Brick by Brick AI Assembly

This week: platform economics (paid), AI + human systems, building cars with agentic AI, DHL’s AI upgrade, new dataset for 3D printing quality, battery medicine, graphene electronics, virtual power.

Aug 31, 2025

∙ Paid

Shop Talk

Capturing this week's zeitgeist

The cascading blackout of 2003, triggered by a forgotten software switch and an overgrown tree, offers a lesson for Industry 5.0. That failure exemplifies what happens when operators focus on local task optimization while overlooking system-wide vulnerabilities. Now, imagine similar scenarios playing out in autonomous factories. algorithms optimizing individual production lines trigger downstream shortages, predictive maintenance models create system-wide bottlenecks, or quality control systems miss patterns emerging from variable interactions. Machine learning excels at pattern recognition but is narrow-minded without systems thinking to provide context.

The solution is AI guided by systems thinking. This means designing algorithms that consider system-wide resilience, not just local optimization targets. In manufacturing, AI must understand how packaging changes affect assembly complexity and downstream logistics. In energy grids managing renewable variability, AI must balance supply and demand while considering broader economic and environmental implications. The same interconnectedness that creates cascading failure risks also enables remarkable resilience when properly understood and managed.

Companies that will thrive in Industry 5.0 will cultivate what Matteo Neri calls "pattern recognizers, trade-off navigators, and narrative builders", human systems thinkers who help AI see the forest, not just the trees. The future isn't about choosing between human intuition and machine intelligence, but rather about creating multi-agent systems where each amplifies the strengths of the other. Success requires AI systems designed with curiosity about unintended consequences, not just confidence in predicted outcomes.

One of our guest writers has launched “The Zelinski Report.” Please give Peter some support by subscribing below:

Assembly Line

This week's Industry 5.0 breakthroughs and frontier technologies of the built world.

🏭🚙🧠 Building Cars with AI

✍️ Author: David Muller

SkillReal’s pitch calls for a new inspection system that involves a series of off-the-shelf cameras, software, and Nvidia GPU power. The system improves defect detection to a 99.7% accuracy rate, compared to an estimated 80% for humans, according to the startup. In some instances, such as welding inspections at a Volkswagen plant in Germany, SkillReal’s software accomplished in 15 seconds what it took two operators working full shifts to do.

The next big thing for automotive manufacturers, Pirrotta predicts, will be agentic AI: where software autonomously makes decisions such as taking a machine offline or ordering a new part—without first asking a human’s opinion. “If you’re implementing an agentic AI solution in a manufacturing setting, your goal at some point is to allow the system to make decisions and initiate the actual process.”

🚚📦🧠 Inside DHL’s AI upgrade: ‘Love it or hate it, you have to work with it’

DHL has deployed a comprehensive AI strategy across its German operations, centered on a voicebot system that handles 1 million monthly calls and resolves half of customer inquiries without human intervention. The company utilizes AI for knowledge management through automated exit interviews that capture institutional knowledge from retiring workers. At the same time, warehouse and transportation operations employ AI for order sequencing, shipment optimization, and volume prediction. All AI experimentation occurs on Gaia, DHL's secure internal platform, launched shortly after the release of ChatGPT, where employees test different language models and develop custom agents for complex tasks, such as customs coding. Rather than replacing workers, DHL has transformed human roles into "conversation designers" and "quality assurers" roles, which involve working alongside AI systems. Additionally, handheld scanners now translate customer messages into 20 languages for delivery staff. This approach addresses Germany's aging workforce challenges while navigating strict regulations and worker concerns, with the company positioning AI as a collaborative tool to fill labor gaps rather than eliminate jobs.

🖨️ How Eaton Replaced 90% of Their Machined Fixtures With 3D Printing

Discover how Eaton's Olean manufacturing plant dramatically reduced operating costs by replacing 90% of their machined Delrin fixtures with parts made on a Formlabs Fuse Series SLS 3D printer.

🖨️📊 Peregrine releases new dataset for smarter Laser Bed Powder Fusion 3D printing /ONRL/
🖨️🧠 Rapid Fusion launches AI print assistant to enhance performance of robotic 3D printing systems /TCT/

📐🧠 Piece by Piece: BrickGPT Assembles Generative Designs

Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) researchers have developed a novel method for prototyping new designs using Lego bricks. BrickGPT leverages generative AI with robotic motion to stack Lego into some standard configurations, forming a starting point for new designs. The instructions can be used to program a robot or serve as a brick-by-brick guide for those who want to build Lego creations by hand.

