Ambient-intelligence, rapid-prototyping and where real people might fit into factories of the future

Artificial intelligence systems have been improving for a decade (Sanders, 1999) and new advances in machine intelligence may not be far away. Ambient-intelligence has been developing to create seamless interactions between people and digital systems (Riva et al., 2005). These electro-mechanical systems will be personalized and responsive to people. In industrial research, a less human and more system-centred definition of ambient-intelligence is emerging but industrial use is limited (Stokic et al., 2007). Although the introduction of ambient-intelligence into assembly and manufacturing is slow (Sanders et al., 2008), it promises to bring improvements in flexibility, reconfigurability and reliability.