The Manufacturing Executive · 29 Oct 2024 · 30m · Episode 229
Etienne Lacroix, Founder and CEO of Vention, explains how his company is democratizing industrial automation for small and medium-sized manufacturers by productizing robotics applications and enabling shop-floor practitioners to build their own machines. He details the shift from expensive, custom system integration to modular, plug-and-play components and virtualization, which allows users to create digital twins and de-risk capital expenditure before buying hardware. Lacroix also discusses the recent decline in US robot arm sales, attributing it to interest rates, and outlines how AI-driven tools like generative design and autonomous robotics are lowering the barrier to entry for automation.
Where this conversation describes AI being used to build or deliver a product. Part of the AI in practice tracker.
DesignVention platform (sentence completion for 3D parts)
The AI provides sentence completion suggestions for 3D mechanical parts within the design interface, allowing users to find components by hovering over a context rather than searching libraries.
“we do the sentence completion that you see in Google and Gmail, but apply to 3D parts, so we can sentence complete your 3D design, which helps, so you don't have to go search. entire part libraries.”
Speaker 3 · Hear it at 23:08
Engineering & simulationLLM (Copilot programming)80, 90% of the way
An LLM generates code for robot programming based on prompts and an understanding of the 3D scene, achieving 80-90% of the required functionality without requiring users to learn proprietary languages.
“You can just prompt, you know, the, um, an NLM and get uh, a girated code that gets you there 80, 90% of the way. And if this large language model that you use to prompt, can understand the 3D scene at the same time.”
Speaker 3 · Hear it at 23:08
Engineering & simulationAutonomous robotics models trained with synthetic data
Robotics models are trained using synthetic data in a virtual world before physical deployment, allowing robots to learn object detection and trajectory planning without initial real-world data collection.
“What if you can do that autonomous robotics, even with, and get it trained with synthetic data, right, ahead of Capex investment, in a virtual world, and you can train the robot this way. So it's getting better and better before you deploy to production.”
Speaker 3 · Hear it at 23:08
companies scaling up
Other shows on the same ground, closest first.
Steve Crowe and Mike Oitzman discuss recent robotics news, including Waymo's role in a robbery and MIT's 'super limbs' for astronauts, before featuring interviews with Ling, CEO of OTSAW Robotics, and Etienne Lacroix, CEO of Vention. Ling explains how OTSAW pivoted to UVC disinfection robots during the pandemic and launched the highly configurable Camello Plus, utilizing an online configurator to gather market data and drive modular production. Etienne Lacroix details Vention's platform strategy to democratize industrial automation by combining hardware and software, reducing integration risks for small and mid-sized enterprises through productized 'Lego-like' components and cloud-based machine learning.
Misa Ilkhechi, founder of Formic, explains how 'robots as a service' shifts automation from CapEx to OpEx, allowing manufacturers to pay for output rather than owning hardware, a model particularly suited for small-to-medium enterprises. Joe Campbell of Universal Robots highlights the industry shift toward collaborative robots and the enduring necessity of process knowledge, while Etienne Lacroix, CEO of Vention, describes his platform as 'industrial Lego' that democratizes machine design through a browser-based user experience. Finally, Kel Guerin, CIO of Ready Robotics, details their software approach to simplifying robot programming via flowcharts, aiming to empower non-technical factory workers to deploy automation without specialized coding skills.
Afshin Doust, CEO of Advanced Intelligent Systems (AIS), explains how the company uses a proprietary library of hardware and software modules to reduce development time and cost, aiming to empower a broader robotics ecosystem. He details the pivot from an agricultural tech focus to developing a COVID-19 disinfectant robot in just 11 weeks, which validated their modular approach and led to a non-GPS localization system for greenhouse use. Doust also discusses AIS's 'Robotics-as-a-Service' business model, which eliminates large capital expenditures for customers by charging for work performed, and shares insights on building a resilient, win-win corporate culture.
Chris Luecke interviews Milton Guerry of Schunk, Mike Cicco of FANUC America, and Søren Peters of HowToRobot at Automate LIVE, discussing the robust state of the robotics industry, the shift toward EV manufacturing, and the role of AI in automation. Mike Cicco highlights FANUC's educational CERT program and the importance of mentorship in retaining talent, while Søren Peters describes HowToRobot as an 'Airbnb for robotics' that connects SMEs with integrators globally. Milton Guerry emphasizes Schunk's focus on end-of-arm tooling and sensing technologies, predicting continued industry strength through incremental innovation and labor solutioning.
Alex Shikany, VP of Membership & Business Intelligence at A3 - The Association for Advancing Automation, joins host Chris Luecke and co-host Jake Hall to preview Automate 2022 in Detroit. They discuss the event's scale, featuring over 500 exhibitors and 20,000 attendees, and highlight new initiatives like Automate LIVE, a hybrid digital component modeled after ESPN's College GameDay. The episode emphasizes the show's focus on democratizing automation for small and medium-sized businesses through technologies like robotics, vision systems, and AI, alongside keynotes from industry leaders such as Damon John and Douglas Stanguini.
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