Artificial Intelligence

How a robot called Fluffy is helping Ford engineers upgrade factories

DEARBORN, MI. July 27, 2020 – Fluffy looks at Scouter, an Autonomous Mobile Robot that can autonomously navigate facilities while scanning and capturing 3-D point clouds to generate a CAD of the facility. If an area is too tight for Scouter, Fluffy comes to the rescue. Ford is tapping four-legged robots at its Van Dyke Transmission Plant in early August to laser scan the plant, helping engineers update the original computer-aided design. These robots can be deployed into tough-to-reach areas within the plant to scan the area with laser scanners and high-definition cameras, collecting data used to retool plants, saving Ford engineers time and money. Ford is leasing two robots, nicknamed Fluffy and Spot, from Boston Dynamics – a company known for building sophisticated mobile robots.

Fluffy can travel up to 3 miles per hour (4.8 kph) for about two hours on its battery. Image: Ford Motor Company

Richard Chang
Correspondent, Reuters
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Artificial IntelligenceFourth Industrial Revolution
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