AI robots have arrived

AI-powered robots have entered the chat.

Gone are the days when sci-fi robots like R2-D2 seemed far, far away from reality. AI could potentially supercharge the robotics industry, making its products “smarter”—and more profitable, with analysts expecting it to grow into a $60.7 billion market by 2034.

What’s an AI-powered robot?

To understand how AI will change robotics, you need to understand traditional robots, which are largely designed to perform repetitive tasks at scale.

“They’re rigid, but they’re good at what they do,” John Healy, VP and GM of Intel’s industrial and robotics division, told IT Brew. But AI-powered robots will leverage machine learning to analyze data and make decisions based on it, making them more responsive to change.

“An AI-capable robot is a robot that can adapt to the world around it and take consequential action as a result of it,” Healy said. In his example, a traditional robot operating in a warehouse would need an operator to inform it of a route, mapping, and direction. An AI-enabled one, on the other hand, could handle many of those tasks on its own.

“An AI-powered robot doesn’t need as much pre-mapping and as much organization and layout information ahead of time,” Healy said. “It can adapt to change when it occurs. So, when somebody walks in front of it, it can choose that it should stop, that it should navigate around that obstacle.”

In addition to flexibility, Accenture Global Cyber-Physical Security Lead Luis Luque told IT Brew, the ability to process new information in real time allows AI robots to be deployed faster.

“If you think about having to program and do all the engineering and design to mimic a specific task, it takes a while, and it takes engineering time, etcetera,” Luque said. “If you can leverage AI in the robotics world, you can assign that robot to different tasks, as it can adjust over time. So, it allows an end customer to be able to use an investment across many different scenarios.”

Capgemini EVP for Group Automotive Praveen Cherian told IT Brew that industries like mining have already begun to rely on autonomous robots. However, humanoid AI robots—which Praveen said is what people typically envision when talking about AI robots—are still a long way from widespread adoption by the industry.

“You’re going to see AI adoption still in repeatable tasks that are not safe for human beings,” Cherian said. “I think that’s where you’re going to see more AI robotic applications, typically in warehousing.”

What are the cybersecurity risks associated with AI robots? The rise of AI robots brings new cybersecurity considerations into play. Cherian said those risks often revolve around physical safety in the event of a cyberattack on machinery.

“You’re concerned about damage to equipment. You’re concerned about enormous losses related to equipment failure,” he said.

Healy added that AI robots are another class of connected devices, meaning cybersecurity professionals will need to think long and hard about their threat surface: “Now you’ve got new potential ingress points or entry points for mal-intent to occur.”

There’s also a supply-chain risk that comes with AI robots, according to Luque, who said robotics components often come from various sources: “Some of our clients are worried about counterfeit components or systems having backdoors embedded in them.”

How will AI robots impact jobs?

Discussions around automation can trigger fears about human job stability. However, Luque told us that humans will continue to serve an integral role in ensuring uptime and reliability for future generations of AI robots.

“You probably, over a long enough arc, will have less people being able to take care of more systems, but I think the net effect will be the same number of people, just a lot more systems to take care of,” Luque said.

Healy believes AI robotics could drive new roles for IT pros.

“We’re hearing interesting terms from some of our customers, like an edge AI engineer,” Healy said, describing a professional who understands the “deployment of AI at an edge” where robots operate. He added there will also be demand for robotic systems integrators.

“[That’s] somebody who knows how to bring the models and the software onto the robot and make it work and do the things that the workflow expected it to achieve,” Healy said.

A glimpse into the future.

While the industry is growing, Healy said the AI robot market is in the “early stages” of market adoption.

“There’s a couple of reasons for this, but the primary one is we’re still learning and developing and maturing the technology that supports it,” he said. However, experts predict the next decade will be ripe with advancements in the AI robotics space. In the next five years, Luque predicts the industry will see pilots involving groups of AI-enabled robots working together in manufacturing.

“You’ll start to see basic fleets of small tasks that everyone can kind of feel safe around,” Luque said. “But I think over the next 10 years, there’ll be a dramatic shift.”

Healy said Intel is focusing on addressing the “complexity on the technology side,” to lower adoption barriers for AI robots across different markets. He also believes the AI robots industry will see “significant growth” within the next five years.

“A decade from now, we will expect to see robots as part of our regular working population,” Healy said. “And they’ll be in just about every facet of life.”