Category Archives: Automation

The one constant in homecare is change, and change is coming as fast as ever. Recent mergers demonstrate the promise of technology in solving the perennial problems in the homecare industry: staffing, increased demand for services, and increased expense and complexity of delivering care in the home. And did we mention staffing?

One way industries in crisis cope is to reinvent themselves with technology. We have seen major technological transformations in manufacturing, banking, entertainment, retail, publishing, travel and transportationchanges that have only accelerated during the pandemic. Technology has radically changed these industries, improving their efficiency and their ability to serve consumers. Transformative technology not only creates new choices for consumers and businesses but also serves them better at lower cost.

Technology companies for the homecare industry are building systems to automate back-office functions like scheduling, staffing, billing and more. What has been sadly lacking are systems that are focused on the front endthe critical point of care, where resources are stretched ever thinner.

So far, technology for homecare at the point of care has focused on unique answers for every problem. Devices abound but most dont talk to each other. During the public health emergency, the problem was interacting without being present in person. Many clients installed internet, bought a tablet and thought that was it. However, even this seemingly simple technology requires continual oversight and can be more than what a user can handle day-to-day. All of the different technologies to address multiple conditionstablets, modems, personal emergency response systems (PERS), medication management, motion detectors and clinical devicescan quickly become overwhelming. None of these solutions work with each other. Even a major retailer who provides technical services for seniors in their homes focuses on what we would call home automation, rather than solving the care puzzle. The only option is to throw people at the care side to fill the gaps.

Lets change it. Lets think about how to use technology for care automation, not home automation. What are the keys to future success?

There are three major areas of technology development that will bring tremendous benefit in the not-too-distant future: wearables, highly precise monitoring and cloud platforms that understand the point of care. These technologies will transform simple fall detection into fall risk prediction, egress to wandering recovery and reactive care to proactive care management.

Most people are familiar with PERS and health wearables like FitBits and smartwatches. None of these devices provides a complete care automation solution. But new wearables can become the backbone of an affordable care automation solution. First, the wearable and its smartphone application for the family, plus a monitoring dashboard for agencies, gives full insight into a persons movement and activity in and out the home. Many clients are in the early stages of Alzheimers disease or dementia, where activity is key to maintaining cognitive capability. With these wearables, clients can safely engage in their favorite activities, and agencies and families can provide gentle oversight and proactively reach them with hands-free voice communication when necessary.

Since these wearables are full cellular devices, they have the key capability of being able to connect any in-home Bluetooth device, whether clinical or nonclinical, to the cloud. Think of taking vital signs automatically with devices and immediately having that data available and analyzedwith actionable information sent to the appropriate caregiver if warranted. Think of all the care automation devices that you could add or remove as needs change: temperature, pulse oximeter, medication management and even all those home automation devices to monitor safety, which could let you know if the stove is on or whether the refrigerator has been opened.

By automating the monitoring, caregivers can provide more valuable care for clients, and agencies can make care recommendations based on clear data. Agencies have also partnered with care management companies that provide remote monitoring to minimize risk for the homecare agency. The homecare agency can expand its service offerings and upsell clients with these new capabilities. Remote monitoring can extend staff and improve outcomes for clients.

While wearables are the first step in person-centered care and provide the key capability of going with the person wherever they go, new technology is coming to provide the next generation of monitoring in the homethis technology is called Ultra-Wideband (UWB). UWB operates through radio waves and is highly precise, with the ability to see in three dimensions, through walls and to 10 centimeters of precision. It used to be very expensive and only used in industrial applications, but now it is being used in consumer devices. Think of UWB as always-on indoor radar. With just a few sensors in the home, your care team can have a 360-degree view of the client. Its perfect for not just detecting a fall, but also for seeing what happened before, during and after an incident. Combined with the cloud, you can understand the patterns of behavior that can impact outcomes.

Unlike video monitoring, this technology is privacy-respecting, noninvasive and secure. You can see changes in a clients activity, their ability to get up and stand, their sleep or any bathroom habits that would indicate a change in their well-being. Imagine how happy they would be if your caregivers could help them with a problem before it merits a trip to the emergency room. Imagine how grateful your clients families would be if your technology spotted an adverse change in behavior after a medication change. Imagine how thankful you would be if you could see if a caregiver is following the care plan. All of this is possible with highly precise technology with the brains of the cloud behind it.

Weve covered how risks can be reduced with technology, and how the costs of implementing and using technology are improving every day. Now, lets look at a few ideas about how technology enablement can help your agency increase revenue.

We know the cost of in-person care is expensive for families. By supplementing on-site caregivers with remote monitoring technology, you can present a client with a lower initial cost. Cellular technology lets you start now, with even just one client.

Families are looking for technology for the point of care and are willing to pay a few dollars a day to have it at the service of their loved ones.

