“The Evolution of Robotics/AI: an Industry Perspective”


ABSTRACT
Since its inception, Robotics has constantly used technological developments to address new customer needs. These developments have occurred in two areas: mechatronics and software & control.
Mechatronic advances made robots stronger, faster, and more accurate. In parallel, software & control has made it easier to program and operate robots, for example e.g., through lead through programming and wizards. The increasing ease of use has addressed a key need for the deployment of robots in industries and businesses whose employees do not have deep technical expertise, enabling them to deploy and interact with robots.
From a market perspective, global robot density comparisons indicate further significant growth potential, particularly across new segments and SME’s and driven by global megatrends, including an aging workforce, the individualized consumer, geopolitical uncertainty, digitalization, and sustainability.
To unlock this potential, robotics needs to continue to progress in mechatronics, and in particular in making robots more intelligent and autonomous through software/Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence is already used to provide robots with autonomous skills, like item picking. It will further enable robots to learn and acquire new sensorymotor skills efficiently, leading to higher degrees of perception and dexterous manipulation.
Additionally, promptbased, natural language technology and autonomous planning and decision making will allow nonexpert users to deploy robotics.
Matching customer needs for automation with new technological developments has been a key growth driver for robotics in the past. With the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence for robotics, this trend will continue.

PRESENTER
Dr. Sami Atiya is President of the Robotics and Discrete Automation business and a member of ABB’s Group Executive Committee. He was appointed to ABB’s Executive Committee as President of the Discrete Automation and Motion division, in June 2016.

The Robotics and Discrete Automation business has revenues of $3.6 billion and employs approximately 11,000 people around the world, writing the future of flexible manufacturing and smart machines.

Before joining ABB, Atiya held senior roles at Siemens in Germany from 1997 to 2015, including CEO of the Mobility and Logistics division in Munich from 2011 and CEO of Computer Tomography in the Healthcare sector in Erlangen from 2008 – 2011, among others.

Prior, Atiya was Managing Director at Harald Balzer & Partner in Stuttgart, Germany. Prior to that, he worked for Robert Bosch in Germany and on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Information and Data Processing in the US.

Atiya has an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Cambridge, US, a PhD in Electrical Engineering, specializing in robots, sensors and artificial intelligence, University of Wuppertal / Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Automation, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.

He was born in 1964 and is a German citizen.