AI Articles and Analysis in Heavy industry

In a white paper about the digitalization of the chemistry and advanced materials sector published by the World Economic Forum and Accenture, total global chemical sales in 2014 amounted to $3.5 trillion and is expected to rise to $6.9 trillion by 2030.

Food processing is one of the major manufacturing sectors in the United States. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 16 percent of the value of shipments from all U.S. manufacturing plants comes from food processing plants. These plants employ around 1.5 million workers in this country.

Our cities, streets, homes, and businesses are built for beings that walk on two legs (biped). From stairs to the shape of hallways to the placement of kitchen cabinets, all have been designed for bipeds. The fact that a society of two-legged creatures designed everything around them for bipeds is so obvious most people don’t even think about it, but it becomes a serious issue when talking about the future of robotics.

Major companies including GE, Siemens, Intel, Funac, Kuka, Bosch, NVIDIA and Microsoft are all making significant investments in machine learning-powered approaches to improve all aspects of manufacturing. The technology is being used to bring down labor costs, reduce product defects, shorten unplanned downtimes, improve transition times, and increase production speed.

It would be great if instead of having our car break down - could have them fixed as soon as the underlying problem began. It would be great if instead of having to diagnose a malfunctioning piece of mechanical equipment - would could have the right "fix" presented to us immediately. As it turns out, artificial intelligence may be working its way to accomplish both of those goals in the not-so-distant future.

While self-driving trucks and self-driving cars make use of much of the same technology to power their AI systems, it would be a mistake to think the expected roll out date of both developments to would be identical. Their similarities can easily mask their significant differences.

Episode summary: Unlike the field of self-driving cars, the fields of construction, mining, agriculture, and other classes of “heavy industry” involve a huge variety of equipment and use-cases that go beyond traveling from A to B. The heavy industry leaders of today are no farther behind automakers in their understanding that AI and automation will be essential for the future of their companies. In this episode, guest Dr. Sam Kherat discusses the applications of AI in heavy industry, including: What type of capabilities and functions are automate-able, and at what level. He also shines a light on how AI might affect the future of the industry within the next 2-3 years, and in what ways we can expect large equipment to become more autonomous.

High costs and technical limitations kept the uses of drones relatively limited until recently. After significant excitement starting around 2012, the FAA's 2016 adoption of regulations - combined with the drop in price - has made drones an economically viable option for a broad range of commercial functions.