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I've seen a lot from the DIY companies and academic demos - what companies are designing this kind of production-quality cutting edge robotics and AI solutions

I've seen a lot from the DIY companies and academic demos - what companies are designing this kind of production-quality cutting edge robotics and AI solutions though? I'd like to be a part of this future, but it seems like those jobs are in much shorter supply and harder to find.

ChuckMcM 14y ago
I would say the jobs in 'cutting edge' robotics (no pun intended) are in surgical robots. Intuitive Surgical is growing very quickly. Proto-typing is at companies like Zmachines. You need to realize that the personal computer market was all DIY and academic demos until Lotus 123 on the Apple came out. That filled a niche in business. When the PC came out it was supported by a 'real' company (Apple was not considered much of a company then). I would expect a similar trend in 3D printing. Some niche will open up and cause a lot of 'enterprise' money to be spent there and then one of the printer companies will jump in with the kind of product these things will evolve into. (And you'll get to complain to your grandkids about all the beige 3D printers are so boring, you remember when they were innovative and quirky) Much of the AI stuff has been in pick and place robots (see the Japanese competition on this) and the military's use.
- HeyLaughingBoy 14y ago
  The DIY aspect is a very good point. I just finished watching a few videos on YouTube on early machine tools and one of the narrators mentioned that a lot of early milling machines didn't even have manufacturer's names because they were built in-house by the same people who needed them. There is a very large DIY contingent building CNC machines of all flavors, not just the basic lathes and mills, but routers, benders, presses, wireforming tools, etc. Take a look around cnczone.com; you can waste hours on that site. The DIY part of the industry needs software. The dominant tools are still very basic and there doesn't seem to be much support for 4 and 5-axis machining because most DIYers are only building 3-axis machines at most. So there may not be a huge number of jobs, but there is room to make your mark writing software for the home-built project machines. I'm awaiting the day someone posts their design for a 5-axis homebuilt mill fully integrated with their own CAM software. I think that person will become very rich.
Qworg 14y ago
The company that I'm working for bridges the gap between research and production. You can see some of our stuff here: http://rec.ri.cmu.edu/ http://rec.ri.cmu.edu/

ChuckMcM 14y ago

I would say the jobs in 'cutting edge' robotics (no pun intended) are in surgical robots. Intuitive Surgical is growing very quickly. Proto-typing is at companies like Zmachines. You need to realize that the personal computer market was all DIY and academic demos until Lotus 123 on the Apple came out. That filled a niche in business. When the PC came out it was supported by a 'real' company (Apple was not considered much of a company then). I would expect a similar trend in 3D printing. Some niche will open up and cause a lot of 'enterprise' money to be spent there and then one of the printer companies will jump in with the kind of product these things will evolve into. (And you'll get to complain to your grandkids about all the beige 3D printers are so boring, you remember when they were innovative and quirky) Much of the AI stuff has been in pick and place robots (see the Japanese competition on this) and the military's use.

HeyLaughingBoy 14y ago
The DIY aspect is a very good point. I just finished watching a few videos on YouTube on early machine tools and one of the narrators mentioned that a lot of early milling machines didn't even have manufacturer's names because they were built in-house by the same people who needed them. There is a very large DIY contingent building CNC machines of all flavors, not just the basic lathes and mills, but routers, benders, presses, wireforming tools, etc. Take a look around cnczone.com; you can waste hours on that site. The DIY part of the industry needs software. The dominant tools are still very basic and there doesn't seem to be much support for 4 and 5-axis machining because most DIYers are only building 3-axis machines at most. So there may not be a huge number of jobs, but there is room to make your mark writing software for the home-built project machines. I'm awaiting the day someone posts their design for a 5-axis homebuilt mill fully integrated with their own CAM software. I think that person will become very rich.

Qworg 14y ago

The company that I'm working for bridges the gap between research and production. You can see some of our stuff here: http://rec.ri.cmu.edu/ http://rec.ri.cmu.edu/