Industrial AI and robotics ·
AI robot wins POSCO contract to handle heavy steel plate in its shipping yard
MFR, a startup spun out of Korea's DGIST research institute, won a contract to supply unmanned robots for the shipping yard at a POSCO steel mill. The robots drive themselves around the warehouse, then use 3D vision and AI to read the shape and position of stacked heavy plates and place spacers between them, a job workers used to do around moving multi-ton loads and at height. The robots charge themselves and can be monitored remotely from outside the hazard zone. MFR says the project is in the final stage before actual deployment.
What it means for manufacturers and fabricators
The first jobs AI robots take in steel are often the dangerous, awkward handling tasks around heavy plate, not the skilled work, and that's a useful lens for spotting the first automation win in your own yard.