This fall, the ARM Institute’s work in artificial intelligence (AI) for robotics has been taking center stage at several conferences and events. While AI has been garnering extra headlines lately, the ARM Institute has been working with AI for robotics in manufacturing since our inception in 2017. We’ve been using what we have learned across our 120+ projects as a foundation for building new capabilities and identifying tangible ways AI can be leveraged to strengthen U.S manufacturing.
In fact, over a three-month period in 2021, the ARM Institute convened experts spanning industry, government, and academia for a robust Discovery Workshop centered on AI for robotics. The outputs from this workshop generated a roadmap (currently available only to ARM Members through the Member Community) that identified and prioritized the core AI technology capabilities that will have the largest impact to the ARM Institute’s ecosystem and partners. The outputs of this roadmap have informed areas of focus for ARM Institute project calls, as well as the strategy for new ARM Institute programs and initiatives.
Read on to learn about where we’ve been talking about AI this fall:
AI Horizons Pittsburgh
Ira Moskowitz, ARM Institute CEO, recently showcased the ARM Institute’s AI work for robotics at the invite-only AI Horizons Conference in Pittsburgh. The event centered on why Pittsburgh is well-positioned to lead the charge when it comes to impactful AI progress. Ira joined a line-up of expert presenters that included Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Farnam Jahanian (President of Carnegie Mellon University), Anthony Robbins (Vice President, Federal, NVIDIA), and many others. The event convened in a part of Pittsburgh being dubbed AI Avenue in recognition of the transformative AI technologies being generated in the region.
During the conference, Ira explored Pittsburgh’s strategic role in AI and national security on a panel discussion moderated by Audrey Russo (President and CEO Pittsburgh Technology Council) with fellow panelists Dennis Andersh (President and CEO, Parallax Advanced Research Corporation), Larry Watson (Vice President Federal Aerospace and Defense, Ansys), and Michael Mattarock (Executive Director, National Security Research at Carnegie Mellon University).
“The goal is to get humans and AI to work together on production lines to enhance and secure our nation’s manufacturing competitiveness,” Ira noted during his panel discussion.
ARM Institute representatives also managed a table where we connected with attendees.
Special Competitive Studies Project: AI + Robotics
Shortly following the AI Horizons Conference, Ira joined the Special Competitive Studies Project’s AI + Robotics conference in Washington DC. The AI + Robotics Summit was part of a series of events dedicated to enabling rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) as it transforms our country and becomes a keystone of our national security. The AI+Robotics Summit, the second in this series, sought to chart a national strategy for leadership in AI-enabled robotics by convening innovation leaders to demonstrate technology directions, discuss policy implications, and identify the essential variables for U.S. competitiveness.
Ira joined a panel discussion exploring The Factory of the Future: Robotics in Manufacturing with Ed Mehr (CEO of Machina Labs), Chetan Gupta (General Manager of the Advanced AI Innovation Center and Vice President and Head of the Industrial AI Laboratory at Hitachi America Ltd), and Rob Atkinson (Founder and President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation). The panel discussion centered on helping attendees understand the evolving role of AI and robotics technology in manufacturing, the policy implications of advances in robotics and AI, and the prospects for U.S. industrial competitiveness. For Ira, this meant exploring how the ARM Institute is uniquely positioned to drive the future of AI in robotics for manufacturing as a public-private partnership and the impacts of the collaborative work, programs, and AI and robotics projects the ARM Institute has catalyzed to strengthen US manufacturing through robotics and AI together. You can watch a recording of Ira’s panel above and find more recordings from the event here.
“How do you get that AI solution? The key there is data. All this machine learning, machine training for the future of robotics in manufacturing depends on creating and defining data sets. It’s a big challenge – there are whole conferences on how you get data for manufacturing. The ARM Institute is developing resources to make this data accessible,” Ira Moskowtiz remarked during his panel discussion
The myriad of expert AI presenters at the summit included: Ms. Anne Neuberger (the Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technologies in the White House), Marc Raibert (Executive Director of The AI Institute and Co-Founder of Boston Dynamics), Damion Shelton (President of Agility Robotics, Inc.), Elisabeth “Liz” Reynolds (Professor of Practice at MIT), Maj. Gen. Darren R. Cole (Director, Global Reach Programs, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Arlington, Virginia), Brendan Schulman (Vice President of Policy & Government Relations for Boston Dynamics), Yll Bajraktari (President and CEO of the Special Competitive Studies Project), Rev Lebaredian (Vice President of Omniverse and Simulation Technology at NVIDIA), Ken Plaks (Director, Tactical Technology Office (TTO) at DARPA), and many others.
How is the ARM Institute Driving the Future of AI for Robotics & Manufacturing?
The ARM Institute has several new and emerging initiatives centered on making AI for robotics more accessible in manufacturing.
AI Data Foundry Program
Over the summer, the ARM Institute hosted a series of members-only interactive webinars where experts from across our membership gave input into our program that has taken on the working title AI Data Foundry (or AIDF). The AI Data Foundry Program seeks to develop a national resource that will collect and aggregate data for robots working in manufacturing settings. The ARM Institute is pursuing this work in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University’s Manufacturing Futures Institute (MFI) and our Members through federal funding. Michael Skocik, ARM Institute Director of Federal Technology Initiatives, further detailed this work during our Annual Member Meeting, giving ARM Members the opportunity to provide input into the direction and strategy of the program.
Stay tuned for more ways to engage with our AI Data Foundry Program both through our future Project Calls and beyond. Join our mailing list to receive updates about new ways to engage with this program.
AI Skills Definition
Of course, technology development can’t happen without considering the workforce. The ARM Institute’s Education & Workforce Development team have embarked on journey to define the skills needed to work with AI in robotics. This effort began during our Annual Member Meeting in September, during which the ARM Institute’s workforce team led an interactive activity to start to identify the necessary skills and competencies. This work will feed into our existing robotics competency frameworks, which outline the robotics skills needed to work in manufacturing, either through a new framework or overlaying these skills into our existing frameworks. This work will continue through additional workshops.
Learning & Practical Application
The ARM Institute, Catalyst Connection, and Carnegie Mellon University’s Manufacturing Futures Institute are also collaborating on a program to bring learning capabilities to the organizations’ shared Pittsburgh facility. These capabilities will center on the practical application of AI and robotics in manufacturing environments and will enhance our Robotics Manufacturing Hub program that provides free services for manufacturers in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region to explore and test robotics. Stay tuned as work continues on this program.
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ABOUT THE ARM INSTITUTE
The ARM (Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing) Institute is a Manufacturing Innovation Institute (MII) funded by the Office of the Secretary of Defense under Agreement Number W911NF-17-3-0004 and is part of the Manufacturing USA® network. The ARM Institute leverages a unique, robust, and diverse ecosystem of over 400 consortium members and partners across industry, academia, and government to make robotics, autonomy, and artificial intelligence more accessible to U.S. manufacturers large and small, train and empower the manufacturing workforce, strengthen our economy and global competitiveness, and elevate national security and resilience. Based in Pittsburgh, PA since 2017, with a regional office in St. Petersburg, FL, the ARM Institute is leading the way to a future where people and robots work together to respond to our nation’s greatest challenges and to produce the world’s most desired products. For more information, visit www.arminstitute.org and follow the ARM Institute on LinkedIn and X(Twitter).