Summer 2012 - Robert Morris University

E ROBOT
"No other company has this technological ability to move from
point A to point B using cameras," explains Ali, who hails from
Qatar and received her master's in engineering management
from RMU. "The robot remembers, 'I am going to make that
turn and follow that path.'" The technology, she adds, "is so
smart and yet so simple."
Working with sales account managers, Ali travels to potential
customer sites to see how many robots a business might need
and if the facility is compatible to motorized coworkers.
Savings to the bottom line – not to mention workers' feet
and knees – are behind Seegrid's success in a torpid
economy. In just the past few years, the company
has doubled its staff to 67 employees and
expanded its headquarters at RIDC Park West in
Findlay Township. Customers include Giant Eagle,
Genco Supply Chain Solutions, and Daimler Trucks.
Watching the robots in operation leaves Ali literally
speechless. "Amazing," she says, pausing. "I have no
words."
For Ali, who spent nearly six years as an industrial engineer at
Pittsburgh-based FedEx Ground before joining Seegrid in
November, a typical day at the office is clearly atypical.
Recently, she observed an air hockey game in which a
humanoid robot competed with its human creator, the head of
Seegrid's research and development. "The robot kept watching
and learning the other player, watching every move. It got so
smart that after a while, there was no way you could beat it."
In time, Ali sees Seegrid's vision-guided solutions adapted for
various industries, including defense and medicine. "This
technology could be the right path to so many things," she says.
But with the excitement of artificial intelligence and the arrival
of "thinking" robots come concerns about what happens when
mechanical workers replace real people on the job.
"Lots of people wonder about this. That's why industrial
engineers, who try to minimize costs, are the most hated,"
Ali says, laughing. While she doesn't deny that robots can lead
to a reduced workforce, she says the emphasis is not on
eliminating workers but reassigning resources. If robots can
handle the monotonous, time-consuming, and dangerous jobs,
companies can allow employees to focus on other, highervalue
tasks. "We're not about replacing people, but at the end
of the day, what is your goal?" Ali asks. "To be the most
productive using minimal costs."
Seegrid is the magnum opus of co-founder Hans Moravec, the
company's chief scientist and an adjunct robotics professor at
CMU. The Austrian-born Moravec is known as a visionary in
the field of artificial intelligence, and his books include Mind
Children: The Future of Robot and Human Intelligence and Robot:
Mere Machine to Transcendent Mind. In "Rise of the Robots," a
2008 essay he wrote for Scientific American, Moravec
predicted that by 2040, robotics will introduce "a freely moving
machine with the intellectual capabilities of a human being."
These human-like automatons, according to Moravec, will
have a conscience and be capable of reasoning.
Ali isn't looking into any crystal balls. She takes one day at a
time, loves her job, and has great admiration for Moravec.
"He's why Seegrid is here," she says.
WRITTEN BY JIM TALERICO
TALERICO IS AN ADJUNCT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AT RMU
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOE APPEL
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