Technology delivers data about what kind of care a person currently needs. With this data, a family can more easily understand the need for additional services. Data-driven discussions result in better outcomes.

Because technology can help you assess a client every day, you can adjust their care plan accordingly. You will know when you can remove services that are no longer needed. And, how the clients outcomes are improving with the right care.

The only constant with technology is that it gets better, cheaper and faster. Its time to adopt it wholeheartedly at the point of care. Only technology can deliver the situational awareness you need to see how, when,where and why a client might need help, before they may even know themselves. Imagine how your agency can grow and thrive with situational awareness at your fingertips.

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The Automation Revolution - HomeCare

Ask for a roast beef sandwich at an Arbys drive-thru east of Los Angeles and you may be talking to Tori an artificially intelligent voice assistant that will take your order and send it to the line cooks.

It doesnt call sick, says Amir Siddiqi, whose family installed the AI voice at its Arbys franchise this year in Ontario, California. It doesnt get corona. And the reliability of it is great.

The pandemic didnt just threaten Americans health when it slammed the U.S. in 2020 -- it may also have posed a long-term threat to many of their jobs. Faced with worker shortages and higher labor costs, companies are starting to automate service sector jobs that economists once considered safe, assuming that machines couldnt easily provide the human contact they believed customers would demand.

Past experience suggests that such automation waves eventually create more jobs than they destroy, but that they also disproportionately wipe out less-skilled jobs that many low-income workers depend on. Resulting from growing pains for the U.S. economy could be severe.

If not for the pandemic, Siddiqi probably wouldnt have bothered investing in new technology that could alienate existing employees and some customers. But its gone smoothly, he says: Basically, theres less people needed but those folks are now working in the kitchen and other areas.

Ideally, automation can redeploy workers into better and more interesting work, so long as they can get the appropriate technical training, says Johannes Moenius, an economist at the University of Redlands. But although thats happening now, its not moving quickly enough, he says.

Worse, an entire class of service jobs created when manufacturing began to deploy more automation may now be at risk. The robots escaped the manufacturing sector and went into the much larger service sector, he says. I regarded contact jobs as safe. I was completely taken by surprise.

Improvements in robot technology allow machines to do many tasks that previously required people -- tossing pizza dough, transporting hospital linens, inspecting gauges, sorting goods. The pandemic accelerated their adoption. Robots, after all, cant get sick or spread disease. Nor do they request time off to handle unexpected childcare emergencies.

Economists at the International Monetary Fund found that past pandemics had encouraged firms to invest in machines in ways that could boost productivity -- but also kill low-skill jobs. Our results suggest that the concerns about the rise of the robots amid the COVID-19 pandemic seem justified, they wrote in a January paper.

The consequences could fall most heavily on the less-educated women who disproportionately occupy the low- and mid-wage jobs most exposed to automation -- and to viral infections. Those jobs include sales clerks, administrative assistants, cashiers and aides in hospitals, and those who take care of the sick and elderly.

Employers seem eager to bring on the machines. A survey last year by the nonprofit World Economic Forum found that 43% of companies planned to reduce their workforce as a result of new technology. Since the second quarter of 2020, business investment in equipment has grown 26%, more than twice as fast as the overall economy.

The fastest growth is expected in the roving machines that clean the floors of supermarkets, hospitals and warehouses, according to the International Federation of Robotics, a trade group. The same group also expects an uptick in sales of robots that provide shoppers with information or deliver room service orders in hotels.

Restaurants have been among the most visible robot adopters. In late August, for instance, the salad chain Sweetgreen announced it was buying kitchen robotics startup Spyce, which makes a machine that cooks up vegetables and grains and spouts them into bowls.

Its not just robots, either -- software and AI-powered services are on the rise as well. Starbucks has been automating the behind-the-scenes work of keeping track of a stores inventory. More stores have moved to self-checkout.

Scott Lawton, CEO of the Arlington, Virginia-based restaurant chain Bartaco, was having trouble last fall getting servers to return to his restaurants when they reopened during the pandemic.

So he decided to do without them. With the help of a software firm, his company developed an online ordering and payment system customers could use over their phones. Diners now simply scan a barcode at the center of each table to access a menu and order their food without waiting for a server. Workers bring food and drinks to their tables. And when theyre done eating, customers pay over their phones and leave.

The innovation has shaved the number of staff, but workers arent necessarily worse off. Each Bartaco location there are 21 now has up to eight assistant managers, roughly double the pre-pandemic total. Many are former servers, and they roam among the tables to make sure everyone has what they need. They are paid annual salaries starting at $55,000 rather than hourly wages.

Tips are now shared among all the other employees, including dishwashers, who now typically earn $20 an hour or more, far higher than their pre-pandemic pay. We dont have the labor shortages that youre reading about on the news, Lawton says.

