The Office of the CTO explores stories about the future and makes them come true. One of these stories involves robots working side by side with humans in construction and manufacturing. After our Brickbot project was unveiled last month, Artificial Intelligence Lab Architect, Yotto Koga spoke with the BBC about how automated assembly, driven by machine learning, could change the manufacturing industry. The video segment was broadcast on BBC News and has also been posted online:

Watch the 2-minute video.

“Think of what it takes to build with LEGO. First, you must work out which brick you need. You need to pick it up, hold it the right way, and then apply force — but not too much — to connect the bricks together. Brickbot, created by software firm Autodesk, can apparently do all that, and it could unlock new ways to make things.”

Yotto goes on to provide context for how the technology could be applied on manufacturing assembly lines and explains that the Brickbot system is engineered to learn and adapt as necessary, even when it makes mistakes.

Robotic assembly is alive in the lab.