New-Tech Europe | February 2019

Image 1: Robots are already being used to facilitate fulfillment processes in warehouses. In the future, they may become even more self-sufficient. Photo courtesy of Chesky/Shutterstock

dexterity, and adaptiveness that humans have. A similar phenomenon is happening in manufacturing. Tesla, for example, has been using robots alongside humans to produce its electric vehicles. Company CEO Elon Musk has famously talked about the “machine that builds the machine,” and this approach is evident in the more than 1,000 robots that take part in the production of Tesla’s Model 3 sedans at the company’s Fremont, California, plant. While facing Model 3 production delays, however, Musk pointed to overuse of automation and moved to re-balance the machine-to- human mix. Robots, after all, haven’t demonstrated the ability to perform certain tasks well, such as those requiring dexterity or finesse. Meanwhile, some industry pundits have pointed to even closer collaboration between humans and increasingly more intelligent machines as a hallmark of Industry 5.0. But if

Image 2: An engineer monitors factory robotics via real-time monitoring system software. Is this what Industry 5.0 will look like? Photo courtesy of Zapp2Photo/ Shutterstock.

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