GCRI · Advanced Industry and Robotics

Spatial intelligenceObservations, models and their uncertainty in one view

Field overview

The field of advanced industry and robotics studies how goods are made and how production systems behave under change and stress. It spans manufacturing and process engineering, robotics and control, materials science, safety science, operations research and the economics and sociology of work. On Advanced Industry and Robotics, The Global Centre for Risk and Innovation (GCRI) approaches the field as risk science: how production can become safer, cleaner and more resilient as technology transforms it.

Open Dependencies and consequences Back to Advanced Industry and Robotics
STEM methods
8
Canonical methods this field applies
Topics
9
Subject pages in the field
Counterparts
2
Platforms in shared fields across the network
Report series
2
Nexus Reports series it contributes to
01Why it matters

Production underpins every other system.

Industry supplies the materials, machines, medicines, food processing and components on which every other system depends, and it employs a large share of the workforce in many economies. Its failures are felt widely: a major accident harms workers and neighbours, an outage at a single specialized supplier can halt production lines worldwide, and industrial pollution affects health and ecosystems for decades.

The field is in transition. Automation, robotics, digital twins, additive manufacturing, electrification and circular design are changing what factories look like, what skills they need and where risk sits.

02Canvas

One field, three institutions.

Canvas · one field, three institutionsDesign, not a record
One field, three institutions: Advanced Industry and Robotics and its counterpartsGCRI studies the field as science, GRF governs and convenes it, GRA builds shared financial understanding; the Nexus Universe tests work across them and the competent authorities decide. Design of the arrangement, not a record.

Fig.How GCRI, GRF and GRA share one field while the authorities decide. Design, not a record.

03What experts study

Five lines of inquiry.

  1. 01

    Process hazards

    How fires, explosions and toxic releases arise and how layers of protection prevent them. See industrial process safety.

  2. 02

    Automation and control

    How automated systems behave in normal and abnormal conditions. See industrial automation.

  3. 03

    Robots and people

    How robots sense, move and share space with workers. See industrial robotics and human and machine work.

  4. 04

    Materials and resources

    How materials, energy and water flow through production and back. See materials and manufacturing.

  5. 05

    Adoption and work

    How technology spreads, who gains and who is left behind. See technology adoption.

04Geography

Infrastructure exposure in Germany.

Night lights, population density, flood water and true-colour imagery over Germany, from NASA GIBS. Each layer carries its own date.

The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.

Layers 4

Infrastructure exposure, for this page

Latest available

NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth

Loading the latest NASA imagery.

Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.

Infrastructure exposure, framed on Germany. Layers as NASA publishes them, each with its own date.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date; indicators, not assessments of any place; claim ceiling INTEGRATED.

Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONET · NASA HLS S30Sources and licences

  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
  • VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • MODIS land products (vegetation indices, gross primary production, land cover), NASA LP DAAC and LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
  • Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
  • © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
  • Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
  • Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
  • Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
  • Live: NASA EONET Events are indicative, not authority warnings.
  • Observed (EO): NASA HLS S30 (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2026). We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
  • River discharge forecast, 30 days with range (GloFAS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Emergency Management Service information 2026; not a flood warning.
  • Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
  • Optional layers (12 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.

Layers and dates

  • Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
  • Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
  • Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
  • True colour: VIIRS NOAA-20 corrected reflectance, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
  • Land cover type (IGBP), yearly: MODIS Terra and Aqua land cover (MCD12Q1), NASA LP DAAC · 2024
  • Enhanced vegetation index, rolling 8 days: MODIS Terra EVI, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026

05How it connects

Industry sits on many dependencies.

Plants draw on energy grids, water supplies, transport corridors, digital networks and global suppliers, and they feed into health, food, construction and defence. Dependencies and consequences maps these links in detail.

Governance of innovation is convened at The Global Risk Forum (GRF) through Innovation; the financial view of industrial exposure is built at The Global Risk Alliance (GRA) through Private Equity Nexus. The field gateway is industry and robotics.

06Console

Field overview, in outline.

The working screen behind this subject: its structure, terms and states. Names are placeholders and values illustrative.

Field overview: the screen's structure, terms and states for Industry and robotics.Placeholder names and illustrative values; a design, not a record or a live system.
07Methods

Built on named methods.

Work relies on process and industrial safety engineering, robotics and automation, systems engineering, optimization and operations research and materials science and chemistry, among others. Each states its assumptions and limits.

08Pages

Pages in Field overview.

Page

Dependencies and consequences

09Questions

Questions and answers.

Does the field cover only high-technology manufacturing?
No. It covers chemicals, metals, food processing, mining, logistics and small manufacturers as well as advanced robotics.
Why combine safety and innovation in one field?
Because each changes the other. New technology alters hazards, and safety requirements shape how technology is adopted.
Where are the methods described?
On the STEM foundation page and methods and uncertainty.
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