The uptick in automation has not stalled a stunning rebound in the U.S. jobs market -- at least so far.

The U.S. economy lost a staggering 22.4 million jobs in March and April 2020, when the pandemic gale hit the U.S. Hiring has since bounced back briskly: Employers have brought back 17 million jobs since April 2020. In June, they posted a record 10.1 million job openings and are complaining that they cant find enough workers.

Behind the hiring boom is a surge in spending by consumers, many of whom got through the crisis in unexpectedly good shape financially -- thanks to both federal relief checks and, in many cases, savings accumulated by working from home and skipping the daily commute.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moodys Analytics, expects employers are likely to be scrambling for workers for a long time.

For one thing, many Americans are taking their time returning to work -- some because theyre still worried about COVID-19 health risks and childcare problems, others because of generous federal unemployment benefits, set to expire nationwide Sept. 6.

In addition, large numbers of Baby Boom workers are retiring. The labor market is going to be very, very tight for the foreseeable future, Zandi says.

For now, the short-term benefits of the economic snapback are overwhelming any job losses from automation, whose effects tend to show up gradually over a period of years. That may not last. Last year, researchers at the University of Zurich and University of British Columbia found that the so-called jobless recoveries of the past 35 years, in which economic output rebounded from recessions faster than employment, could be explained by the loss of jobs vulnerable to automation.

Despite strong hiring since the middle of last year, the U.S. economy is still 5.3 million jobs short of what it had in February 2020. And Lydia Boussour, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, calculated last month that 40% of the missing jobs are vulnerable to automation, especially those in food preparation, retail sales and manufacturing.

Some economists worry that automation pushes workers into lower-paid positions. Daron Acemoglu, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Pascual Restrepo of Boston University estimated in June that up to 70% of the stagnation in U.S. wages between 1980 and 2016 could be explained by machines replacing humans doing routine tasks.

Many of the jobs that get automated were at the middle of the skill distribution, Acemoglu says. They dont exist anymore, and the workers that used to perform them are now doing lower-skill jobs.

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AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this story.

Originally posted here:

Do we need humans for that job? Automation booms after COVID - Sand Hills Express

Automated resume-scanning software is contributing to a broken hiring system in the US, says a new report from Harvard Business School. Such software is used by employers to filter job applicants, but is mistakenly rejecting millions of viable candidates, say the studys authors. Its contributing to the problem of hidden workers individuals who are able and willing to work, but remain locked out of jobs by structural problems in the labor market.

The studys authors identify a number of factors blocking people from employment, but say automated hiring software is one of the biggest. These programs are used by 75 percent of US employers (rising to 99 percent of Fortune 500 companies), and were adopted in response to a rise in digital job applications from the 90s onwards. Technology has made it easier for people to apply for jobs, but also easier for companies to reject them.

The exact mechanics of how automated software mistakenly reject candidates are varied, but generally stem from the use of overly-simplistic criteria to divide good and bad applicants.

For example, some systems automatically reject candidates with gaps of longer than six months in their employment history, without ever asking the cause of this absence. It might be due to a pregnancy, because they were caring for an ill family member, or simply because of difficulty finding a job in a recession. More specific examples cited by one of the studys author, Joseph Miller, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal include hospitals who only accepted candidates with experience in computer programming on their CV, when all they needed were workers to enter patient data into a computer. Or, a company that rejected applicants for a retail clerk position if they didnt list floor-buffing as one of their skills, even when candidates resumes matched every other desired criteria.

Over-reliance on software in the hiring world seems to have created a vicious cycle. Digital technology was supposed to make it easier for companies to find suitable job candidates, but instead its contributed to a surfeit of applicants. In the early 2010s, the average corporate job posting attracted 120 applicants, says the study, but by the end of the decade this figure had risen to 250 applicants per job. Companies have responded to this deluge by deploying brutally rigid filters in their automated filtering software. This has had the effect of rejecting viable candidates, contributing to the large pool of job-seekers.

The use of this software has become a huge business in itself. As the report notes: Over the intervening years, automation has come to pervade almost every step in the recruiting process: applicant tracking systems, candidate relationship management, scheduling, background checks, sourcing candidates, and assessments. The global recruitment technology market had grown to $1.75 billion by 2017 and is expected to nearly double, to $3.1 billion, by 2025.

Despite this, companies seem well aware of these problems. Nearly nine out of 10 executives surveyed for the report said they knew automated software was mistakenly filtering out viable candidates, with some saying they were exploring alternate ways to hire candidates. But, as the studys authors note, fixing these problems will require overhauling many aspects of the hiring system, from where companies look for candidates in the first place to how they deploy software in the process.

