Author: automata

Avoiding Workplace Hazards through Ergonomics

Avoiding Workplace Hazards through Ergonomics

Some technology and robots are keeping employees in the workplace by improving productivity, reducing cost, and increasing safety (see " What’s the Difference Between Automation and Employment? ") . Looking at the cost of the production/cost ratio, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2012, injuries caused by jobs that involved lifting, pushing, pulling, holding, and repetitive motions accounted for 28.4% of workplace injuries that cost $16.94 billion. These injuries and costs are driving the need for automation and robotics to reduce injury from tedious, monotonous, or dangerous jobs.

Companies such as Strong Arm are working on soft exoskeletons […]

Trump takes night off from Boeing-Beijing blather

Donald Trump ventured into the beating heart of Boeing country when he staged a rally in Everett Tuesday evening . Oddly enough, the Republican presidential candidate didn’t talk about Boeing.

Some might consider it an act of cowardice, this refusal by the New York billionaire to stand up and explain his facile You’d-Better-Elect-Me-or-Boeing-Is-Going-to-China sound bites, which he’s thrown out like red meat to friendly interviewers. ("They’ll start taking your business away, and you won’t have much of Boeing," Trump told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson on Monday.)

Did Trump shed his backbone by appearing before a company town audience and failing to […]

Does Workplace Automation Destroy Jobs Or Create Unexpected Opportunities? An Optimists’ View

The Robots are Coming… to Take Your Job. That’s the title of a recent article in Knowledge@Wharton, which describes how today’s job losses due to automation are just “the tip of the iceberg.”

Are things really that bad? We’ve been hearing plenty about the impact of machines on what seem to most existing jobs these days — from truck drivers to journalists to computer programmers themselves . However, there are also reasons to be optimistic — automation is delivering opportunities unheard of even a few years ago, both for people and the enterprises in which they work.

That’s the key takeaway […]

The Agile Mindset: Becker College’s Academic Foundation and Ethos

The Agile Mindset: Becker College’s Academic Foundation and Ethos

Six years ago, Becker College began to take a more adaptive, nimble, and entrepreneurial approach to higher education. The results—including growing enrollments and improving institutional and academic rankings, notably in the areas of game design—propelled the College forward on a path of historic growth and transformation.

The Becker community recognized that preparing students for the workplace of the future would mean cultivating global learners with agile mindsets, capable of thriving in a world of growing ambiguity and unpredictability.

This year, Becker College affirms the Agile Mindset as the academic foundation that equips students to navigate change and create value in the […]

When robots and AI come, what jobs will be left?

When robots and AI come, what jobs will be left?

Experts are divided about the jobs that will be left for humans once artificial intelligence, robotics and automation are fully deployed. If you’re prone to fretting about robots eating your job, or the jobs of your kids, get over it.

We will eventually become indistinguishable from robots, says Hiroshi Ishiguro, a professor of robotics at Osaka University. Ishiguro is a pioneer builder of human-like androids and had a cameo role in the 2009 Bruce Willis film Surrogates , in which people lived their lives through remote‑controlled surrogates from the safety of their own homes.

In about 100 years, Ishiguro says, only […]

Why is Gartner spewing such irresponsible and unsubstantiated data about “robobosses”?

Why is Gartner spewing such irresponsible and unsubstantiated data about “robobosses”?

Clients are being subjected to such a load of nonsense about the impending impact of robotics and cognitive computing on enterprise jobs, many are literally terrified. Conversing with the “head of automation” for a F500 organization today, is akin to meeting a Secret Service agent in a clandestine alleyway. These people do actually exist, but most have to conduct their work under a veil of secrecy, due to the level of discomfort and panic our robo-commentators are making in the presses.

Remember the panic about jobs getting shipped offshore? Well, that is child’s play compared to the emerging tumult of […]

Automation won’t kill jobs, it will kill tasks: HCL Tech CEO Anant Gupta

Automation won’t kill jobs, it will kill tasks: HCL Tech CEO Anant Gupta

HCLT Tech CEO said: We have overhauled hiring to absorb the impact of automation. At a time when there is fear that increasing automation will lead to layoffs in the IT sector, HCL Technologies CEO Anant Gupta has said, “Automation won’t kill jobs, it will kill tasks.” “We have overhauled hiring to absorb the impact of automation. We have replaced mass hiring with just-in-time hiring,” Anant Gupta said. It is widely believed that technology and automation will increasingly to eat up jobs in sectors such as IT.

Labour Bureau recently surveyed eight sectors and out of them, information technology and […]

Indian industry pushes for advanced robotics, but the question of jobs remains

Indian industry pushes for advanced robotics, but the question of jobs remains

A robot stacking solar panels in a factory in California. The media may focus on humanoid robots, but it is advanced robots that mimic human behaviour that get the job done, the manufacturing industry says. Indian companies feel that advanced robotics is one way forward for the government’s signature Make in India campaign, a survey has found.

The survey, by industry lobby group Ficci and Tata Strategic Management Group, says that it is crucial to adopt futuristic manufacturing trends such as greater use of advanced robotics.

This could also help Indian industry leapfrog past China, which is at least 8-10 years […]

Automation will not kill but create more jobs; robots will generate new work for humans: Anant Gupta, HCL Tech CEO

Automation will not kill but create more jobs; robots will generate new work for humans: Anant Gupta, HCL Tech CEO

There is a way, says Gupta, "which is the pro-human way. We cannot jump in blindly. Automation is a pragmatic journey." NEW DELHI: Automation is the new watchword in the Indian IT sector and employees should start looking at it beyond the hype and apprehension, HCL Tech BSE 1.81 % CEO Anant Gupta wrote in his blog.

"Automation is no longer an option in the 21st century enterprise. Across industries, it is already driving efficiency, productivity, agility, adaptability and optimization… there is growing apprehension about automation devouring jobs. The Industrial Revolution too was met with technological unemployment as a temporary […]

“Silicon Collar” – a realistic view of automation eliminating jobs

“Silicon Collar” – a realistic view of automation eliminating jobs

Editor’s note: The buzz about robots and automation eliminating humans’ jobs is like a squeaking hinge, getting louder and causing more friction almost daily. Released this month, “Silicon Collar,” Vinnie Mirchandani’s fourth book about technology and innovation, is a must-read for employers making decisions about automation as well as for employees who fear their job will be eliminated by technology. Whatever your opinion is about technology and jobs, I believe reading this book will enhance or change your opinion.

I’ve read Vinnie’s three earlier books about technology and innovation, so I felt sure there would be important insights […]