Generally, industrial and collaborative robots used by various industries in the world are ‘dumb’. They can be programmed to do simple repetitive tasks in environments where all objects are in known places. However, they fail in dynamic and complex environments. Adding intelligence with a vision for the robot enables it to perform in dynamic environments. For example, in cases where parts to be processed by the robot are not in known locations but arrive in chaotic piles. Enabling robots to pick stuff is a still major challenge. In the project Cambrian developed its AI technology that provides intelligence for the robot to perform the picking tasks robustly for manufacturing purposes.
Intelligent robots that can do more and are easy to set up are very beneficial for the society. It will mean cheaper goods, more variety and a more local manufacturing. For example, manufacturing can come back from cheap labour countries to developed countries with the help of intelligent robots. And, instead of doing repetitive tasks more people can concentrate more on creative and value-adding tasks.
The main objective in the project was to increase the technology readiness level of Cambrians AI-based picking skill on robots. More specifically, develop technology to pick any kind of parts from chaotic piles in boxes with AI very robustly and at a level acceptable to the industry. Also, it was also studied what are the best ways to commercialise the technology.