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Automated hiring software is mistakenly rejecting millions of viable job candidates - The Verge

Addverb Technologies, which provides robotics and automation tech to customers such as Reliance, Flipkart and Amazon said it is further expanding its presence across the markets of Europe, Singapore, and Australia. This strategic initiative stems from increased demand for robotics and automation solutions in the global market.

The global robotics market was valued at $27.73 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $74.1 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of 17.45 per cent, during the period of 2021-2026.

"We are taking Addverb Technologies global in the international robotics and automation marketplace, said Sangeet Kumar, CEO and co-founder of Addverb Technologies. With this expansion, we aim to provide an end-to-end product portfolio which will streamline warehousing and factory operations and will help customers create warehouses with higher levels of efficiency, accuracy and flexibility

Established in June 2016, Addverb said it has witnessed a rapid growth and clocked an approximate revenue of around $ 27 million in FY 2020-21. It unveiled a manufacturing facility, Bot-Valley which also houses a well-equipped R&D facility at Noida in March 2021. The company said it has one of the widest robotic and automation product portfolio. It has more than 100 customers including the likes of Reliance, Flipkart, Amazon, Hindustan Unilever, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Future Supply Chain and Marico.

Retailers and consumer-facing companies globally are looking at automation. The complexity of their operations are making the traditional solutions available in the market obsolete. Addverb is looking to fill this space with its customizable hardware and modular software. It has deployed a host of innovative warehouse robotic solutions with anchor customers across different sectors like FMCG, retail, e-commerce, fashion and lifestyle. The firm said its products have helped businesses to scale up fast and run operations in a smooth manner especially at the time of Covid.

The company said it has created a software platform, Mobinity, a warehouse control system that helps in integrating different automation products in a single warehouse. With its manufacturing facility, the firm said it has the capability to deliver more than 50,000 robots of different types in a year. It has also deployed a micro-fulfilment centre for a leading e-commerce company based out of India. The firm said it aims to establish an innovation lab in the US and Europe with the aim to create a global workforce based out of different parts of the world.

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Robotics & automation firm Addverb Technologies to further expand globally - Business Standard

Swoop Aero will use Iris Automation's Casia in its new drone, Kite. (Swoop Aero)

A new partnership between Swoop Aero and Iris Automation will use both companies technology to create a beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone navigation system, according to a Sept. 2 press release.

Swoop Aero will incorporate Iris Automations detect and avoid technology, Casia, onto their aircraft, according to the release. This will include Swoop Aeros new aircraft, Kite, which the company says is its most advanced aircraft certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Swoop Aero is a great example of how commercial drone services are evolving, meeting numerous critical use cases around the world, Jon Damush, CEO of Iris Automation, said in a statement. We are seeing the leading players in the space make investments in safety, and Swoop is one of the firms leading the charge to ensure the safe and efficient integration of uncrewed aircraft into existing national airspaces around the world. Demand for these use cases is highest in regions with stringent air safety standards and avoiding mid-air collisions is the most important aspect of reducing air-risk. An innovator like Swoop Aero is doing the right things to safely introduce aerial services to deliver essential supplies to previously inaccessible areas and we are excited to partner with them on this mission.

Iris Automation's detect and avoid system, Casia, has been used in flight testing by the FAA and Transport Canada. (Iris Automation)

With Casia, Swoop Aero will be able to obtain more complex approvals and certifications for BVLOS flight, according to the release. The company will use the system in two current projects with EBOS Healthcare in Australia and New Zealands Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) airspace integration trial program.

With two leading drone innovators coming together we can drive the safe integration of autonomous aircraft into even more critical areas, Eric Peck, CEO and co-founder of Swoop Aero, said in a statement. A DAA solution is the last great challenge preventing complex operational approvals and certification in countries like Australia and the United States. This partnership showcases the innovation inherent in our platform, and our commitment to safety.

Iris Automations Casia has been used by the FAA and Transport Canada. The company has also recently partnered with UAV Navigation.

Continued here:

Swoop Aero and Iris Automation Partner to Develop BVLOS System - Aviation Today

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells offer tremendous potential for cancer immunotherapy. These T cells express custom engineered T cell receptors (TCRs), allowing them to detect and attack cancer cells with greater efficacy and helping them avoid immune evasion mechanisms. Today, hundreds of clinical trials involving CAR T cells are in progress.

To manufacture CAR T cells, scientists first need to extract whole blood from either the patient being treated (autologous) or from a separate donor (allogeneic). Following this, they fraction the blood based on relative density through a process called leukapheresis, allowing the T cells to be separated and extracted. The collected T cells are expanded and transduced with the genetic material encoding CARs, then (re)-introduced to the patient.

This process can be laborious and complex, involving multiple steps, processes, and instruments. It requires care and consistency to make sure that contaminants do not enter the collected sample and that environmental disruptions do not affect cell phenotypes. As such, researchers have been searching for ways to streamline the CAR T cell production workflow. Streamlining will offer better accessibility and efficacy, and it will help ensure a more uniform and better quality end product.

