The uses and capabilities have changed dramatically since seeing them at a 1982 trade show demonstration picking up a box on a placing it on a pallet. Applications today range from hospital operating rooms to picking up trash on the beach. Architects are already designing operating rooms for rural hospitals that allow a highly specialized surgeon to control robots performing the surgery from over 200 miles away. More interesting though are some of “less sophisticated” robotic applications now in use. White Castle, fast food restaurants are currently testing Flippy a robotic fry cook, manning their friers 23-hours a day, with one hour reserved for cleaning1. Greenzie, a start-up in Atlanta, GA. has launched a line of robotic landscapers focused on the commercial market. With the current labor shortage, the capabilities and multiple applications for robotics are unlimited. For those of my generation – we are seeing the world of George Jetson in our lifetime.
We here at Integrated Control Systems Inc are here to help you be George Jetson. We are a certified Inductive Automation Ignition® integrator and have been designing and deploying world-class Manufacturing Execution Systems since 1994. Find us on the web at https://integrated-controls.com/
Sorry, you’ll have to get your own folding briefcase car. We can only do so much.
Photo Credit: Wall St. Journal, August 27,2021