Daily Archives: February 20, 2017

The future of automated industries may be playing out in a New York toy fair. As adults worry about whether people will need a basic income to supplement lost earnings from robots taking over jobs, kids are putting together new machines and learning how to make them do their bidding. A new generation will grow up knowing how to make robots their masters.

The 114th North American International Toy Fair, a convention running from February 18th through to the 21st at New York Citys Javits Center, is a center point for new trends in toy technology. This year, 24 exhibitors mention robots in their description. It might sound like childs play, but the products on display show that manufacturers are considering how the robo-revolution will change the demands of future industries.

Its no secret that an economy shifting towards automation will require different sets of skills. The Obama administration produced a report in December looking at robot automation. The report concluded that the best way forward was to invest in artificial intelligence, rethinking the social safety net and, yes, educating Americans so they can take on the jobs needed in the future.

At the Toy Fair, several products are teaching kids how to build their own robots using simplified parts. One example of this is Tinkerbots, which uses simple rearrangeable building blocks, paired with a smartphone app, to create imaginative new designs:

Another product is Tami, a block building system created by Robotron. The blocks are interesting in that they come in both non-robotic and robotic forms. Kids can make simple designs using the basic Tami blocks, before moving onto simple and advanced Robotami kits, some of which use touch and infrared sensors to teach the basics of hardware creation and software programming.

Other toys focus more on the software side than on hardware. WowWee is the creator of Coji, a robot that teaches kids how to code using a smartphone app. The bot responds to input via the app, and its up to kids to work out how various emojis will string together to create commands. Similarly, Wonder Workshop are the makers of the Dash and Dot pair of robots, which interact with smartphone games that teach basic programming logic in an easy-to-understand interface.

The automation of kids toys cant come soon enough. Tesla CEO Elon Musk claims that automation is going to transform the workforce, and a universal basic income will be necessary within 20 years of the first autonomous car hitting the road, which could be as soon as this year. Familiarizing kids with the shifting robot landscape will be crucial to helping the next generation understand this new world of technology.

Photos via Tinkerbots

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Robots Visit NY Toy Fair While Adults Worry About Automation ... - Inverse

Bill Gates wants the federal government to impose robot taxes in the future on companies that opt for technological labor over human hands.

The Microsoft co-founder made the statement to Quartz last week while discussing his advocacy of taxing companies profits as a means of funding job-training in other fields.

There will be taxes that relate to automation, Mr. Gatessaid Friday. Right now, the human worker who does, say, $50,000 worth of work in a factory, that income is taxed and you get income tax, Social Security tax, all those things. If a robot comes in to do the same thing, youd think that wed tax the robot at a similar level.

And what the world wants is to take this opportunity to make all the goods and services we have today, and free up labor, let us do a better job of reaching out to the elderly, having smaller class sizes, helping kids with special needs, he said. You know, all of those are things where human empathy and understanding are still very, very unique. And we still deal with an immense shortage of people to help out there.

He made the public policy prescription for companies that use artificial intelligence, though he himself was not taxed for job displacement as his products catapulted him to over $79 billion in net worth.

Mr. Gates said that taxing companies that use A.I. is a better alternative than banning them from using such technologies.

I dont think the robot companies are going to be outraged that there might be a tax. Its OK, he said.

The businessman rejected the idea that free-market solutions were sufficient for addressing societal changes created by A.I.

Well, business cant [adequately handle such problems]. If you want to do [something about] inequity, a lot of the excess labor is going to need to go help the people who have lower incomes, he said. And so it means that you can amp up social services for old people and handicapped people and you can take the education sector and put more labor in there. Yes, some of it will go to, Hey, well be richer and people will buy more things. But the inequity-solving part, absolutely governments got a big role to play there. The nice thing about taxation though, is that it really separates the issue: OK, so that gives you the resources, now how do you want to deploy it?

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Bill Gates turns on technology, calls for 'robot tax' to slow automation - Washington Times

It is difficult not to view Donald Trumps administration, regardless of its politics, as combative towards at least some portion of the American public. Unlike previous presidents who ultimately relied on messages that conveyed some attempt real or theatrical at national unity, Trumps team has decided to draw very clear lines between his supporters and everyone else. Whether it is the press, radical Islam, or the politically correct, Trumps style of leadership appears to rely on scapegoats. This bitter political ideology will likely be ineffective in guiding the country through the next decade of developments in the economy.

As artificial intelligence, robotics, and new forms of automation continue to flourish, the forms of work that millions of Americans rely on are at risk. The political solutions to navigating these changes are going to require broad public initiatives that havent been accomplished in decades, and everyone is going to have to be on board.

Before leaving the White House, President Obama commissioned a report titled Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and The Economy, that provides an in-depth look at the changes that will occur as automation becomes more sophisticated. Far from the doom and gloom projections of a workplace without humans, the report charts the subtle ways that, at scale, AI will have a tremendous impact on how our economy, and labor force, functions. Citing the current wave of AI, which the report describes as having begun around 2010, the study describes how the the types of jobs available in the economy are rapidly changing, and these changes are primarily impacting low income and less educated Americans.

