by Gary Mintchell | Jan 27, 2025 | News, Technology
Perhaps you’ve heard of the XPrize—a prize offered for teams solving audacious problems. While I was communicating with my editors in Italy for my monthly column (News from America) at Automazione Oggi (Automation Today), one asked about solutions to the problem of wildfire spread. Zoning law changes and some common sense clearing of brush would help. But the huge scope of these phenomena begs a huge solution.
Peter Diamandis, the driving force behind the XPrize, recently wrote about a project now two years into a four-year challenge on just this problem of wildfires. Wildfires are not only a California problem. Climate changes across the globe make this a world-wide problem.
The original announcement:
XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and operating large-scale incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges, today launched XPRIZE Wildfire, a 4-year global competition that will award $11 million prize funding to teams able to develop and demonstrate fully-autonomous capabilities to detect and extinguish wildfires.
Around the world, the severity of Extreme Wildfire Events (EWEs) is increasing, driving over 80% of fire-related damages globally and costing an approximate $350 billion in damages annually in the United States alone. EWEs spread at a faster rate and burn larger areas at higher intensities, wreak havoc on ecosystems, cause long-term global economic burdens, and often result in devastating injuries and loss of life. Despite these high environmental and economic costs, fire management technologies have not evolved significantly in decades and best practices have not changed in almost a century.
Diamandis observes:
“We have been fighting wildfires the same way for decades – it’s not working, and the destruction is getting increasingly worse. We need a radical re-invention of how we detect and battle these blazes,” said Peter H. Diamandis, Executive Chairman of the Board, XPRIZE. “The convergence of exponential technologies such as AI, robotics, drones, and sensors offer us the opportunity to detect wildfires at inception, and put them out in minutes before they spread – that’s the mission of this XPRIZE.”
XPRIZE Wildfire will incentivize teams from around the world to innovate across a wide range of technologies in two complementary tracks designed to transform how fires are detected, managed, and fought.
- In the Space-Based Wildfire Detection & Intelligence track, teams will have one minute to accurately detect all fires across a landscape larger than entire states or countries, and 10 minutes to precisely characterize and report data with the least false positives to fire managers on the ground.
- In the Autonomous Wildfire Response track, teams will need to monitor at least 1,000 km2, and autonomously suppress a wildfire within 10 minutes of detection.
- The $1M Lockheed Martin Accurate Detection Intelligence Bonus Prizewill be awarded for innovations in accurate and precise detection of wildfires.
“The reality is that we are unprepared to effectively combat the growing number of wildfires and their severity around the globe,” said Peter Houlihan, EVP, Biodiversity and Conservation, XPRIZE. “As the effects of climate change worsen, more and more communities will be at risk as dangerous wildfires increase in frequency and devastation. Thanks to the generous contributions of our sponsors and partners, XPRIZE Wildfire will accelerate innovation in detection and rapid response that will transform wildfire management practices and save lives.”
What problems are you working on solutions? Being an engineer isn’t a requirement. Creative thinking is.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 21, 2025 | Robots, Technology, Workforce
I receive the Peter Diamandis Abundance newsletter. He’s an over-the-top optimist—but we need a dose of that in these pessimistic times. (In the “it’s a small world” category, a daughter of a couple who regularly attend a morning coffee group with me in Elgin, IL works for him.) He recently included a link to a “Metatrend Report” on humanoid robots.
Reports of robotic advances targeting human assistance have trickled my way and piqued my interest. This seems to me to be a great field for some of our best robotic engineering minds.
This is from Diamandis’s report.
I was compelled to create this Metatrend report because the coming wave of humanoid robots will have a vast impact on society that is widely underappreciated. It will transform our lives at home and work.
How Many?: In my conversations with Elon Musk, Brett Adcock, Cathie Wood, and Vinod Khosla, the predictions on how many humanoid robots we will have working alongside us by 2040 is shocking at best. At the lowest bound, the number is 1 billion (which is more than the number of automobiles on Earth) and at the upper bound, proclaimed by Musk and Adcock, the number will exceed 10 billion.
How Much?: But equally impressive as the sheer number of robots is the price point, predicted to be between $20,000 to $30,000 which translates to a leased cost on the order of $300 per month, for a robot helper working 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
Why Now?: The first question to ask is why now? Why are we seeing such an explosion of activity in the humanoid robot field now? Beyond any single technical advancement, the convergence of 5 major technological areas are super-charging this field: multimodal generative AI, high-torque actuators, increased compute power, enhanced battery life, cameras and tactile sensors.
