AI in Making Things
Like many, AI fascinates me. I am currently exploring using AI in my content, as you have likely seen with the thumbnails I use in this Mind of a Maker “daily” blog. I also use AI to generate the excerpts displayed on my website ahead of all the content I write. I fundamentally like the idea of AI as a means to make our daily lives easier, allowing us to take time back from more mundane tasks and give it to the things we are passionate about.
Since I am also a Star Wars nerd, I want to try to put some AI into a droid that I can use in the workshop. I am not completely sure what that would look like, but I like the idea of having an AI shop assistant. This resembles how R2-D2 functions in Star Wars or Tony Stark uses DUM-E in Iron Man. Those are complex and integrated ideas, so I must develop a more achievable solution first. I’m thinking about something more like a Chat-GPT connected voice assistant with visual displays akin to a significantly simplified JARVIS from Iron Man.
This AI shop assistant would interact with you by voice and be able to talk back to you similarly to Chat-GPT, but in voice instead of text. In addition, I would like to be able to give it my sketches and models for projects so that when in the shop, I could be working on something and ask about a measurement for a component. It would give me the dimensions I need to cut without finding them on the model or plans. It could also display the element on a screen so I could look at it as part of the whole model.
Further, this could also be useful for keeping track of supplies. It could provide some helpful information if it could save an inventory automatically. For example, suppose I was making a desk out of maple hardwood. In that case, I might realize I do not have enough material to complete the desk and recommend purchasing additional material before starting. It could also keep track of things like fastener inventories, giving me a head’s up that I need to buy more screws or recommend an alternative screw that I do have enough of.
Of course, all of this is theoretical. I am barely scratching the surface of what AI has the capability of doing, and my knowledge of it is entry-level at best. However, I want to explore this area further because I believe it can be helpful not only to those who make things as their main job but also to those of us who make things in our limited spare time.
