Boston Dynamics’ dog-like robot, Fluffy, uses lasers to scan the Ford Van Dyke Transmission Plant to help engineers come up with a computer-aided design plan to reorganize the plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan, USA. In this undated photo. Ford Motor Company / Brochure via REUTERS
(Reuters) – He runs, walks, and jumps, rhythmically tapping his four feet before he sinks and ducks.
Despite his name, Fluffy has no fur. But the bright yellow robot, leased by Ford Motor Co (FN) from Boston Dynamics Inc, you can get images and videos of a car factory with your five ‘eyes’ to help engineers design upgrades for workspaces.
With an accurate camera scan, “We can build those parts inside the workstation, and we can see if there is interference or if everything new is going to fit,” said Mark Goderis, digital engineering manager at the Advanced Manufacturing Center in Ford.
Fluffy, controlled by an engineer with a portable device, can travel up to 3 miles per hour (4.8 kph) for about two hours on his battery.
Fluffy can also ride ‘Scouter’, a small round robot, through a factory to save energy, while the two companions collect data. Wherever Scouter can’t slide, Fluffy can fill in the gaps.
The automaker is testing the robots at its Van Dyke transmission plant in Michigan. The robot scans cost a fraction of the $ 300,000 required for engineers to walk over millions of square feet in a factory to install cameras on a tripod, Ford said in a statement.
But the new engineers are just helpers, Goderis said.
“Our goal is not to displace any of the workforce,” he said, but “to automate our processes and make the engineers and people who work for our company more efficient and effective in building quality products.”
Boston does not provide lease terms, but Fluffy’s robot model, called the ‘Spot,’ can be purchased for $ 74,500.
Produced by Reuters TV; Written by Richard Chang; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
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