Enabling the rise of responsible robots
When I started as an engineer in the semiconductor industry, we worked on fairly boring electronics. Laptops, mobile phones, game computers – Not the most exciting things according to today’s standards. Then, an intelligent engineer on the American west coast took a mobile phone and a laptop, stuffed them in each other and called it a smartphone. It is essentially a data display device. And we were super proud of our smartphones.
And when these data display devices have been combined with large storage and large calculation in the cloud, this has allowed a world on demand. A world that allows us to order what we want with only a few clicks.
Now, after decades of technological progress, we go from a world to demand to those who anticipate our needs and automate to meet them. In this world, an ever increasing number of connected systems – cars, smart houses, factory sensors, health devices – process data where they are captured.
At the intelligent edge, manual devices are transformed into autonomous and responsible robots. These robots will be fueled by engineering innovations, new design processes and the progress of sensors and AI.
What can we expect in this new world? Think about it for a minute. Over the next decades, our homes will be able to predict maintenance needs, ensure the safety of our families and even control food for the refrigerator. Looks more like a dream than reality? I tell you – this is not the case. And it’s more than our houses. Driving will also be fully automated, and the cars themselves will be convenient spaces where you can relax or work while you run.
This smart world is closer than you think. But how are we going to get there?
CTO and EVP with NXP semiconductors.
Create our digital twins
One of the most important stages towards autonomous and responsible robots has been underway for decades: the creation of digital twins. These are virtual models of physical objects, located in the cloud. For an individual, it could be the state of your health, your wealth and your physical presence. It also applies to houses, businesses, hospitals and even cars.
But simply digitizing the physical world will only lead us so far. We have to allow this digital world to reach out to its physical counterpart. In doing so, these digital twins can connect with each other, optimize and learn from each other. Then, and this is the critical part, they apply this knowledge in the real world. It is only once we get there, can autonomous robots really become a reality.
Manual machines with autonomous robots
We must allow machines to feel, think, connect and act in our physical world. And what is most important, we must make sure that they always do so in a responsible manner – with security and security at the heart of everything they do. Because you will never give control to a robot you don’t trust.
In large part, actor machines have been carried out in the past 140 years. These machines have always required a human to provide comments or surveillance. More recently, connectivity challenges were resolved in the 1990s and early 2000s. Now our real challenges are to allow machines to feel and think.
The automotive industry is a clear example of the place where we are below here so far. Around 2016, everyone thought that autonomous cars were at the corner of the street. Theoretically, we had technology to make them work. However, completely autonomous driving remains out of reach. So what’s wrong?
The gap between the future of autonomous conduct that has been planned, and today’s reality comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of AI systems. We thought that the simple fact of having an AI system formed on the way we drive would be sufficient.
It’s like expecting to be able to give the keys to your teenager and let them drive simply because they have been in the car with you for years. In the real world, people have to train and take deterministic tests before they receive a driving license. This layer of confidence, security and security was what was missing.
Allowing brain change
To obtain the right part of the security, today’s AI (the robot brain) requires a new approach. And where to seek inspiration better than the human brain itself.
Our brains are largely divided into three areas: the brain facilitates perception, the cerebellum coordinates action and vital functions, and the brainstem regulates functions and reflexes in real time. For humans, all these elements are crucial. But for robots, it depends on their use.
Back to the example of an autonomous car, the highest priority is function and safety. For this, we need reflexes and coordination jointly with sensors. For an autonomous car, this translates to a basic level in functional management and secure energy and a real -time neural information transport system.
Or in other words, integrated reliable power management circuits (PMIC) and processors that can manage all the information that comes from a wide range of sensors.
Beyond that, you need modular software construction blocks. Indeed, it is software that defines the operation of autonomous vehicles. Having predefined software blocks also means that production can be adapted even on a large scale.
If you have constitutive elements of calculation, networking, power management, etc., you can minimize the time devoted to basic functionalities. With this, you can invest more efforts to put products on the market or resolution of difficult challenges.
Although autonomous cars are the most familiar example today, this change of brain which takes place is to lay the foundations of other smart machines in the future.
Rely on intelligent foundations
The robot’s brain relegate is important, but it is not only the thing necessary for a world that anticipates and automatizes. We also need continuous improvements to the sensors, as well as a common language to allow interoperability through these robots. These are all areas where we progress quickly: with a high resolution radar, ultra-large signals and the standard of the question to name only a few innovations.
A better world built around autonomous and proactive robots could look like a concept of science fiction. But if you look at the progress, which makes our vehicles, our houses and our factories smarter and safer today, it is clear that we throw the right foundations.
We have opened the door to a world anticipating and automated – now industry players, universities, researchers, engineers and political decision -makers have the opportunity to bring this “alarm clock” to reality – and to create a really intelligent and confidence future.
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