The human-robot interface: the role of artificial intelligence

We introduce the concept of artificial intelligence and its possible contribution towards the human-robot interface by considering the conceptual support such an idealized interface might provide. In following this argument we see that integration of the various aspects of a product's life cycle is a convenient way of introducing the information and knowledge required for an artificially intelligent interface. The information is produced as a result of the earlier processes and lost in most conventional systems. We conclude that the knowledge of the task the robot is to perform is available not as an afterthought which would require manual input to the robot after the product has been designed but as part of a factory-wide integrated system concerned with the whole product life cycle.