Streamlining cell therapy workflows involves incorporating two key elements: closed systems and automation. These elements minimize the need for operator interventions and optimize protection against contamination and variability. Scientists and engineers are working together to design novel systems with these ideas in mind. The GibcoTM Cell Therapy Systems (CTSTM) RoteaTM Counterflow Centrifugation System is a compact processing system that uses single-use closed system kits for cell therapy and CAR T cell production workflows. With an adjustable flow rate ranging between 5 and 160 ml/min, the Gibco CTS Rotea processes cells in a fraction of the time required by manual workflows. Crucially, it can output volumes as low as 5 ml, making it possible to collect samples with cellular concentrations as high as 300 million/ml.

New instruments like the Gibco CTS Rotea come equipped with powerful user-friendly software to give researchers precise control over their experiments, letting them fine-tune protocol parameters, simulate protocols, and even evaluate process performance after runs. Beyond this, the Gibco CTS Rotea system is compatible with 21 CFR Part 11 data transmission and storage regulatory requirements, as it can communicate with compliant systems using OPC-UA protocols. The software can even toggle between R&D and manufacturing pre-set operator modes, making it ideal for both research and small-scale production applications.

These systems can handle both T cell workflows and applications involving other cells. For example, a direct comparison revealed that an automated workflow run using the Gibco CTS Rotea system matched manual Ficoll-based techniques in terms of T cell recovery and viability without affecting phenotype ratio and expansion capability. Additionally, Gibco CTS Rotea-automated processes outperformed Ficoll-based extraction methods when it came to general leukocyte extraction from whole blood.

The importance and prominence of CAR T cells in immuno-oncology will only grow in the future. This highlights the need for faster and more reliable means of CAR T cell production, whether for research or therapeutic use. The importance of automated closed production systems like the Gibco CTS Rotea Counterflow Centrifugation System at every stage of the production workflow has never been more apparent.

Originally posted here:

Streamlining CAR T Cell Workflows with Automation - The Scientist

Image: Siemens

Advancements in technology, achievements in science, and a vision for a sustainable future have ushered in a new era in the mining industry, and the transformation of the sector has begun with the electrification, digitalization, and automation of mining operations. Currently underway, the transition to off-grid mining and battery storage, together with the use of renewable energy to power operations, is demonstrating that the mining industry can reverse the negative public perception of its reliance on fossil fuels.

In Africa, the driving motivational force for the electrification of the mining industry comes from the incentive to increase the efficiency of operations, thus maximizing output, and matching other global operations that have initiated the implementation of digitalization and automation. Incorporation of new technologies into an industry as reliant on state-of-the-art machinery as mining is critical for companies to modernize their operations and meet increasingly stringent environmental and sustainability goals, while remaining competitive and relevant.

John Manuell, Manager of the Process Industries Division for ABB South Africa, shared his thoughts in an opinion piece for BusinessDay, and noted that the electrification, digitalization, and automation of mines in South Africa has the potential to increase operational safety, sustainability, and the operational lifespans of mines, offering benefits such as increased productivity, the sustainable use of non-renewable resources, and may result in a decrease of operational input costs.

Together, these three trends are shaping what we call the mine of the future, he stated, adding that they offer real possibilities, which were not available previously, to overcome todays challenges and ensure a bright future for the mining industry.

He indicated that the mining industry is already well underway in its transition from diesel-derived power sources to the use of electric systems at mining operations. Some of the strongest incentives for the electrification of the mining industry is the lowering of diesel-related costs, the reduction of carbon emissions, improvement of operational workflow, as well as lessening the likelihood of onsite injury.

When compared to other industries, the mining sector has been reluctant to adopt electrification due to its historical reliance on diesel for the operation and powering of heavy machinery, however, with its delivery to the typically remote locations of mining sites, the costs of servicing such equipment, as well as the repair and replacement of diesel-powered vehicles and machinery for which extensive maintenance is often required companies have taken note of the benefits of an energy transition.

Energy costs account for approximately 30% of the average mining companys total cost base. Therefore, the transition from diesel to electric or hybrid-electric is expected to bring advantages, not only in terms of CO2 emissions reduction, but also in terms of helping industry-related companies manage costs.

Newer generations of diesel-electric trucks have been introduced to the industry as a commercially viable way to move towards the electrification of mining in the near future. The average mining truck typically carries between 3,000 and 5,000 liters of diesel and burns roughly 300-400 liters every hour. The introduction of on-trolley electric vehicles, which only uses approximately 30-50 liters per hour, has the potential to save as much as 350 liters of diesel for every hour of use. The transition towards electric/hybrid-electric vehicles will also see an improvement in the efficiency and speed of haulage trucks, which has the potential to result in higher operational throughput for a mine.