This, in combination with AI voice recognition, is transformative: As Brett Adcock recently told me, “We can literally talk to our robot and it can implement the tasks you request — the end-state for this is you really want the default UI to be speech.”
Impact on Jobs: Naturally, the prospect of billions of humanoid robots raises questions about their impact on jobs and society. According to Adcock: “Our goal is to really be able to do a lot of the jobs that are not desirable by humans.” As of Q3 2024, there are nearly 8 million US job openings — jobs that people just don’t want to do.
Creating a Future of Abundance: As Musk has commented regarding a future involving humanoid robots: “This means a future of abundance, a future where there is no poverty, where people, you can have whatever you want, in terms of products and services. It really is a fundamental transformation of civilization as we know it.” Adcock echoes this vision, “You can basically create a world where goods and services prices are trending to zero in the limit and GDP spikes to infinity … You basically can request anything you would want and it would be relatively affordable for everybody in the world.”
Included in the introduction are 7 Key Takeaways:
1 Market Explosion: The humanoid robots market is poised for exponential growth, with projections ranging from $38 billion by 2035 (Goldman Sachs) to a staggering $24 trillion (Ark Invest). In the U.S. alone, at the lower-bound, Morgan Stanley estimates 63 million humanoid robots could be deployed by 2050, potentially affecting 75% of occupations and 40% of employees. On the upper bounds, Brett Adcock and Elon Musk predict as many as 1 billion to 10 billion humanoid robots by 2040.
2 Technological Convergence: The rapid advancement of humanoid robots is driven by converging breakthroughs in AI, hardware components (actuators, sensors), and battery technology. Multimodal generative AI in particular is enhancing robots’ adaptability and decision-making capabilities, while hardware costs are plummeting.
3 Labor Shortage Solution: Humanoid robots are emerging as a critical solution to global labor shortages, particularly in elderly care, manufacturing, and dangerous jobs. By 2030, the U.S. is projected to have a 25% “dependency ratio” of people over 70, driving demand for robotic assistance in healthcare and social care. In China and other parts of Asia and Europe, an aging population and lower birth rates make humanoid robotics critical for their economy.
4 Cost Reduction Trends: The cost of humanoid robots is plummeting rapidly, with high-end models dropping from $250,000 to $150,000 in just one year: a 40% decrease compared to the expected 15-20% annual decline. Ambitious targets, such as Tesla’s goal of a $20,000 selling price for its Optimus robot, suggest mass adoption will become feasible across various sectors.
5 Investment Opportunities: The humanoid robot sector is attracting significant investment, exemplified by Figure AI’s recent $675 million funding round at a $2.6 billion valuation. Morgan Stanley’s “Humanoid 66” list provides a roadmap for investors interested in both robotics developers and potential beneficiaries across various industries.
6 Broad Societal Impact: The widespread adoption of humanoid robots has the potential to usher in an era of unprecedented abundance, dramatically reducing the cost of goods and services while freeing humans to focus on creative and fulfilling pursuits. This transformation could reshape our concept of work and fundamentally alter the structure of our economy and society.
7 Job Disruption: The speed at which multimodal generative AI and humanoid robot development is progressing, paired with the lack of public discourse on this subject, indicates that there will be significant job disruption and societal upheaval. Mechanisms to address these concerns such as universal basic income (UBI), will need to be addressed. Some have proposed funding such UBI programs by taxing companies which utilize “robots and AIs” to displace previously human-filled jobs.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 17, 2025 | Automation, Business, News, Technology
While competitors seem to be either retrenching or maintaining the status quo, Siemens used a large presence at the CES show in Las Vegas to promote its invigorated presence.
- Siemens brings Industrial AI to the Edge of the factory floor for secure access to large language models
- Aviation startup JetZero chooses Siemens Xcelerator platform to enable development of groundbreaking blended wing aircraft
- New “Siemens for Startups” program and collaboration with Amazon Web Services AWS to democratize industrial technology for small companies
- Siemens collaborates with NVIDIA to deliver physically based visualization for product lifecycle management
- Siemens and Sony corporation deliver immersive design using innovative mixed-reality headset and NX Software
Industrial AI
Siemens is showcasing its vision for the future where data, AI and software-defined automation will converge to enable unprecedented flexibility, optimization and continuous improvement across the world’s industries, for companies of any size. This ambition is at the heart of Siemens’ presence at CES 2025, the world’s most influential tech event. Siemens – the global leader in industrial software –demonstrated how its technologies are empowering customers to take bold leaps in industrial innovation.
