"Today there are only two types of fighter aircraft, stealth fighters and targets”
– Tom Clancy
1. Cobots Are a Big Deal
AMT’s on our second one now – and we don’t even make anything! The use of collaborative robots (cobots) in manufacturing has grown as their interactions with humans became safer, eliminating the need for safety enclosures. Cobots help businesses scale up, automate processes, and increase ROI and productivity while reducing errors and task completion times. The cobot market, valued at $1.4 billion in 2022, is projected to grow to $27.4 billion by 2032, driven by their benefits and SME adoption.
2. Efficiency in Inventory
MMS has been hitting lately! We’ve all seen those slick “vending machines” stuffed with tools in shops everywhere, right? Well, imagine those, but bigger. A lot bigger. This shop took a big, smart, vertical lift module (VLM) and relocated scattered inventory to one large “vending machine,” freeing up a ton of shop floor space for activities! The system has liberated 10,000 square feet by efficiently organizing more than 10,000 types of components, enabling the addition of new CNC machines.
3. Enhancing LLM Transparency & Interpretability
Google AI Research, in collaboration with Tel Aviv University, has developed a new AI framework named Patchscopes. This tool advances the interpretability of large language models (LLMs) by decoding hidden layers into a more understandable language, enhancing their transparency and alignment with human values. It is particularly adept at dissecting early layer representations and aiding in complex reasoning tasks, thereby increasing the practical application of LLMs. No training data required!
4. Lucid Motors: The Rolls-Royce of EVs
Lucid is basically the electric-car version of Rolls Royce – minus the Rolls-Royce SUV. Rolls-Royce sold 6,032 cars in 2023, a pittance more than Lucid’s 6,001. The SUV in their lineup gives Rolls-Royce an advantage because people are dumb and SUVs sell. But Lucid is doing just fine without one. Actually, people are kinda smart but terrible because SUVs, above a certain weight target that's easy for EVs to achieve, make committing tax fraud easier. But I digress. Lucid will sell more once they have an SUV.
5. How Does China Keep Getting Nvidia Chips?
They’re not supposed to. There’s a ban. Remember when a U.S. machine tool builder shipped machines to Russia despite bans and tariffs? Is this worse? China’s military, government entities, AI research institutes, and universities continue to procure Nvidia chips. Despite efforts from Washington to cut off access to these advanced semiconductors, which could advance AI and military computing capabilities in China, sales from obscure Chinese suppliers persist.
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