- Physical AI is a new wave of disruption coming to a network near you
- Nokia plans to invest $4 billion in AI-related manufacturing and R&D in the U.S.
- At the heart of AI-related manufacturing for Nokia is an always-on network
As Nokia plans to invest $4 billion in AI-related manufacturing and R&D in the United States, the firm’s new chief technology and AI officer Pallavi Mahajan said at its capital markets day last week that a new wave of AI disruption is coming in the form of physical AI.
“This is where the boundary of the digital and physical worlds are going to get blurred,” Mahajan said. “These intelligent robotic systems combine perception, reasoning and action, enabling a level of autonomy and adaptability that marks a critical juncture in industrial automation,” as the World Economic Forum (WEF) wrote in a whitepaper about the technology.
Fierce has previously reported that AI vendors could start to deliver physical AI devices within three years, however, some AI watchers say that vendors could start to deliver physical AI machines by next year. Certainly, there is already investment in and trials taking place with the technology.
Network at the heart
At the heart of this for Nokia is an always-on network, where sub-split-second decisions need to be made in order to serve robots of all kinds, including autonomous vehicles and drones in “intelligent” factories, Mahajan suggested. For the 5G — and likely 6G by that point in time — level, “decisions will need to be taken in microseconds,” she said. So, on the network plane, latency will be more important than ever before.
This becomes particularly important as Mahajan envisions physical AI robots working with humans “with heavy machinery” on the factory floor. “One network slip and the robot can actually miss a safety stop,” she noted.
Already, with autonomous vehicles, poor network latency can cause halts in production at a facility. Imagine how much more dangerous - that might get when robots are working side-by-side with humans.
Of course, while Nokia could supply the radio and core elements that support the physical AI robots. It is highly unlikely that the Finnish vendor will actually make and deploy the mechanized beings to roam the factory floor. They may supply some radio components but nothing much else.
In fact, as Nokia is considering moving out of everything but mission-critical private networking, which involves networks for public health, railways and the military, it is not entirely clear if Nokia people will be directly on the factory floor as physical AI robots evolve.
Possibly the development running parallel in medical fields will help to keep Nokia switched on to the subject. Although with the company’s massive spending on AI-related manufacturing and R&D, it is sure to pick up some hints on the future of manufacturing.