The reduction of carbon emissions through the process of open-pit mining operations has become an ambition for many in the mining industry, with trolley assist systems being installed to limit diesel usage, reduce costs and improve efficiency. Incentivized by tax advantages and premiums offered by energy suppliers, trolley lines have made a strong resurgence in the industry in recent years, offering many cost saving benefits and the reduction of CO2 emissions.

While energy sources that contribute greatly to carbon emissions generally constitute the cheapest forms of energy generation, operators have begun to take note of their secondary costs, with the electrification of mines having the potential to incur lower expenses due to their minimal maintenance requirements, therefore leading to a reduction of operational downtime, which is common among diesel-powered machinery due to the extensive maintenance required for their internal mechanisms that are prone to breakdown. It has been noted that hybrid-electric vehicles are more robust and less fastidious than combustion engine-powered vehicles.

The reluctance of many mining companies to move towards electrification comes from the perception that such a drastic transition will result in the loss of jobs while digitalization and automation replaces and reduces the need for manual labor. Therefore, for mining companies to demonstrate their commitment to electrification, a reevaluation of current skills sets will need to be considered as, according to strategy and consulting service company, Accenture, the future mining workforce is likely to change by up to 77% by 2024, which will be driven primarily by the adoption of new technologies. As such, there will be a shift in the skills profile for future workers who will need to manage and engage the electric transformation in the industry.

While fossil fuels have, for decades, been the traditional method through which the mining industry acquires energy, electrification, digitalization, and automation are considered the ways of the future for mining industry and has been seen as a method through which companies may improve on-site safety, lower operational costs, and reduce harmful carbon emissions.

Energy Capital & Power Africas leading energy event organizer will host the Africa Energy & Mining 2022 Conference & Exhibition, which will be held in Johannesburg on March 29-31.To learn more about the Africa Energy & Mining series and the post-COVID-19 energy and mining landscape in Africa, please visitwww.aem2022.com. For sponsorship or exhibition opportunities, please contactsales@energycapitalpower.com.

Originally posted here:

The Future of Mining Through Electrification, Digitalization and Automation - Energy Capital & Power

ADVA is to lead the European project, AI-NET-PROTECT, which aims to use AI-based automation to build a security framework for private networks and critical infrastructure in Europe.

Front of mind is the danger that quantum technology already poses to the encrypted keys, which form the basis of organised network and system security. Simply stated, the problem is that just as the industry as a whole has turned to openness as a means of advancing the technology, many global users have resorted to increasing the pace of digitalisation as a means of coping with the pandemic, says Achim Autenrieth, director of advanced technology in ADVAs CTO team.

As a result theres been a huge rise in online activity - banking, retailing, conferencing and, of course, home working; and a rise of network complexity to go with it, he explains. The result is a fast-growing attack surface that can, and is, being exploited by aggressors who are now starting to use AI and quantum computing technology to find the cracks in corporate security.

It goes without saying that security breaches can be devastating and may even put the survival of huge companies at risk, as T-Mobile in the US has found out as it braces itself for a class action onslaught in the wake of a huge personal data breach (see todays TelecomTV Whats up with... T-Mobile).

European industry has a good position in 5G networks, transportation and industrial applications, says the project abstract, but it needs to strengthen its position in secure cloud, data centre and artificial intelligence technologies to be at the forefront of development.

So the AI-NET-PROTECT project is to right the balance by providing automated resilience and secure networks operated on trusted equipment to critical infrastructures and enterprises. Its goal is to ensure the protection of critical data, network performance (like latency, throughput, availability), and infrastructure (against tampering and attacks).

To get there, the project aims to develop a scalable network and node architecture to address the diverse KPIs by a mix of open and purpose-built hardware and software including whiteboxes. Network telemetry and intent-based software-defined network management and control will provide zero-touch provisioning and support artificial intelligence based automation of end-to-end services. Strong security based on multi-layer cryptography, agile crypto-functions, and quantum-safe algorithms will form an integral part for the developed architecture. The key use cases for AI are performance optimization, proactive fault and anomaly detection, penetration and vulnerability testing, and security incident management.

Anomaly detection is a key element. We have to collect data and we have to find anomalies in it to move forward, Achim Autenrieth explains. You monitor the network over a period of time and then anomalies can be detected and you can train the system to recognise them when they occur again as part of an attack. Over the longer term, moving to small-to-medium-sized data centres, sited closer to the users will be a step forward security-wise as there will need to be local AI decisions, he says.

As the leader of AI-NET-PROTECT, were helping to lay the foundations for tomorrows intelligent and secure enterprise and government networks. Together with our partners across four countries, were creating solutions that harness automation and rapid threat detection for new levels of resilience and data protection, says Christoph Glingener. The AI-NET-PROTECT project will help improve our open networking technology, including our FSP 3000 open line system and our TeraFlex terminal, as well as our ConnectGuard encryption solution and our pioneering work driving quantum-resistant communications technology.

