The proposed new interface standard will not only make it easier to coordinate and control things like factory floors and lab facilities, but it will also infuse AI agents into the process, allowing for scripting — and adding natural language operations and reasoning.
This could potentially be a huge boon for scientific research and real-world labs, where Claude might one day be able to run end-to-end experiments and manipulate instruments, greatly accelerating the process.
From weeks to hours
Setting up and integrating different hardware from multiple vendors can be a headache lasting weeks or months, but with the Model Hardware Standard (MHS) it only takes hours or minutes, and it works with «any device that has a programmable interface,» Anthropic says.
HMS works as a standardized driver using universal commands like «read» and «write» and makes devices discoverable to an agent. This can then understand how to use equipment it has never seen before, and lets scientists worry about science with Claude taking care of the sensors.
Anthropic hopes to open source the MHS as a standard after a preview program to establish safety and best practices for AI and physical devices, with big names like AWS and Universal Robots already joining, and even retail device makers like Hugging Face and Raspberry Pi integrating support in their products.
Read more: Anthropic’s presentation and X launch post. CNBC, Ars Technica, and Reuters. Discussion on r/Singularity.