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Let’s be honest — sometimes manufacturing gets a bad rap. The industry can be seen as a behemoth — stuck in the past and slow to innovate, the victim of outsourcing and the purveyor of consumerism. Thankfully, in 2017 these stereotypes couldn’t be further from the truth.
Global organizations like GE and Caterpillar are investing in new technologies and innovation methods. Startups like Local Motors and Carbon are creating their own breakthroughs from the ground up. And organizations like the US Council on Competitiveness are working to keep these innovators moving forward. The future of manufacturing is bright.
That’s why we’ve put together this list of trends to watch in 2017. If you want to learn more about the technologies fueling these trends, meet the people leading the charge, and connect with fellow leaders, join us at Exponential Manufacturing May 17–19 in Boston.
1. Innovation Is Outpacing Policy
People around the world are talking a lot about recent and impending policy changes. How will these changes impact innovation in the coming years? And how will policy keep pace?
AI and robots continue automating factories. Self-driving trucks and ships aim to automate the transportation of materials and finished products. Even biotech is beginning to offer new ways to make things. These and other emerging technologies will impact how we live, work, and trade.
Some jobs will disappear while others take their place, efficiencies will improve, entire sub-industries (shipping, for example) could be upended by unexpected technologies—and all this will happen faster than expected.
Can society keep the pace? How do we regulate innovation without suffocating progress? How do we adopt an open-minded yet ethical approach to new opportunities? Planning for the future now is how organizations and policymakers will move toward the best scenarios and avoid the worst ones.
2. The Cutting Edge Won’t Be Cutting Edge for Long
If you’re reading Singularity Hub, you’re aware of some amazing advances happening across research fields and industries.
The deep analytical powers of machine learning are transforming raw data into useful insights. Some robots can now safely interact with people and more nimbly navigate messy work environments. 3D printers are giving physical form to digital designs. And biotechnology is beginning to make living systems, such as engineered bacteria, into microscopic chemical-producing factories.
While these are incredible innovations—and more arrive every day—one could argue the greatest challenge will be anticipating, timing, and creatively implementing the latest breakthroughs into business strategies. Those who recognize which technologies will serve their organization best, lead a culture of change, and navigate rough political waters, will come out on top.
3. Data-Driven Decision-Making Gets More Intelligent
Data has always played a critical role in manufacturing. The entire industry, from sourcing to production runs to sales forecasting, has relied on data for decades. However, the amount of data is growing exponentially larger by the day. Thanks to cheap, connected, and increasingly ubiquitous sensors (the Internet of Things), companies are able to monitor more than ever before — things like machinery, deliveries, even employees.
Companies need to leverage the latest in artificial intelligence to make the most of these incredibly large and powerful data sets. For those who do adopt new tools, smart decision-making will become clearer, easier and faster.
4. Accelerated Design and Real-World Market Testing
Historically, the product creation process has been notoriously long. Market research, focus groups, R&D, short runs, testing, sourcing, long runs…the list goes on. What if you could make a part that’s exactly like the finished product, in a series of one? What if you could design, build, test, and iterate in real life, before ramping up large-scale production?
You can, and in fact, GE is.
GE’s FirstBuild program is a state-of-the-art, community-sourced lab that lies outside their main campus and is used for the rapid prototyping of new ideas. If a product proves its worth in a sample market, the design is transferred to the main campus for full production.
These are the changes that technologies like additive manufacturing and materials science are bringing to product design. When a giant like GE creates a spinoff group to act like a startup, it becomes obvious that power is being democratized, innovation times are being slashed, and long-held competitive advantages are evaporating.
5. The Automation and Democratization of Production
Like design, new technologies are cutting the time and cost required to get products to market. However, there are larger shifts happening in the overall production process as well. Robots are becoming more nimble, more versatile and smarter. Computer-guided fabrication—both additive and subtractive—is getting faster, cheaper, and more precise. Factories are becoming more efficient, while raw material waste is decreasing. All of this increases competition, making success without these technologies nearly impossible.
On the other end of the spectrum, the spread of additive manufacturing, the boom of the maker movement, and a reduction in small machinery cost are allowing individuals to build mini-factories in their homes. What was once only possible in the largest factories is now doable in your neighbor’s garage. And while some may discount the innovative potential of the non-professionals, consider the incredible amount of human capital unlocked by this change.
6. Reimagining the Global Supply Chain
One of the most difficult sectors of manufacturing is the supply chain, from sourcing raw materials around the world to delivering finished goods on time. Supply chain managers are responsible for coordinating with hundreds, if not thousands, of partners and service providers to make sure products are delivered on time, on budget, and in good condition.
While it may not be the sexiest piece of the puzzle, it’s certainly a critical one — and it’s ripe for improvement. Self-driving trucks and ships, AI-powered planning software, and localized manufacturing facilities are all converging to reshape the very nature of supply chains.
So, we’ve highlighted six trends currently impacting the global manufacturing landscape. What does it mean, though? How do we stay ahead of these shifts? How do we know which technologies will stick and which will end up as the Betamax of the year?
Some of these questions are yet unanswerable, while some gain more clarity each day. What we do know is that this is just the beginning. As technologies converge, they will continue creating ever stronger advances, thus compounding the rate of improvement.
Manufacturing leaders should incorporate ongoing, future-oriented education as part of their annual development to stay up-to-date on new breakthroughs, learn where the industry is headed, and discover how to bring these competitive advantages into their own organizations.
Ready to start your education? Join Singularity University for Exponential Manufacturing, an event that will lead 600+ manufacturing executives, entrepreneurs, and investors through an intensive 3-day program to look into these questions, connect with like-minded leaders, and prepare for success in the year to come. Prices increase April 1st. Apply here and save up to 15% with code SUHUB2017. Continue reading →

