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Next Gen Robotics

The next generation of industrial robots is smarter, safer and more adaptive than the conventional automatons we have come to know. Best of all, they’re affordable enough for even small-scale manufacturing, and are designed not to simply replace human workers, but to make them more efficient.

One example is Baxter – a six-foot, 300-pound machine that can let you know, by the expression on his “face,” how he’s performing and what he’s planning to do next. Unlike most industrial robots that are expensive to program and incapable of deviating from their prescribed task, a worker can teach Baxter a new task simply by moving one of his massive arms through the motions. Built-in sonar sensors and motors detect and respond to touch, making the limb light as a feather and just as easy to move. He can also be taught to recognize an object simply by holding it in front of one of its several cameras.

Many experts agree that manufacturing jobs are outsourced because finding cheap human labor to perform low-skill tasks is easier than making automation more flexible. At a cost of only $22,000, robots like Baxter could reverse that trend in the long term by bringing the cost-saving benefits of automation to a broader range of industries.

For information: Rodney Brooks, Chief Technology Officer, Rethink Robotics, 27 Wormwood Street, Boston, MA 02210; phone: 617-500-2487; email: info@rethinkrobotics.com; Web site: www.rethinkrobotics.com
Daniel Burrus' Top Twenty Technology-Driven Trends for 2013