“Industrial AI is a game-changer that will create significant positive impact in the real world across all industries. Industrial AI allows us to harness the vast amounts of data generated in industrial environments and turn it into insights that drive real business impact. We are adding new industrial AI capabilities across the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio to enable our customers to stay competitive, resilient and sustainable in an increasingly complex world,” said Peter Koerte, Member of the Managing Board, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Strategy officer, Siemens AG.
Siemens is bringing Industrial AI directly to the shop floor with the new Siemens Industrial Copilot for Operations, enabling AI tasks to run as close as possible to machines. This facilitates rapid, real-time decision making for shop floor operators and maintenance engineers, boosting productivity, operational efficiency and minimizing downtime. The Siemens Industrial Copilot ecosystem is continuously evolving to offer AI capabilities across the industrial value chain and into sectors including discrete and process manufacturing, infrastructure, and mobility. This suite of copilots can enhance human-machine collaboration across all experience levels, helping to accelerate development times and innovation cycles. The Siemens Industrial Copilot will be integrated with the Industrial Edge ecosystem, which has been enhanced with AI for deploying, operating and managing AI models within the production environment.
Blended Wing Aircraft Concept JetZero
JetZero Selects Siemens Xcelerator Platform
During Siemens’ press conference at CES 2025, the company announced an agreement with JetZero, a pioneering aviation startup working to build the future of sustainable air travel, to collaborate on the development and production of JetZero’s revolutionary blended wing aircraft. The innovative blended wing design aims to improve fuel efficiency by 50 percent, reduce noise and deliver the promise of zero carbon emissions by 2035. JetZero will leverage the Siemens Xcelerator open digital business platform to design, manufacture and operate their new aircraft.
JetZero is planning to build “Factory of the Future”, a new greenfield factory in the United States where they intend to tightly integrate Siemens’ automation hardware, software and services to help it achieve its remarkably ambitious vision encompassing electrification, automation and digitalization of both the aircraft and its production. The JetZero aircraft and its associated manufacturing operations will be simulated virtually using comprehensive digital twins – enabling the company to de-risk the manufacturing process, validate the approach and scale processes long before any ground is broken or jets take to the skies.
“Siemens is giving us the confidence to take a leap, not just a step, in revolutionizing air travel,” said JetZero CEO Tom O’Leary. “Their digital twin and industrial metaverse technologies will be instrumental in helping us design, build and operate the world’s first fully digital aircraft, delivering a better experience for passengers and airlines while also reducing fuel consumption by 50 percent.”
Siemens democratizes industrial tech for startups
Siemens’ presence at CES also highlighted the company’s commitment to enabling startups and companies of all sizes to use its industrial metaverse technologies. Through the new Siemens for Startups program, innovators of any size have access to the intelligence, ecosystems and technologies they need to turn their big ideas into world-changing innovations. Siemens is providing access to venture partnering and clienting services along with dramatically reduced cost access to software and hardware from the Siemens Xcelerator open business platform. In addition, Siemens is collaborating with Amazon Web Services to offer AWS credits, business development resources and access to the AWS Activate program for technical and go-to-market support.
Collaborating with NVIDIA to bring photorealism to PLM
Together with NVIDIA, Siemens announced new additions to the Siemens Xcelerator open digital business platform, including the Teamcenter Digital Reality Viewer powered by NVIDIA Omniverse, which brings large-scale, physically based visualization directly into the product lifecycle management (PLM) system. This capability also enables teams to collaborate in a secure, digital twin environment using their live 3D data, reducing errors and data discrepancies while streamlining workflows and decision-making.
“Our continued collaboration with NVIDIA will be transformative for our customers, empowering them to virtualize and visualize product and plants like never before. Bringing together the best-in-class capabilities of each company, we’re equipping customers with the tools they need to make informed decisions, optimize their operations and accelerate their digital transformation,” said Koerte.