According to the MIT Technology Review, 83 percent of jobs that pay less than $20 an hour are under threat from automation. Simply put, as technology makes things like ordering a cheeseburger, buying groceries, and shipping goods, require fewer human beings involved, the number of jobs available for poor Americans will shrink dramatically.

Ford, a company whose name is synonymous with the dream of American manufacturing jobs, recently announced goals to provide fully autonomous ridesharing by 2021, and earlier this month, allocated $1 billion for the autonomous vehicle startup Argo. Trumps former candidate for Labor Secretary, Andrew Puzder, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that, in areas like retail and foodservice, increases in minimum wage were to blame for the increase in automation. Of course, he also cites consumer preference as The major reason.

Lots of high-minded technological thinkers, particularly Elon Musk, have proposed a universal basic income, a form of wealth distribution that ensures every citizen receives a baseline income whether or not they are employed, as a likely solution to the problem of workforce automation. But the White House report takes a more somber approach, describing a basic income as giving up on the possibility of workers remaining employed. Instead, the report suggests a number of policy proposals (like Obamas national free community college initiative, and expanded unemployment benefits) as ways of actively facilitating the transition into a more AI driven economy.

In an interview with the MIT Technology Review, Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution calls for what he calls a universal basic adjustment benefit. Unlike a universal basic income, it would involve targeted benefits for those left out of the workforce, providing tools like wage insurance, job counseling, relocation subsidies, and other financial and career help.

The Future

A McKinsey report estimates that 59 percent of manufacturing jobs can be automated.

Uber has already made significant strides automating cars and delivery vehicles.

Manufacturing in the US has actually increased just not with the help of human workers.

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LA Times

The White House report points out that the U.S. government spends roughly 0.1 percent of its GDP on programs to help people deal with changes in the workplace much less than similar developed nations. This funding has also declined over the past three decades.

This is where Trumps style of leadership appears, at worst, disastrously cynical, and at best, ignorantly short sighted. By invoking a bygone era of American manufacturing, Trump undoubtedly tapped into a significant form of anxiety present in a large portion of the country. But his solutions, a dramatic reduction in immigration and tax breaks for corporations who move sparse manufacturing jobs to the U.S., dont even take into account changes in technology.

The people left behind by the advances in automation have faced the steady creep of obsolescence, in the form of a shrinking number of available jobs, for the past decade, and Trump promised to rewind time, to a period before artificial intelligence. A post-election analysis from FiveThirtyEight found that one of the best predictors of whether or not a county voted for Trump wasnt unemployment or income, but its proportion of jobs that are considered routine, an economic term for jobs that are easily automated. Areas with a high percentage of routine jobs voted in significant numbers for Donald Trumps vision of an America stopped in time.

Republicans in the House and Senate, similarly, have no discernible plan for how to address technologys impact on the workforce. Theyve instead spent the past decade working single-mindedly on taking control of the government in order to enact an economic and moralistic vision frozen in the 1980s.

Im very worried that the next wave [of AI and automation] will hit and we wont have the supports in place, Lawrence Katz, an economist at Harvard told the MIT Technology Review. Katzs research is focused on how public spending on education in the 1900s helped America make the economic shift from agriculture to manufacturing. Theres plenty of reason to believe that, as Wireds Clive Thompson points out, the next blue collar job in America could be computer programming. An initiative to teach coding to the millions of Americans whose jobs will slowly phase out in the face of AI would take years to develop and enact, and it doesnt even appear to be on anyones mind.

The report from the final days of Obamas White House makes sure to point out that:

The next few years will find our government squabbling over a health care law that for the most part works, and passing dramatic forms of austerity that have never proven effective in the long term. The cost of attending college, a critical tool for finding a job in the new economy, will likely continue to rise unabated. All the while technology will continue to alter the way millions of Americans work, for better and for worse.

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AI and automation are about to - The Outline

One of Michigans largest technology and manufacturing business associations has released its 2017 Technology Industry Report.

Automation Alley, based in Troy, recently conducted a nationwide survey of nearly 400 senior technology and manufacturing executives to determine their knowledge of Industry 4.0, and whether they are ready for the digitization of manufacturing within their company.

Industry 4.0, also known as the fourth industrial revolution, refers to the convergence of digital and physical technologies currently disrupting the manufacturing industry,

We believe that there is a huge opportunity for the technology industry to grow, both in Oakland County and across Southeast Michigan, said Automation Alley Executive Director Tom Kelly. (This can be done) by providing their products and services to the manufacturing industry, because the manufacturing industry is planning to spend a lot of money on new technological advancements.

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According to the 2017 report, the top three technologies in which companies currently invest are the cloud, cybersecurity and big data/analytics.

Kelly said when it comes to Southeast Michigan and Oakland County, the majority of tech businesses plan to invest in one particular area.

Regionally, we found that manufacturers plan to invest in autonomous robots, said Kelly.

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The report highlights where communication gaps exist between technology and manufacturing executives, the lack of company resources dedicated to technological advancements and how Southeast Michigan is ahead of the curve when it comes to the development and adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies.

