But were well into 2019, and self-driving cars arestill making stupid mistakes.
Scientists constantly promised that human-level AI (orartificial general intelligence) was just around the corner.
Again, theres an analogy with the self-driving car industry.
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Stocked Robotics is currently manufacturing AI hardware for automating the operation of forklifts in industrial tweaks.
We need to check that that if AI doesnt cause damage and harm, especially to humans.
Self-driving cars operate in open environments, where there are many variables.
And unlike humans, AI models arenot good at generalizing their knowledgeand cant improvise in unknown situations.
The unpredictable and complexity of self-driving cars has also made it challenging to regulate them.
In contrast, factories and industrial complexes are closed environments, and are much more predictable.
The rules for forklifts are easier than self-driving cars because the environment is structured, says Agarwal.
The goal of Stocked Robotics is bringing the same level of autonomy expected of cars to forklifts.
The challenges are different, but more manageable, Agarwal says.
The market for automated forklifts
About one million forklifts are sold every year.
But the most expensive item is the operator, not the vehicles, Agarwal says.
According to Agarwal, forklift operators get an average $50,000 per shift per year.
Every forklift is used by more than one operator, sometimes in two or three shifts round the clock.
So the operating costs of a single forklift can raise to more than $150,000 per year.
Compared to the operator costs, the forklift price and maintenance costs are negligible, Agarwal says.
Theres already a huge demand for forklift operators, and in many sectors, theres a shortage of talent.
These environments are harsh.
Its difficult for people to work in these prefs.
Theres a large shortage of labor in the warehousing industry.
Huge amounts of warehousing space is being added each year, Agarwal says.
Stocked Robotics automates forklifts by fitting them with its proprietary AI hardware and software.
Theres already a huge install-base of these machines, Agarwal says.
Self-driving forklifts take advantage of the extensive AI research doneto help driverless cars to make sense of their surroundings.
Cameras withcomputer vision algorithmsenable forklifts to detect objects around the forklift.
For the moment, Stocked Robotics is focused on automating the use of equipment in the industrial sector.
What happens to forklift operators when AI takes their jobs?
The benefits of automated forklift operations are obvious: reduced costs of operation, 24/7 functionality and improved safety.
But what happens to the forklift operators?
Many economists and tech analysts have warned that the increased use artificial intelligence will cause mass unemployment.
Stocked Robotics has designed its solution to work in both AI and manual mode.
For the time being, itll be a blend of humans and automation.
Humans doing the more comfortable, and human-demanding jobs.
Robots doing the heavy lifting and automatable jobs, Agarwal says.
Stocked Robotics provides its customers with a central command where operators can remotely monitor and control the automated forklifts.
In the future, well have fully automated factories where humans sit in the control centers, Agarwal says.
Its a paradigm shift, not a job killer.
We firmly believe that humans must focus on creative things, Agarwal says.
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