Tag: manufactur

Industrial robots can create more palatable human jobs

Industrial robots can create more palatable human jobs

Tim Schiller, National Accounts Manager, KUKA Robotics A decade removed from the Great Recession, the U.S. job market is thriving. Because employers are struggling to fill empty positions, they must explore other ways to increase production needs.

Repetitive, boring or even dangerous tasks often push potential candidates elsewhere—and drive away existing employees. Bored workers are twice as likely to leave a company, according to a recent report from Udemy for Business. And with plenty of options on the table, competition for new workers is intense.

Many are solving the labor shortage with robotics. From lowered labor costs, higher productivity and greater […]

Technology is changing the face of the Indian workplace

Technology is changing the face of the Indian workplace

A dye factory in Mumbai, India. Automation could free workers from mundane repetitive tasks. Reuters Ganesh Papad, a three-decade old company in India which manufactures papads, or papadums, has long relied on teams of workers to make its snack products – but it is increasingly turning to machines to do the job.

“To make 1,000 kilograms of handmade papads, we require 300 women,” says Harshal Chheda, the director at Ganesh Papad. “The new generation is not interested to make papads. Hence we’re bringing in modern machines with capacity of 3,000kg per day and this is helping to save labour costs […]

China battles US for AI and robotic space: Who’s ahead?

China battles US for AI and robotic space: Who’s ahead?

Robot dominates: Ford F150 trucks go through robots on the assembly line at the Ford Dearborn Truck Plant in Dearborn, Michigan. Robots are also entering areas such as logistics warehousing, chemicals and plastics factories and F&B industries. — AFP NO doubt, the FAANGs – Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google – are making the world a better place.

Still, they are being accused of being BAADD – big, anti-competitive, addictive and destructive to democracy.

Regulators fine them, politicians take them to task, and even their backers warn of their power to cause harm. Much of the techlash is undeserved. There’s fake […]

Industry leaders to speak at Robotics Conference

Industry leaders to speak at Robotics Conference

The Robotics and Automation Exhibition includes a comprehensive conference programme that includes presentations from industry leaders such as Amazon, Ocado and DHL, as well as innovators in robotics technology including ABB, SP Technology, Dematic, and Tharsus. The full programme is shown below:

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME: WEDNESDAY 10TH OCTOBER

10.00: Opening keynote The next revolution in warehouse automation; Picking and Packing* Picking and packing a 50,000+ range of items that are available in the grocery domain* Work on-going at Ocado to address this challenge, using generalisable robotic systems* Adapting to deal with all of the variability and problems that […]

No, Robots Are Not Taking Away Your Jobs, They Are Making Them More Humane

No, Robots Are Not Taking Away Your Jobs, They Are Making Them More Humane

Image source: GE Reports There’s no dearth of doomsday theories where it’s speculated that artificial intelligence would slowly take over the entire world — starting with jobs and sources of employment. While experts say that many jobs will be affected — not necessarily reduced — by AI, it all boils down to how wisely we allow technology to have an impact on us.

For example, robots can help reduce the mundane and repetitive tasks, which can help explore human skills like empathy and creativity in effective ways. Automation can provide in routine work and put humans to the work that […]

Imperial showcases AI prowess to Conservative and Labour Party conferences

Imperial showcases AI prowess to Conservative and Labour Party conferences

Professor Nick Jennings (right) and Zeno speaking on Professor Nick Jennings, Zeno the robot and Dr Declan O’Regan met political leaders in Liverpool and Birmingham this month.

Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) Professor Nick Jennings spoke on a Royal Society panel at both party conferences, discussing artificial intelligence (AI), automation and the future of work. He was joined by Zeno, a robot that utilises AI to replicate the facial expressions of humans.

The panels, entitled ’How long until we have a robot for PM? Are the predictions about the future of work getting ahead of reality?’ featured speakers from academia, think tanks […]

Unions Battle Bots With Education, Retraining in Contracts

Unions Battle Bots With Education, Retraining in Contracts

Transportation workers created a statewide coalition to fight driverless buses when Columbus, Ohio, debuted an automated shuttle in September.

Automation was also among the concerns expressed by the tens of thousands of hospitality workers in Las Vegas who threatened a strike in June.

And during Longshoremen contract talks in 2014, the main obstacle was the expansion of technology that at some ports was replacing up to half of the workers with robots.The message in all three cases was clear: Unionized workers don’t want to be replaced by automation. And as technology enters the workplace with increasing speed, that message may grow […]

How to bridge India’s tech-induced skill gap

How to bridge India's tech-induced skill gap

Oct 2 (IANS): The world stands on the brink of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, powered by a wide range of new technology breakthroughs — Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, advanced robotics, Internet of Things, cloud computing and 3D printing — and the revolution is expected to result in major changes in the labour market globally by reducing the demand for middle-skilled workers doing repetitive tasks, and increasing the demand for more highly-skilled workers and also low-skilled workers doing non-routine work.

While many developed countries, such as the US, Japan and several European economies, are already experiencing this labour market polarisation, the […]

How to bridge India’s tech-induced skill gap (Column: Active Voice)

How to bridge India's tech-induced skill gap (Column: Active Voice)

The world stands on the brink of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, powered by a wide range of new technology breakthroughs — Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, advanced robotics, Internet of Things, cloud computing and 3D printing — and the revolution is expected to result in major changes in the labour market globally by reducing the demand for middle-skilled workers doing repetitive tasks, and increasing the demand for more highly-skilled workers and also low-skilled workers doing non-routine work.

While many developed countries, such as the US, Japan and several European economies, are already experiencing this labour market polarisation, the market is also […]

Dear government, this big reform is key to creating more jobs in India

Dear government, this big reform is key to creating more jobs in India

Representative Image A new report brought out by the Centre for Sustainable Employment at the Azim Premji University, State of Working India, shows how desperately India needs to rethink its jobs and labour strategy, with labour law reforms being the key thrust. Allaying, at least for now, the fears of automation eating up jobs, the report says the replacement of workers in organised manufacturing by machines has been slowing down even as the number of jobs supported by Rs 1 crore of real fixed capital (in 2015 prices) had fallen from 90 in the 1980s to 10 in 2010; […]