AI-NET-PROTECT is one of three sub-projects of the Accelerating Digital Transformation in Europe with Intelligent Network Automation (AI-NET) initiative. Also coordinated by ADVA, the flagship CELTIC-NEXT project is a 74-million public-private partnership bringing together major players from across the industry. Running until August 2024, it aims to tackle increasing complexity by shifting cloud infrastructure from its current centralized model towards edge-centric computing using 5G and AI. As well as developing tools to give end customers access to more agility, functionality and scale, AI-NET will address global supply chain challenges and promote sustainable growth in Europe.

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Using AI automation to bolster private network and critical infrastructure security - TelecomTV

Does Automation Result In More Jobs Being Created?

Since Frey and Osborne's hugely popular paper in 2014, the traditional narrative surrounding automation at work has been that millions of jobs will be lost to the march of technologies such as robotics and artificial intelligence.

It's not a narrative that has really been supported by the evidence in the intervening years, and indeed, data suggests that those firms investing in these technologies tend to hire more people than their peers who do not.This alternative narrative was reinforced by a recent study from Wharton, which showed that robots are undoubtedly impacting the workplace, but that the only people who may need to fear for their jobs are managers.

The study found that investing in robots helps to boost the efficiency and quality of work, with the reduced costs often meaning that there are more jobs to go around for their human peers.

The researchers assessed five years worth of business data from across the Canadian economy to understand what impact automation has on employment, labor, and other aspects of working life.

The analysis reveals that robots are generally not replacing workers at all, as while some firms may reduce their workforce after adopting robots, in general the increase in automation results in more hiring overall.This is due to the fact that these firms become far more productive, and therefore need more workers to meed the increase in demand.

Any employment loss in our data we found came from the non-adopting firms, the researchers explain. These firms became less productive, relative to the adopters. They lost their competitive advantage and, as a result, they had to lay off workers.

The authors argue that firms need to think of the big picture when they're contemplating investing in automation.The key, they suggest is to frame such decisions in terms of how to become more productive, and therefore competitive.

Whereas investing in automation generally helps the overall workforce, however, the researchers did find that managers may not be so fortunate.This is because as various tasks and processes become automated, the errors in those processes fall, which in turn means there is less need for monitoring of the work by managers.

Technology can generate reports on what the robots did, what material they used, and they can aggregate it at the firm level, division level, to get lots of different operational metrics very easily, the researchers explain. And those are the kinds of things that managers tend to do.

This decrease in the number of managers is also a consequence of the changing composition of the workforce, as while investing in automation does increase employment across the board, this is not uniformly felt across all skill levels.For instance, both low-skilled workers and high-skilled workers were found to brow in numbers, but middle-skilled workers actually fell.

When you see a huge decrease in middle-skilled work and an increase in those extremes high- and low-skilled labor it means the type of managers you need to manage this new workforce will be different, the researchers say.

For managers, this spells trouble, as the inevitable standardization of robotic output means that a single manager can oversee significantly more work than when the work is done by humans.This is not the case, however, for managers of high-skilled workers, as managers in areas such as innovation, as opposed to operations, were still in demand.

Highly-skilled professionals are very good at what they do, better than their managers. They dont need managers to tell them how to do their jobs or make sure they arrive to work on time, the researchers continue. Managing high-skilled workers is much more like coaching or advising. Managers advise them to help them to achieve the best they can at work, and that kind of skill is very different from supervising work.

That such technology-driven change is inevitable is perhaps one of the few things that the doomsayers have gotten right in their hyperbole about robots taking our jobs.It almost certainly won't happen as quickly or as dramatically as they predict, but it's fair to say that it will happen eventually.

All of the data to date suggests that organizations do best when they actively embrace new technologies, such as AI and robotics, so that they can boost their productivity and become more competitive.This seems to benefit not just the firm generally but also their workforce.Indeed, any job-related trouble is likely to emerge in those firms that don't invest and therefore get left behind.

In the next couple of years, youre going to see huge industry turbulence, if you havent seen it already, the researchers say. The firms that figure it out, either by luck or by ingenuity, are going to kill it. And the firms that dont figure it out are not.

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Does Automation Result In More Jobs Being Created? - Forbes

In September of 2020, JPMorgan made headlines by ordering its traders, bankers, brokers and analysts back into the office, touting the beneficial synergy of in-person workplace interactions. Several days later, the bank made headlines again for sending some traders home after an employee tested positive for COVID-19.

As more of the population is vaccinated and returns to offices in pursuit of that synergy JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon hopes to regain, employers will want to avoid mandating employees back into workplaces before it is safe to return. Striking the balance between synergy and safety will require corporates to proactively mitigate hygiene risk, and they should do so by using the same approach that increases efficiency and reduces human error in any other business process: automation.

