Autonomous factories

December 12th, 2024

Autonomous factories are built on these building blocks: perception, intelligence, cognition, and movement.

  

  • Perception: Imagine machines with the ability to “see” and adapt to their environment. Cameras and laser scanners play a vital role here. When integrated into the infrastructure and mobile robotics, they create a huge amount of data, allowing us to observe and understand the shop floor accurately.
  • Intelligence: Based on data from cameras and laser scanners, combined with other data sources of the factory, we can add intelligent processing through artificial intelligence (AI).  Based on this processing, systems can autonomously make decisions, enhancing efficiency and safety. Here it’s important that AI is more than just smart – it must be robust, reliable, and trustworthy. One example: With AI performing classification and localization, we can now localize people or objects – but even further, we can differentiate between them. Making sure that humans and machines can operate safely in an autonomous environment.
  • Cognition: Factories thrive on information. Data from various sensors, hardware and software contribute to a pool of insights. By combining these diverse data sources, we not only create safer environments but also unlock completely new production concepts. We can find solutions to problems much faster since factories can connect the dots much easier based on existing information. Imagine the seamless combination of camera data from a fleet of autonomous mobile units with the warehouse management systems. Customers can efficiently perform their inventory overnight, every night. This brings human-machine collaboration and productivity to the next level.
  • Movement: Equipped with advanced movement capabilities, machines execute tasks seamlessly and autonomously. For instance, mobile robots no longer need intensive training to navigate new environments, they understand what they need to do, and adapt effortlessly. Even minor variations, like a pallet shifting position, are no longer critical obstacles. The machine will simply see it, find it and drive to it, with the help of AI.

https://www.siemens.com/global/en/company/stories/industry/factory-automation/factory-of-the-future-building-blocks-for-more-autonomy-.html