From Automation To Autonomous

How global technology company ABB is helping India leapfrog to the next level of industrial manufacturing through its unique product portfolio and solutions-based approach.

- Ashish Gupta

On a balmy September evening in 2017, under the fresco-covered ceiling of the elegant Teatro Verdi in Pisa, Italy, a select audience marvelled at the performance of the La Donna è Mobile, the famous aria from Verdi’s Rigoletto. The most excited were two musicians in the hall who weren’t part of the performance.

One was Italian maestro Andrea Colombini; the other was amateur musician Ulrich Spiesshofer, who plays the clarinet, saxophone, and accordion. The reason for their excitement: The conductor for the night was a dual-arm robot called YuMi (short for ‘you and me’), trained by the maestro and built by Zurich-based automation technology giant ABB, the company the 54-year-old Spiesshofer heads. An economist by training—he has a Ph.D. in economics—and the president and CEO of a technological conglomerate by profession, Spiesshofer was over the moon at the demonstration of the ultimate form of human-robot collaboration. “I think tonight we’re truly making history and writing the future of robotics applications,” a delighted Spiesshofer said after the performance. “YuMi demonstrated how intuitive, how self-learning this machine is… how wonderful our software really is in learning the movement of a conductor, sensing the music, and really conducting an entire team.”