Hygiene risk and human error

Automation is at the forefront of the minds of many leaders who were undertaking a digital transformation heading into 2020 a journey that for many was accelerated by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shift to remote work.

The proven benefits of automation reduced errors, lower costs and improved resource allocation are all advantages that can be gained by applying automation to mitigate hygiene risk. Recommendations encouraging handwashing, face masks, ventilation and social distancing are plentiful, but humans are imperfect in following these guidelines, resulting in surging infection rates and additional lockdowns. To ensure a resilient, sustainable return to work, corporate leaders will seek technological solutions, because automation is the antidote for human error.

Spending on workplace hygiene tech is expected to reach $400 million by 2025, and to ensure the best return on that fat investment, corporations will seek automated solutions that perform multiple functions. Some technology monitors various factors at once, such as hand hygiene and temperature checks, while other tools will aim to both monitor and educate.

For instance, Connectome.ais hand-washing system is a screen above the tap that is integrated with a turnstile. The system not only ensures safer entry, but also teaches proper hand hygiene a practice that is very susceptible to human error and imperfection. When observed in public restrooms, only 5% of people washed their hands long enough to kill germs, 33% didnt use soap, and 1 in 10 didnt wash their hands at all. Another study observing adults aged 60+ preparing food in a domestic kitchen found that only 30% properly washed and dried their hands before preparing food; 62% did not rub hands, palms and between fingers when washing hands; and 47% failed to use soap every time they washed.

Given that handwashing has been shown to reduce cases of all respiratory diseases by 20%, and there is global consensus among the medical community that hand hygiene is the most effective first line of defence against COVID-19, it is clear that the educational component of automated solutions is not only necessary, but a sound investment for corporations aiming to mitigate hygiene risk and ensure the health and safety of their employees.

From medical to mainstream

The healthcare industry is already attuned to the benefits of automating hygiene risk, and automation continues to be a popular strategy in hospitals where cost-reduction and efficiency are central to their fiscal goals. Due to its unbiased nature, automated hand hygiene-monitoring systems are especially effective in facilities where a direct observation approach has failed to improve compliance. Other growing industry automation trends include touchless cleaning, with research indicating that UV light disinfection eliminates up to 97.7% of harmful pathogens in operating rooms, and smart HVAC system designs that not only ensure proper air circulation, but also automatically adjust themselves based on custom settings and schedules.

Now that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of hygiene in safeguarding worker health across sectors, these formerly specialised solutions are going mainstream. Workplace hygiene solutions were already on the radar in heavy industries and the pandemic has resulted in creative adaptions of previously developed safety tech. German chemical company Henkel reconfigured sensors designed to prevent forklift crashes into wearable devices that ensure social distancing after a coronavirus outbreak that shut down the plant for two weeks.

The first human trial of a COVID-19 vaccine was administered this week.

CEPI, launched at the World Economic Forum, provided funding support for the Phase 1 study. The organization this week announced their seventh COVID-19 vaccine project in the fight against the pandemic.

The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched in 2017 at the Forum's Annual Meeting bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases and to enable access to these vaccines during outbreaks.

Coalitions like CEPI are made possible through public-private partnerships. The World Economic Forum is the trusted global platform for stakeholder engagement, bringing together a range of multistakeholders from business, government and civil society to improve the state of the world.

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Hygiene risk mitigation was recently in the global spotlight during the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo, with much discussion about how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among athletes. Within the Olympic Village, the strategy was based around frequent testing, but some automated tech debuted, such as a digital pin that encouraged the exchange of information while maintaining social distancing.

Wearables are an enduring trend in sports. When the National Basketball Association (NBA) resumed play in 2020, players, coaches and reporters covering the games wore a wristband that sounded an alarm when wearers got too close to each other for two long. So far, hygiene risk strategies in sports are mostly focused on tracking and tracing, but its easy to envision how prevention could be integrated into the sporting experience for instance, in arenas that already incorporate security screenings and ticketing turnstiles, the foundation is in place to integrate handwashing into the entrance experience.

Considering re-entry to offices, there is already widespread speculation on the workplace of the future a vision where automated hygiene risk mitigation technology is seamlessly integrated into the design of the buildings. But, of course, most businesses arent yet breaking ground.

As companies plan for a return to their existing workspaces, they must embrace the automated solutions currently available, because corporations that fail to protect employees health remain exposed to significant risk and will, therefore, not be truly resilient. Not only is this the optimal approach to mitigating hygiene risk, but embracing technology to automate the process enables leaders to reap the efficiency, productivity and cost advantages that automated solutions provide.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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Automatic handwashing tech can help provide a resilient return to work - World Economic Forum