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With the added demand, the 15-person autonomous startup is looking to hire\u00a0in these job-lean times.\u00a0Some of its new employees come\u00a0from the hard-hit restaurant industry.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019ve always thought about robotics as to how to improve people\u2019s lives. It\u00a0can\u00a0do things people don\u2019t want to do like bomb disposal robots, nuclear inspection robots,”\u00a0said the robotics professor. “They\u2019ve figured out a task that\u2019s unpleasant for human beings and can do it better.”<\/p>\n
One\u00a0of those unpleasant tasks is cleaning grocery aisles after hundreds of patrons have filed through in a typical COVID economy day.<\/p>\n
San Diego-based Brain Corp. is the world’s largest\u00a0maker of autonomous navigation software for robotics giants like Minuteman, Tennant\u00a0and Karcher. Its\u00a0business has expanded as grocery retailers like Walmart have brought in more cleaning robots.<\/p>\n
“As retailers are required to clean more frequently and deliver more cleaning coverage, BrainOS-powered autonomous floor care robots are providing 8,000-plus\u00a0hours of daily work \u2014 over 250,000 hours over the next 30 days \u2014 that otherwise would have to be done by an essential worker,”\u00a0said a company spokesperson. “This allows workers to focus on other tasks that are essential during this health crisis.”<\/p>\n
Walmart is one of Brain Corp’s biggest clients and 110 BrainOS-powered\u00a0robots are in service across Michigan in\u00a0retail, grocery, and education applications.<\/p>\n
Security robots are also in demand as companies have abandoned workplaces and\u00a0employees work from home. For example, autonomous Cobalt Robotics bots are patrolling Metro Detroit businesses.<\/p>\n
The U.S. auto industry is not likely to be immediately impacted with more robots in part because it is already heavily automated to reduce costs. Today, humans are scarce\u00a0in giant assembly plants except at the assembly-line tail \u2014\u00a0and are therefore spaced safely. Stamping, painting, and body welding departments are crowded robot zones.<\/p>\n
But with the enormous travel restrictions caused by COVID’s spread, industry insiders say the auto supply\u00a0chain is going to change drastically \u2014\u00a0and robots\u00a0will play their\u00a0part.\u00a0In pursuit of lower costs, the supply chain\u00a0in recent decades has expanded to China, Vietnam, and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
“Now, we see huge risk of the supply chain when something like this happens,” said Doug Betts, a manufacturing veteran and president of J.D. Power’s auto division. “The management of risk will reel the supply chain back in to the U.S. Labor costs are going to be high and that supply chain is likely to be established here with more robotics than what’s\u00a0used in other markets.”<\/p>\n
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