Tag: consumer

Burgerbot startup Creator hires inventor of Boston Dynamics’ Big Dog

Burgerbot startup Creator hires inventor of Boston Dynamics’ Big Dog

Disney Imagineering animatronics wizard Dr. Martin Buehler is a legend in the robotics world. His work leading development of the galloping Big Dog quadruped at Boston Dynamics both inspired and terrified a new generation of makers. But after playing in the worlds of fantasy and science fiction that consumers can’t buy, Buehler has been poached to work on something much more tangible. In fact, it’s edible. He’s joining burger-making robot startup Creator as VP of engineering.

“It was a great experience working on experimental validation [at Boston Dynamics]” Buehler tells me, “But one of the things I really value at […]

Beware of automation predictions: 3 things we can know for sure

Amid scores of predictions about the impact of automation on jobs and the workforce of the future, Kit Cox shares three things we can be sure of about the future of work during and after the fourth industrial revolution.

The fourth industrial revolution is marching on, bringing new artificial intelligence (AI) and automation technology into our businesses and everyday lives.

With great technological change comes vast investment. Enterprise investment in the intelligent automation market (including artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotic process automation (RPA) software) is expected to reach $232 billion by 2025 – an increase of over 1770 percent in […]

The future of work is more human than you think

The future of work is more human than you think

Forget the job coach. If you really want to know how to future-proof your career, your best bet is the World Economic Forum (WEF) Future of Jobs Report 2018 .

The report confirmed most of the things we already knew: that automation and machine learning are set to create as many jobs as they displace , that the gig economy and flexible contract work will become standard, and that knowledge of data science is going to be a key differentiator in the job market over the next few years.

With more than two years having passed since the first Future of […]

The Catholic view on a contactless world

The Catholic view on a contactless world

With workers being replaced by machines, Fr Stephen Reilly suggests how best to respond

THE UK government is reportedly considering enlisting Britain’s postal workers to check in on lonely elderly people, chat to them and link them in with local community support.

This laudable initiative is a response to government surveys showing that three quarters of GPs see between one and five patients a day who are suffering loneliness.Meanwhile, earlier this year Amazon opened an entirely automated grocery store, Amazon Go, in Seattle. Closer to home, a greater proportion of tills are automatic, and supermarkets are considering scan-as-you-shop, to eliminate […]

Manufacturing jobs are defying expectations

Manufacturing jobs are defying expectations

“NATION LONGS for one more day with dying manufacturing sector.” This headline, published in 2014 by the satirical website the Onion , anticipated both President Donald Trump’s fears and the retorts he gets from his critics. Mr Trump campaigned on a promise to bring back jobs in manufacturing after decades of decline. To those who see the future of the American economy in services, these promises seemed backward. When he was head of the National Economic Council, Gary Cohn reportedly asked the president which he would prefer: sitting in nice air-conditioned office, or standing on his feet all day.

[…]

Embracing plant management software: Tetra Pak launches Plant Secure and Industry 4.0

Embracing plant management software: Tetra Pak launches Plant Secure and Industry 4.0

The process begins with a detailed audit of the producers operations, allowing Tetra Pak to produce suggestions that will allow for cost-saving suggestions throughout the entire operation. Credit: Courtesy of Tetra Pak Plant Secure will form a key aspect of what Tetra Pak is calling Industry 4.0, the digitalisation of manufacturing which has moved it into a fourth industrialisation. Credit: Courtesy of Tetra Pak Tetra Pak has teamed up with Microsoft to use its HoloLens technology, which will allow companies to speed-up response times. Credit: Courtesy of Tetra Pak® Plant Secure

The process begins with a detailed audit […]

Don’t get left behind: Prof examines how big data, automation are revolutionizing the world of retail

Don’t get left behind: Prof examines how big data, automation are revolutionizing the world of retail

Mohammad Rahman. (Purdue University photo/John Underwood) Mohammad Rahman studies how technology is transforming people and businesses

Rahman says AI could exploit our biases rather than help us overcome them

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — As an international student from Bangladesh, Mohammad Rahman graduated with a degree in computer science shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.“Because of my name and the fact I was an F-1 international student, it was difficult to find a job,” said Rahman , now an associate professor in the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University and one of the 40 best professors under 40 […]

The rise of automation: Should retailers be worried?

The rise of automation: Should retailers be worried?

There’s plenty of talk over the rise of robots and automation in the retail sector, and the negative impacts are well known: En masse reductions of staff in warehouses and increasingly autonomous and anonymous customer care are just the beginning. However, in this feature we’ll be taking a step back from the emotive arguments behind automation’s rise in retail, and examining how retailers can embrace this shift without losing the human values that have stood them in good stead until now. While not yet a common sight, incremental changes towards robots replacing humans in stores are already being trialed […]

Companies Should Help You Retrain When You’re Automated Out of a Job

Companies Should Help You Retrain When You’re Automated Out of a Job

PureSolution/Shutterstock.com Reskilling is shaping up to be an imperative—and perhaps the imperative—of the next decade. That is because as machines increasingly complement people in the workplace, automation will bring about major shifts in both occupations and skills.

We estimate that if the pace of automation adoption is in the midpoint of our range of scenarios, about 15% of the global workforce, or 400 million workers, will be displaced by 203 0. (That range stretches from almost nobody, if automation adoption is slow, to 800 million, in the event of very rapid automation).

At the same time, as new technologies and the […]

Books: How Artificial Intelligence Will Impact Human Well-Being

Books: How Artificial Intelligence Will Impact Human Well-Being

The question of how artificial intelligence (AI) will impact human well-being is something of a Rorschach test. It depends on whom you ask. For some, the advent of “smart” everything portends a future of rising living standards and unimagined opportunities for human flourishing. Others help us see the dark side. Without going “full Terminator,” some of the best informed people in the AI field see an economic transformation that threatens social cohesion as human labor – mental and physical – becomes slow, antiquated and artisanal and is ultimately consolidated and replaced by the unlimited energy, dynamism, and rocketing productivity […]