Read more at Control.com and Carnegie Mellon

SENSYN ROBOTICS Debuts Generative AI-Based Image Diagnosis for Infrastructure /Sensyn Robotics/

⚗️ Ultrabroadband air-dielectric double-chirped mirrors for laser frequency combs

✍️ Authors: Tianyi Zeng, Yamac Dikmelik, Feng Xie, et. al

Researchers at MIT have demonstrated a compact, fully integrated frequency combs source that uses a carefully crafted mirror to generate a stable frequency comb with very broad bandwidth. The mirror they developed, along with an on-chip measurement platform, offers the scalability and flexibility needed for mass-producible remote sensors and portable spectrometers.

In dual-comb spectroscopy, the beam of one frequency comb travels straight through the system and strikes a detector at the other end. The beam of the second frequency comb passes through a chemical sample before striking the same detector. Using the results from both combs, scientists can replicate the chemical features of the sample at much lower frequencies, where signals can be easily analyzed.

Read more at Optics.org and Nature

🔋 Do batteries need medicine? In battery technology, this medicine is formulated as electrolyte additives, which enhance performance by forming stable interfaces, reducing resistance, and increasing energy capacity. /Argonne National Laboratory/
🪙 Pre-fatigue training technique doubles the performance of high-strength steel /Advanced Science/ by suppressing crack initiation /Tech Xplore/.

✈️ Boeing's Commercial Market Outlook foresees 43,600 deliveries by 2044

New Product Introduction

Highlighting new and innovative facilities, processes, products, and services

Introducing Field Foundation Models (FFMs): A New Era of Embodied Intelligence

NVIDIA Blackwell-Powered Jetson Thor Now Available, Accelerating the Age of General Robotics

NVIDIA announced the general availability of the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Thor™ developer kit and production modules, powerful new robotics computers designed to power millions of robots across industries including manufacturing, logistics, transportation, healthcare, agriculture and retail. Early adopters include industry leaders Agility Robotics, Amazon Robotics, Boston Dynamics, Caterpillar, Figure, Hexagon, Medtronic and Meta, while 1X, John Deere, OpenAI and Physical Intelligence are evaluating Jetson Thor to advance their physical AI capabilities.

Business Transactions

This week's top funding events, acquisitions, and partnerships across industrial value chains.

ARM Institute Funds New Robotic Inspection Projects for Casting & Forging /ARM Institute/

🇺🇸 Group14 Closes US$463M Series D Funding Round and Acquires 100% Ownership of BAM Factory in South Korea from SK, Inc

Group14 Technologies announced that it has closed a US$463M round led by SK, Inc., with strong participation of other existing investors, including Porsche Investments, ATL, OMERS, Decarbonization Partners, Lightrock Climate Impact Fund, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, and others. The funds will be used to continue scaling the manufacture of Group14's silicon battery material, SCC55, in the U.S. and South Korea, and help meet overwhelming demand amid surging requirements for energy storage worldwide.

🇬🇧 Paragraf secures $55M to scale world’s first mass-produced graphene electronics

Paragraf has completed a $55 million Series C funding round, marking a significant milestone for the UK-based company. Originating as a spin-out from the University of Cambridge, Paragraf is pioneering the world’s first mass production of graphene-based electronic devices using industry-standard semiconductor manufacturing processes. The newly raised capital is intended to accelerate production scaling to meet growing demand for graphene electronics in mass markets.

Paragraf’s graphene technology integrates smoothly with existing semiconductor infrastructure, positioning it for broad adoption in sectors such as healthcare, quantum computing, and industrial sensing.

Among Paragraf’s product lineup are Graphene Molecular Sensors, used for detecting liquids and gases across various industries, including healthcare, agritech, food production, chemical manufacturing, and consumer goods. Additional products include Graphene Hall Sensors and Graphene Field-Effect Transistors, with ongoing development of advanced semiconductor devices made possible by Paragraf’s proprietary graphene growth methods.

🇺🇸 Splight Raises $12.4M to Expand Transmission Capacity with Machine Learning Amid Surging Demand from Data Centers and Utilities

Splight, a U.S.-based grid technology company deploying machine-learning solutions that unlock capacity on congested electric grids, today announced a $12.4 million SAFE funding round led by Blue Bear Capital, with participation from ZOMA Capital. The funding will support Splight's continued expansion in North America and Europe, with a focus on scaling both its commercial and technical teams at a time of unprecedented growth in demand for power from electric grids across the globe.

🇯🇵 Sumitomo Rubber Acquires Viaduct, Accelerating Global Expansion of Failure Prediction Services

This acquisition will enable Sumitomo Rubber to more efficiently roll out predictive maintenance services for fleet vehicles operated by corporations and organizations in North America starting this October. It also marks a significant step toward accelerating global expansion, including in Japan and Europe. By notifying users of optimal parts replacement timing, the service aims to prevent vehicle breakdowns, streamline maintenance, and expand into areas such as parts ordering and work instructions.