Kelly said, based on the report, that national manufacturers are not prepared for Industry 4.0,

They see the benefits of technological advancement, but they face many obstacles to adopting new technology, said Kelly. What did surprise us about the report was that the local manufacturing industry is more prepared for Industry 4.0 than their national counterparts.

Locally, within Southeast Michigan and Oakland County, the Industrial Internet of Things and simulation (42 percent of those surveyed), followed by autonomous robots, horizontal and vertical system integration, and the cloud (all at 33 percent of those surveyed) are a top priority for Automation Alley manufacturers

85 percent expect an increase in their companys budget for technological advancement in 2017 (nearly a third of them plan to increase their budgets by 10 percent to 15 percent)

88 percent believe technological advancements can be beneficial to their companys competitiveness

62 percent believe that technologies in the cloud will improve their companys competitiveness in 2017

54 percent said the biggest barrier in making technological advancement in their company is cost

76.7 percent said Industry 4.0 is currently not an initiative within their company

65 percent said Industry 4.0 will have very much, quite a bit or some impact on their company in 2017

Automation Alley publishes the Technology Industry Report to provide the technology business community with valuable insights into the future of the tech industry, both locally and nationally.

The organization helps to connect businesses with talent, resources and funding to accelerate innovation and fuel Southeast Michigans economy.

The non-profit includes nearly 1,000 tech-focused members in businesses in Southeast Michigan.

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Huge growth opportunity for tech industry in Oakland County, says Automation Alley director - The Daily Tribune

According to our recent survey, more than 2/3 of landscaping business owners are primarily responsible for their marketing.

This challenge has a solution, and its marketing automation.

Routine activities can be automated to free you from working in your business so that you can invest more time working on it.

While there is a learning curve with the technology, the true challenge is taking the time to design what can be automated.

In other words, if your business does not have a written process in place for activities like following up on leads or upselling current customers, then clearly, thats where it needs to start.

Start thinking in terms of triggers and actions.

The phone rings (trigger) and your team answers (action). The buyer asks for a quote (trigger) and your team dispatches a representative to learn more (action).

Automation Formulas: Trigger > Action > Trigger > Action

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Organize everything and automate what you can.

#1. List the actions

What are the actions you want your buyers to take from their first contact with your business? List them, step- by-step.

#2. Test the sequence

How many of your recent customers have followed those steps? Patterns outside of your ideal flow may suggest disallowing these actions in the future.

The other option is to create multiple pathways to success.

Its important to be clear about the process steps that are inflexible. Often this involves legal issues or payment terms, but it can include anything in the buyers journey.

#3. Automate what you can

Lets face it, nowadays a website visit is replacing the telephone call.

Clicks to your website are triggers. You can use marketing automation to take action on them to send relevant information. And you can tag that interest to segment prospective buyers into categories. As they move through your funnel they will trigger new actions.

Every successful action should trigger another.

Take the time to automate what you can, even if thats only one step in your process. After you nail that give yourself a pat on the back and celebrate.

Youve saved some time! Now look for more ways to automate.

Marketing automation gets a bad reputation when its used to interrupt people to sell to them. But theres nothing wrong with selling when its done right.

The key is finding ways to use marketing automation to personalize.

For example, a sales transaction could trigger an email that offers an automated booking calendar such as ScheduleOnce that the buyer can use to independently book a time to meet with your company representative to address whatever issues there may be.

And that personalization just may trigger new business!

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Marketing Automation: What Your Business Needs to Know - Business 2 Community

NEW DELHI: Contrary to popular belief, 89 per cent of people are positive about the role robots can play in helping them in the workplace, rather than taking away jobs, says an Adobe study.

According to the Adobe Digital Insights Future of Work Report, people are open to man and machine collaboration for work benefits.

"The Future of Work looks promising, as robotics and automation gear up to enable employees to be more productive and creative in their roles," said Abdul Jaleel, Vice President, People Resources India, Adobe.

Despite some concern around the impact of automation in the workplace, people are demonstrating positive commentary around how automation can undertake mundane tasks, and allow them to focus on creative and strategic responsibilities that matter most to them and their careers.

Robotics holds promise especially when it comes to the automation of traditionally mundane tasks.

Jaleel noted that automating document and signature processes, for example, could open up new possibilities for people as the tech revolution advances. Faster transportation and self-driving cars could revolutionise local travel.

"Moreover, the virtual office has big potential in the Future of Work. Work environments should continue to improve as employees demand more from their space, especially with automation ruling the minds of people," he said.

The findings are based on over three million Future of Work -- a phrase covering broad group of topics around what work would look like in the future -- related social mentions across several digital platforms including Twitter, news, blogs and forums, between January 2016 to January 2017.

The study's social analysis features regions including the US, UK, India and Australia.

The research is based on the analysis of select, anonymous and aggregated data from more than 5,000 companies worldwide that use the Adobe Digital Marketing Cloud to obtain real-time data and analysis of activity on websites, social media and advertising.

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89% people want automation at workplace: Adobe - ETCIO.com