Hitachi mulls promoting artificial intelligence

PanARMENIAN.Net - Hitachi Ltd. is looking to promote artificial intelligence to management, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The Japanese electronics maker said it has developed a new artificial intelligence program that will enable robots to deliver instructions to employees based on analyses of big data and the workers’ routines.

“Work efficiency improved by 8% in warehouses with the new artificial intelligence program, compared to those without them,” a Hitachi spokeswoman said. “The program can examine an extremely large amount of data to provide the most efficient instruction, which is impossible for human managers to handle.”

Hitachi last month unveiled a fast-moving two-armed robot which it says may replace humans in performing basic functions like retrieving items in warehouses.

Its new artificial intelligence can also analyze how an employee, judging from past experience, tries new approaches to work in an effort to improve efficiency, and can choose the best course of action, the company said. “The AI automatically analyzes the outcome of these new approaches, and selects processes which produce better results and applies it to the next work order,” Hitachi said in a statement.

Tests showed that artificial intelligence could accurately issue work orders for employees at a warehouse, instructing them on the most efficient route to pick up a product on a shelf and complete their duties.

Hitachi plans to further test the program over the next few years before trying to market it commercially. It said it hopes to apply the technology to fields other than logistics, including transport, finance and health care.