Enabling immersive engineering with Sony
In collaboration with the Sony Corporation, Siemens is delivering a new solution for immersive engineering that brings together Siemens NX software for product engineering with a breakthrough head-mounted display from Sony to enable content creation for the industrial metaverse. Now available for pre-order and shipping beginning in February, Siemens’ new Immersive Engineering toolset brings the power of mixed reality to the product engineering and manufacturing community, enabling high-fidelity mixed reality and 3D-focused collaboration.
“In the era of digital twins, Siemens and Sony have collaborated closely to bring NX Immersive Designer to market. With 4K OLED Microdisplays, intuitive controls and the comfortable design, closely integrated with Siemens’ advanced software, we firmly believe this new immersive engineering solution will pave the way for the future of engineering.” said Seiya Amatatsu, Incubation Center, XR Technology Development Division, Sony Corporation.
Introducing Designcenter for product engineering
Koerte was joined on stage at CES by Tony Hemmelgarn, president and CEO, Siemens Digital Industries Software, to unveil Siemens’ new Designcenter software suite, which brings together its portfolio of design and engineering software including Solid Edge and NX software in one unified offering so that companies of any size can design and collaborate using the industry-leading Parasolid modeling kernel.
“A lot of companies make their design software available to small businesses or to the very largest enterprises. Designcenter is unique in that it is truly open and accessible for everyone – companies of every size can scale with the same solution set, their data in the same format – without interruption,” said Hemmelgarn.
Technology to transform the everyday
At the Siemens booth in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, Siemens is showcasing how its technology transforms the everyday, for everyone, these examples include:
Spinnova is a Finnish technology company that enables circularity in textile manufacturing with sustainable and chemical-free fabric production using Siemens’ Digital Twin technologies and factory automation.
Wayout International , a Swedish water technology company developing a proprietary drinking water production solution to improve personal health and well-being in daily life using Siemens’ edge computing, digital twin technologies and Insights Hub, the industrial IoT as a service solution from Siemens.
Desert Control is a Norwegian startup aiming to revolutionize sustainable agriculture and urban greening in regions suffering from desertification, fostering agricultural prosperity and healthy green space using Siemens’ Industrial Operations X.
Arc is an American company focused on the electrification of the marine industry and making boating more modern, enjoyable, and sustainable using Siemens’ NX, Teamcenter and Simcenter STAR-CCM+ software.
Learn more about Siemens’ presence at CES 2025.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 15, 2025 | Cloud, Enterprise IT, Operations Management, Technology
Technology advancements and innovations plus applications solving bigger problems have led my work, research, and writing from virtual PLCs to virtual servers. That’s why I have loved technology ever since I was 14 and soldering resistors, capacitors, and coils into circuits.
Here is a Dutch company (the product is available globally, of course) that has launched a “highly efficient” Virtual Private Server (VPS) solution.
Some of the year-end prognoses sent my way (many sort of self serving) predicted les reliance on cloud and a return to more on prem solutions. Perhaps this company provides help both ways.
Their blurb touts, “Powered by High Performance CPUs, Local NVMe Storage and Lightning-fast 10 Gbps Uplink Speed, Packages Start at Just €3.99/month.”
Leaseweb Global, a cloud services and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider, January 14 announced the launch of a new highly efficient Virtual Private Server (VPS) solution. Designed for businesses that need a combination of exceptional price-performance, fast local storage and easy deployment, Leaseweb VPS packages start at just €3.99/month to deliver affordable solutions that don’t compromise on quality.
Leaseweb’s new VPS solution provides customers with the flexibility to expand their infrastructure as their business needs grow. Delivered via a low-touch, self-service portal, it requires limited technical expertise for setup or management, enabling users to configure their server, monitor resources and manage snapshots with ease. This makes it ideal for businesses seeking a straightforward, scalable and efficient hosting service, as well as those looking for an entry-level solution to Leaseweb Public Cloud.
Technical specifications keep advancing.
With lightning-fast 10Gbps uplink speed, and powered by high performance processors and local NVMe storage, the Leaseweb VPS solution provides ample compute, RAM and generous traffic across all packages. In addition, built-in security and reliability features, including firewalls, DDoS protection and ISO-certified data centers, offer peace of mind and comprehensive protection for all customers. For those customers wanting to include backup, this is available as an add-on service.
“Our new VPS solution has been designed from the ground up to offer the ideal balance of performance, usability and cost,” said Mathijs Heikamp, Director Product Management at Leaseweb Global. “By combining the latest hardware, advanced automation and an intuitive self-service portal, we’re delivering a cloud infrastructure solution that can effortlessly adapt to customer requirements.”
