Affordable high-end automation using refurbished low-end robots and 'Assertive Products'

To deal with low-volume, high-variability orders, companies in advanced economies are increasingly looking into autonomous manufacturing systems. However, these systems are usually prohibitively expensive due to the difficulty of creating intelligent machines that can autonomously deal with variations in products, processes and environmental conditions. We propose that autonomous manufacturing systems can be achieved at lower costs by moving away from this machine-centric focus towards a more product-centric view. By inserting inexpensive sensors, computers, and communication devices into production parts, we can create ‘Assertive Products’ that actively participate in manufacturing decision-making. By decentralising intelligence from machines to products, the manufacturing system as a whole can be made more autonomous at lower costs. The innovation proposed here will also create exciting opportunities for second-hand, used robots. Rather than investing in costly, highly advanced robots that can handle a few types of ‘dumb’ products and will cost a fortune to re-configure, manufacturers can rely instead on older robots that are retrofitted with communication systems, enabling them to interact with and adapt to many types of assertive products. For example, an assertive product can instruct a robot on the best way to grasp itself, reducing the requirements for the robot’s vision systems and removing the need to reprogram the robot every time a new part is introduced.