Principles
Technology is multiplying faster than people can look after it. We think the answer is to design it so humans, machines and AI helpers can all understand it, maintain it and work on it together.
Connected devices, sensors and gadgets are arriving faster than anyone can keep track of them. Each one has its own interface, its own failure modes and its own manufacturer-specific way of being fixed. The burden of making it all work falls on people, and it is becoming overwhelming.
Universal Design solved a similar problem for the built environment. Level kerbs, tactile paving and audio signals were designed for people with disabilities, and they made streets better for everyone. We apply the same idea to the coming generation of robots and automated systems.
Universal Robotic Design
Rather than forcing robots to cope with spaces designed only for humans, design environments that support robotic operation while keeping or improving access for people.
- Multi-modal navigation. Navigation information should be readable by many kinds of sensors. Redundant cues help people in poor conditions too.
- Dimensional flexibility. Spaces should fit different robotic form factors. The same room helps wheelchairs, trolleys and emergency services.
- Electromagnetic accessibility. Critical infrastructure should stay accessible when signals fail or sensing is limited.
- Predictable interaction. Similar infrastructure should behave consistently and be machine-readable. Predictability lowers the cognitive load for humans as well.
- Safe autonomous operation. Infrastructure should support unsupervised robotic work while staying safe for everyone around it.
Universal Maintenance Design
Most equipment is designed to be maintained only by a human with the manufacturer’s manual. Universal Maintenance Design adapts the seven Universal Design principles so that systems can be diagnosed and repaired by any capable maintainer: human, robotic or both working together.
- Equitable use. Any appropriately equipped maintainer can service the system, with no procedures that inherently exclude robotic or assisted work.
- Flexibility in use. Offer several ways to reach the same diagnostics (physical, wireless, optical), from basic status down to deep inspection.
- Simple and intuitive use. Devices describe themselves, with consistent interfaces and standard error codes across manufacturers.
- Perceptible information. Expose critical status through more than one sense: visual, acoustic, electromagnetic or tactile.
- Tolerance for error. Design so that a wrong maintenance action is safe and reversible, and clearly flag high-risk operations that need human oversight.
- Low physical effort. Connections and access need minimal force, with sensible positioning for both hands and manipulators.
- Size and space for approach. Leave clearance and several approach angles so people and robots of different shapes can both reach the work.
The test is simple: a system designed this way should be easier to look after for everyone, not only for robots.
In practice, today
The same principles shape our consulting work now, long before any robot arrives. That means preferring systems that are documented, standard and repairable; avoiding lock-in; and making sure the people who rely on a system can understand what it is doing.
Who “we” are
When this site says “we”, it means a team made up of a human and AI collaborators working together: investigating, writing, building and checking each other’s work.
We think this is the shape of work to come. People will not be replaced by machines; they will lead mixed teams of human expertise, AI helpers and, in time, robots. Industrial Automata is set up to work that way from the start, and to design technology that lets those teams work well together.