needed to buy clothes and could not go to the shop. Online shopping shows only shows the front or the back. Augmented reality allows virtual try-ons. I can see where this technology might be part of our online shopping life. This a business model which helps us to reduce return rates and show how clothes will look on your body.

Many other extended reality (XR) use cases are emerging, said Yasser Alsaied , Amazon Web Services’ vice president of IoT and former Qualcomm vice president. He said one of the first and most exploitable uses of XR is for worker education. He saw one of the first historical uses depicted in a museum on the China Telecom campus.

“Training was the first use case that gave a really solid foundation to augmented reality. They could not get the proper instruction from books, or they couldn’t gain access to instructors to teach the mechanics or the tool operations,” Alsaied explained. “They invented augmented reality training. While the trainees were working, instructions would appear on the screen.”

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred the extension of these applications to enhance sustainability and remote learning and working opportunities.

“With remote schools, you can have a science lab for a village school that cannot even afford a building,” he said. “With an XR viewer, students can actually work with lab equipment and familiarize themselves with the lab setting.”

Yuki Nakagawa, founder and CEO of RT Corporation, discussed how her company incorporates XR in robotics for training purposes.

“We teach on a robot with a simulator. They operate through the internet. So, we connect students at home with an operator using an AR or VR system and an operator with a real robot at our company,” she explained. “On the other side, we use the AR system to teach the robot. The robot needs a teaching system, and we make a robot teaching system where the robot takes a real image and converts it and words into simulations. They can recognize the appropriate images to pick [according to the teaching module’s context].”

RT Corp.’s robots’ AR training includes AI vision systems that can distinguish parts, ingredients, containers, and spatial relationships, making them useful in food service and industrial settings.

Interestingly, the panelists revealed that they are not just innovators but also fans of innovation as they apply to consumer and business AR applications. Xiaolin Lu , a fellow and director of Texas Instruments’ Kilby Labs Sensing & Processing Group, said she can’t wait until the technology fully replicates the scenery and environment she simulates on cross country rides on her stationary bike. Sonita Lontoh , who sits on the boards of Sunrun and TrueBlue, has been impressed by XR’s ability to render realistic 3-dimensional depictions of humans in retail and conference settings and to enable real-time interaction and engagement with the avatars.

Anthony Jules is co-founder and CEO of Robust AI, emphasized the distinction between augmented reality and virtual reality and the use cases where they can be applied.

“A lot of AR – ‘AR Light’ that can be done with phones and tablets – is already starting to become pervasive and will feel natural. We’re going to just start taking it for granted,” he said. “It’s just a game. You don’t even think of it as AR anymore.”

He shared a use case he said is illustrative of how his company approaches robotic systems development.

?“Anyone who has built robotics has spend a lot of time in front of 3D representations, simulators, and other tools so you can see what the robot is thinking, where it’s planning to go, etc.,” he explained. “We use AR to view what the robot perceives about the environment in context,” he explained. “You can just look through a tablet and project on the floor where the robot is headed, which direction it thinks is ‘up,’ where it thinks it’s oriented. That has certainly shortened development time for us. AR is just a tool, and we are starting to be able to use it quite easily because every phone and tablet has it.”

As the discussion transitioned toward the challenges in extending Industry 5.0 into the next decade, Nakagawa said AI software is accessible, but democratizing AI applications and modules could take as long as 10 years. She said a hardware boom is coming, especially in solving last-mile and last-hand issues. She said AI will enable fulfillment of more satisfying experiences in transportation and service delivery. ‘Last hand’ is a concept Nakagawa coined to referring to the final tasks involved in the production process.

“Often, many people work the end of the conveyor belt in a factory, creating bottlenecks in production processes,” she explained. “That can be eliminated when robots equipped with the AI needed – recognition systems, perfected manipulation, and fine-tuned operation.”

Ramsauer said that while manufacturing already uses AI-driven simulation to predict and model methods for increased efficiency, he sees far more sophisticated uses for it. He sees AI enabling “simulation of human behavior, the sustainability issue – when we do something, what effect does it have on our environment?”

He said his students are deeply involved in AI. Democratizing it will drive better machine and tooling results from data.

“Maybe it’s more out-of-the-box applications and business models that are enabled [by AI democratization],” Lontoh postulated. “One day, it will be possible to actually change the way people buy running shoes or orthotics and prosthetics by enabling then to scan themselves with their phones and upload their body data. Then, an AI system would understand what the best product is for you based on your gait, data, running style.”

AI then would coordinate distribution of the prescribed design to a manufacturing center and shipping of the final product directly to the customer.

“In 10 years maybe, there will be these kinds of innovative, disruptive business models that are enabled by all this technology – including AI and 3D printing – that will democratize everything,” she said.

Lontoh’s vision sparked discussion of data security, availability, and custodianship. That topic will kick off or next article on DX Week’s Session 4 panel on Industry 5.0.

The ramifications of robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other automation technologies for manufacturing cannot be overestimated. Machines are destined not only to replace human labor in jobs that are repetitive, dangerous, or otherwise unsuitable but are also progression toward enabling a hybridized work environment. Technologies will allow precise mechanical and digital manipulation of robots, making safe for people work in tandem with machines to streamline production, improve customer service, and allow people to engage in creative and strategic activities.?

TDK Ventures’ Industry 5.0 panel demonstrates how the world will benefit from the work performed by participants and other impact scalers to harness the power of innovation and digital technologies. The talks align perfectly with TDK’s commitment to identify and promote the ideas, inventions, and business models that will commercialize and distribute the tools that will lead to a greener, more equitable, safer, and more sustainable society.