ROBOTICS
NASA's Origami Robots Can Squeeze Into Places Rovers Can'tMariella Moon | Engadget“Imagine a Martian rover that can send small robotic minions to crawl into crevices or climb steep slopes—everywhere a full-sized vehicle can't go to. That's the scenario a team from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory hopes to achieve by developing small origami-inspired robots called Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robots or PUFFERs. They're made of printed circuit boards and can be flattened and stacked on top of each other on the way to their mission. Once they get to the location, they can pop back up and drive away.”

AUTOMATION
No Clerks Required in World's First Unmanned Convenience StoreRich Haridy | New Atlas"The customer installs an app on their phone, which allows them to access the store. When inside they simply scan the bar code of the goods they want and upon leaving the store their credit card will be charged for their purchases. …Much like Wheelys' strategy selling its bike-cafes, the company's ultimate goal is to license the technology so any retailer can integrate it into their pre-existing stores. In the company's words, "What Uber did for taxis, we do for retail."

SECURITY
A Tweet to Kurt Eichenwald, a Strobe and a Seizure. Now, an Arrest.Cecilia Kang | NYTimes“This is an interesting and unique case in that there are lots of online attacks that can have physical consequences, such as an attack on an electrical grid or the control of air traffic control,” said Vivek Krishnamurthy, an assistant director at the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard Law School. “But this is distinguishable because it is a targeted physical attack that was personal, using a plain-Jane tool.”
VIRTUAL REALITY
Disney Researchers Catch a Real Ball in Virtual RealityMatthew Humphries | PCMag"It's very difficult to convey touching something in the virtual world with physical feedback. But what if you could interact with real world objects that appear in the virtual world. Disney Research decided to carry out just such an experiment by asking the question: can you catch a real ball in virtual reality?"

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
MOSTLY HUMAN: Dead, IRLAimee Rawlins | CNN Tech"If you could create a digital version of yourself to stick around long after you've died, would you want to? …In November 2015, Eugenia Kuyda's best friend Roman unexpectedly passed away. She created an experiment to bring parts of him back to life…Using artificial intelligence, she created a computerized chatbot based off his personality."
Image Credit: yucelyilmaz/Pond5.com Continue reading →

