Why Wait for Tesla Bot? Robotic Vision is Here Today
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Did Tesla CEO Elon Musk grab your attention at Tesla AI Day 2021 when he unveiled his plans to build a humanoid robot? Then be encouraged to know that a vital part of the technology that will make Tesla Bot awesome is here today, ready to transform your business. You don’t have to wait for it.
A Very Promising Robot
Musk promises that Tesla Bot will be a “general purpose, bi-pedal, humanoid robot capable of performing tasks that are unsafe, repetitive or boring.” Tesla is seeking mechanical, electrical, controls and software engineers to help the company leverage its AI expertise beyond its vehicle fleet.
“Essentially, in the future, physical work will be a choice,” says Musk. “If you want to do it, you can, but you won’t need to do it.”
Musk’s Tesla Bot is just a dream for now. No prototype has been developed. And while Musk’s ambitions sometimes outpace reality, he deserves credit for pushing the envelope in ways that few others would consider. However, is this truly pushing the envelope with new technology? Not entirely.
Robotic Vision is Already Here
For Musk’s robot to perform unsafe, repetitive or boring tasks, it will have to be able to see its environment. It will have to have human-like robotic vision that recognizes objects. The good news for your business is that this technology already exists today. If your business needs to automate unsafe, repetitive or boring tasks, you don’t have to wait for Elon Musk to deliver his bot in a few years.
Recognition Robotics offers the ability to equip machines with human-like sight and hand-eye coordination. This robotic vision technology is already being used to guide robots in aerospace, automotive and general manufacturing.
At the core of robotic vision is a camera and a software application that work together to mimic the way humans see. Today’s robotic vision systems both recognize and guide. They recognize parts. And they guide industrial robots in six axis to assemble those parts and perform other tasks.
Robotic vision systems allow today’s industrial robots to:
- Assemble products
- Select parts
- Measure
- Load and unload pallets
Seeing Like a Human
Today’s robotic vision systems are fast. In automotive manufacturing applications, for example, they typically need less than 500ms to recognize an object and where it is located, and to then pass that data on to the robot.
Robotic vision systems are incredibly versatile, too, because they are able to work with objects as small as a computer mouse or as large as the side body panel of an SUV.
And then there’s the matter of accuracy. Some robotic vision systems are so accurate that they can guide the placement of an object into a hole with an accuracy of 100 microns.
Benefits of Today’s Robotic Vision Systems
Today’s most productive industrial robotic vision systems aren’t yet attached to two mechanical legs to allow a humanoid robot to walk about, but they are being used on production lines around the world to perform unsafe, repetitive and boring tasks.
Robotic vision systems deliver many other benefits. They help manufacturers:
- Simplify line feeding by replacing cumbersome mechanical racks and rack stands
- Reduce production time by eliminating human operator tasks
- Reduce rework and scrap by removing human error from production processes
- Improve safety by increasing the accuracy of robots
If your business needs to automate tasks that are unsafe, repetitive or boring, and if you don’t need your robot to walk about on two legs and talk to you, then you’ll be glad to know that you can get started today, thanks to the latest advances in robotic visual guidance.
The two big advantages of the best robotic vision systems are that they are here today (you don’t have to wait for Elon Musk to introduce his Tesla Bot), and they require no experts to operate them. Your users simply point and click to teach.
If you’d like to see a live simulation of robotic vision in action on your factory floor, schedule a demo now.
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