Here is information about Leaseweb since this company is new to me—and perhaps to you.
Leaseweb is a leading Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider serving a worldwide portfolio of 20,000 customers ranging from SMBs to Enterprises. Services include Public Cloud, Private Cloud, Dedicated Servers , Colocation, Content Delivery Network , and Cyber Security Services supported by exceptional customer service and technical support. With more than 80,000 servers, Leaseweb has provided infrastructure for mission-critical websites, Internet applications, email servers, security, and storage services since 1997. The company operates 28 data centers in locations across Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America, all of which are backed by a superior worldwide network with a total capacity of more than 10 Tbps.
Leaseweb offers services through its various Leaseweb Sales Entities which are Leaseweb Netherlands B.V., Leaseweb USA, Inc., Leaseweb Singapore PTE. LTD, Leaseweb Deutschland GmbH, Leaseweb Australia Ltd., Leaseweb UK Ltd, Leaseweb Japan KK, Leaseweb Hong Kong LTD, and Leaseweb Canada Inc.
by Gary Mintchell | Jan 9, 2025 | Automation, Technology
CES goes on this week in Las Vegas. Qualcomm is there; I am not. But…I have news. I’ve also heard that Qualcomm is quietly taking chunks of business from Nvidia. Not sure about that, but the company does put out some quality chips.
This news regards Qualcomm Aware, a platform enhancing applications like IoT.
Highlights:
• Qualcomm Aware adds observability, monitoring and location services to enable the development of IoT solutions that meet specific needs and challenges of consumers and enterprises across a wide range of industries and use cases.
• By pre-integrating Qualcomm Aware software across select Qualcomm Technologies and third-party processors, Qualcomm Technologies will provide a simple, fast and cost-effective mechanism for developers and enterprises to access data on the state, health, status and location of device deployments.
At Consumer Electronics Show 2025, Qualcomm Technologies announced the next evolution of the Qualcomm Aware Platform, a cloud-based services platform that allows companies to add observability, monitoring, and location capabilities to intelligently connected devices across industries, including logistics, retail, energy, smart home, robotics and more. As a key component of the broader IoT Solutions Framework, Qualcomm Aware will eventually be pre-integrated across select Qualcomm Technologies chipsets and third-party hardware—adding value for OEMs and ODMs, enterprise users, distributors, retailers, and consumers.
As a horizontal enablement platform, Qualcomm Aware allows for a highly integrated way to add cloud-based observability and insights, geolocation, fine indoor positioning, firmware updates, and device management services to connected devices. This means that device manufacturers can unlock new insights on the connected devices they sell and take preventative actions to fix and troubleshoot devices. Similarly, retailers can understand how often their high-value inventory turns over and get alerts if items are stolen. Distributors can also view delivery efficiency and accuracy metrics for their fleets, and users of those devices can add longevity to devices by always having them equipped with the latest software, operating system, and features.
by Gary Mintchell | Dec 11, 2024 | Automation, Embedded Control, Technology
Ah, AI. It’s everywhere. Often the wrong questions are asked and answered in general and tech media. The real question is what problem will it solve—and how well.
This news comes from Copia Automation who attempts to solve the problem of how controls engineers write, manage, and document industrial code.
As the first step in Copia’s vision of integrating AI into industrial automation, Copia Copilot enhances productivity, efficiency, and quality by automating routine coding tasks, simplifying complex processes, and equipping industrial workers with the tools they need for successful knowledge transfer and onboarding.
Core Capabilities
- Code documentation: Automatically create well-structured, clear documentation for PLC and other industrial code, reducing manual effort and ensuring consistency.
- Code translation: Seamlessly convert between Ladder Logic and Structured Text, making it easier to work across different programming languages.
- Code summarization: Quickly understand what a set of code does by asking the Copilot to explain it.
- Code modification: Improve, format, or troubleshoot existing code, allowing engineers to streamline their workflows and enhance code quality.
- New code generation: Generate boilerplate routines and custom code blocks for common automation tasks, saving time and accelerating development cycles.
- File referencing: Easily reference PLC project files from Copia repositories for more accurate and context-aware AI outputs.
Copia Copilot is currently available as part of an Alpha release, with plans to expand its functionality and reach in the coming months.
