Google parent hopes to inject AI into factory machines<\/b>
\nAlphabet today launched its latest tech startup, Intrinsic, which aims to build commercial software that will power industrial robots. Intrinsic will focus on developing software control tools for industrial robots used in manufacturing, we’re told. Its pitch is that the days of humans having to manually program and adjust a robot’s every move are over, and that mechanical bots should be more autonomous and smart, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence and leaps in training techniques. This could make robots easier to direct \u2013 give them a task, and they’ll figure out the specifics \u2013 and more efficient \u2013 the AI can work out the best way to achieve its goal. \u201cOver the last few years, our team has been exploring how to give industrial robots the ability to sense, learn, and automatically make adjustments as they\u2019re completing tasks, so they work in a wider range of settings and applications,\u201d said CEO Wendy Tan White. \u201cWorking in collaboration with teams across Alphabet, and with our partners in real-world manufacturing settings, we\u2019ve been testing software that uses techniques like automated perception, deep learning, reinforcement learning, motion planning, simulation, and force control.\u201d Tan White \u2013 a British entrepreneur and investor who was made an MBE by the Queen in 2016 for her services to the tech industry \u2013 will leave her role as vice president of X, Alphabet\u2019s moonshot R&D lab, to concentrate on Intrinsic. She earlier co-founded and was CEO of website-building biz Moonfruit, and helped multiple early-stage companies get up and running as a general partner at Entrepreneur First, a tech accelerator. She is also a board trustee of the UK\u2019s Alan Turing Institute, and member of Blighty’s Digital Economic Council. \u201cI loved the role I played in creating platforms that inspired the imagination and entrepreneurship of people all over the world, and I\u2019ve recently stepped into a similar opportunity: I\u2019m delighted to share that I\u2019m now leading Intrinsic, a new Alphabet company,\u201d she said. The new outfit is another venture to emerge from Google-parent Alphabet\u2019s X labs, along with Waymo, the self-driving car startup; and Verily, a biotech biz. \u00ae<\/p>\n