Roboticists frequently turn to nature for inspiration for their inventions, reverse engineering the traits that evolution has developed over millennia. Others are taking a shortcut by simply integrating modern technology with living animals.
The idea may seem crazy, but animals and machines are not so different. Just as a network of wires carry electrical signals between a robot’s sensors, processing units and motors, the flow of action potentials around our nervous system connects our sensory organs, brain and muscles.
But while there are similarities, the natural world has come up with some intricate solutions to problems that engineers are nowhere near replicating in silicon. That has prompted some scientists to try and piggyback on evolution’s innovations by building part-animal, part-machine cyborgs. Here’s a rundown of some of the most eye-catching examples.
1. Light-controlled dragonflies
In January, R&D company Draper and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute announced a partnership aimed at turning dragon flies into miniature drones. They are relying on an approach called optogenetics, whereby the animal is genetically modified so that certain neurons feature light-sensitive ion channels.
A close-up of the electronics that fold into the dragonfly's backpack (pictured at the top of the article). Image Credit: DraperThis allows these neurons to be controlled by pulses of light, which is far more targeted than using electrical stimulus. The researchers are also developing a tiny backpack light enough for the dragonflies to carry that contains all of the necessary control electronics, as well as integrated guidance and navigation systems that could make the dragonfly-drones fully autonomous. They hope these flying cyborgs could one day carry small payloads, conduct surveillance and aid in research.
2. Joy-riding moths
Compact chemical detectors able to detect trace elements of a substance continue to elude engineers, which is why we still rely on dogs to sniff out things like drugs, bombs and disaster victims. But man’s best friend may soon face some stiff competition from moth-controlled robotic cars.
In the study, moths controlled their vehicles by moving their feet over what is effectively an upside-down computer mouse trackball. When the moths detected the scent of female moth sex pheromones they attempted to walk towards the source, and the robotic cars were able to accurately replicate their intended route. The researchers say in the future they should be able to genetically engineer the moth pilots to seek out other odors, such as those of explosives or drugs.

3. Remote-control bugs
There have been multiple efforts to create remote-controlled insects, with cockroaches taking the brunt of our experiments. You can buy a RoboRoach kit for $150 that can be attached to the animal’s back and allows you to control it by stimulating its antennae. Scientists dissatisfied with that level of control stuck electrodes into a cockroach’s nervous system for even greater precision.
For some, though, even that was not enough, and now researchers have directly wired up the leg muscles of a giant beetle and developed sequences of electrical stimulation that allowed them to control the speed with which the insects walk. The next step is to independently control all six of the bug’s legs.
4. Magnetic mind-control of mice
Using a similar approach to optogenetics, researchers introduced a protein into the neurons of mice that can trigger a nerve impulse when subjected to a magnetic field. The neurons in question were involved in the reward center of the rodents’ brains, and when placed into an enclosure, they split between magnetized and non-magnetized sections.
The mice with the so-called “Magneto” protein spent much more time in the magnetized areas than mice that did not. They also injected Magneto into the neurons of zebrafish larvae that control an escape response that causes them to coil up. When subjected to a magnetic field, they did just that.
5. Interfaced sheep
DARPA has developed a so-called stentrode — portmanteau of stent and electrode — that it injected into blood vessels in the neck of sheep. Stents are small mesh tubes normally fed into arteries then expanded to keep the passageway open to help treat cardiovascular disease.
This stentrode, on the other hand, is guided from the neck to a vein deep in the sheep’s brain, where it’s implanted to take “high-fidelity measurements” of brain cells. While sheep have found themselves the unwitting victims of DARPA’s tinkering, humans are the ultimate target, with the aim of doing things like controlling prosthetics directly from the brain. Human trials are scheduled for this year.
6. Cyborg plants
It’s not just animals that scientists seem intent on hooking up to machines. In 2015, Swedish researchers created the first “e-plant” by filling the veins of a garden rose with conductive polymer. They showed the subsequent wires could carry a current, and the leaves even slightly changed color in response to the voltage.
This year, the same went a step further by using the same approach to build energy-storing supercapacitors inside plants. Two parallel wires running through the plants’ veins were used as electrodes, and the plant material separating them acted as an electrolyte. The researchers say this could lead to plants with their own energy storage systems that could power sensors and actuators for a host of applications.
Image Credit: Draper Continue reading →