Future factories let workers build a car from home

Machines that can be controlled over the internet open up the possibility of factory workers joining the home-working revolution

THE factories of the future will look very different from those today, with not a person in sight. Instead, workers will log into robot-assisted manufacturing "cells" to make what they want from the comfort of their own home. You won't even need to be employed by the factory: people on online social networks will be able to log in and set laser cutters and 3D printers to work, bashing out gadgets to order.

That's the vision of Goran Putnik, an engineer at the University of Minho in Guimarães, Portugal. The "cloud manufacturing" notion he is pioneering aims to extend telecommuting to those with jobs in factories. It will also take the "maker" movement, in which people band together to tinker with electronics, and make it professional.

White-collar workers have been able to telecommute for some time because the jobs they do – such as freelance writing and translation – essentially involve creating and transmitting digital bits. In roles like manufacturing, however, the revolution has been slower. "Some companies like car parts makers in South Korea are monitoring manufacturing operations remotely – but none are controlling such machines remotely," says Putnik.

That could soon change. Faster internet, better quality video links and telepresent control interfaces mean manufacturing-at-a-distance is no longer so out of reach. The technologies are already being researched, says Lynne McGregor, lead technologist at the UK government's Technology Strategy Board (TSB).

For instance, the TSB is part-funding a £1.5 million project in which the Ford Motor Company and Autodesk, a firm that designs 3D software, will work out how to feed sensor data from machinery back to augmented reality user interfaces. "That could easily be used for remote manufacturing," she says.

Putnik's team set up a manufacturing "cell" in their lab containing an internet-connected machine tool. Then, 2350 kilometres away in Serbia, Vesna Spasojevic-Brkic asked 68 of her engineering students at the University of Belgrade to log on and try to control the machine.

It worked surprisingly well: they successfully uploaded a design program, controlled the machine and cut foam test pieces with it – even pressing the tool's emergency shutdown button when danger loomed. The students tested multiple user interfaces and found that the best ones filled their PC screen, maximising their view of the machine, with control buttons overlaid on the video. This suggests that projecting remote control interfaces onto a wall could give the most convincing experience.

Cloud manufacturing could put power in the hands of professional makers, says Putnik, letting them sell their skills worldwide. Groups of people could collaborate on social networks too, to agree designs and get products made. And companies could hire skilled operators to manufacture goods on demand. "The idea here is to completely democratise manufacturing," Putnik says.

Iain Todd at the University of Sheffield, UK, likes the idea but sees an obvious risk. "The owners of these very expensive manufacturing facilities will have to have nerves of steel to let unknown people many miles away use their kit over the internet."