Category Archives: Automation

The Age of Automation

Much has been said about how automation will affect employment and the economy. In almost every conversation, the looming threat of job displacement is focused on a very specific sector: the blue-collar job market.

One frequently cited study published back in 2013 by Oxford University and the Oxford Martin School says that 47 percent of jobs in the US will be automated in the next 20 years. In Canada, a study conducted by the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship says that 40 percent of jobs in the country will be taken over by machines in the next decade or two. In the UK, theyre predicting that 850,000 jobs will be automated by 2030. And in Southeast Asia, an estimated 137 million workers are in danger of losing their jobs in the next 20 years.

These predictions are premised on the fact that machines are now more than capable of completing repetitive jobs that most blue-collar human workers are handling today. But technology isnt going to stop there. Artificial intelligence(AI)is getting more sophisticated, implying that its not only the jobs defined by formulaic processes that are in danger, but also creative, service and knowledge-based professions.

We are starting to see in fields like medicine, law, investment banking, dramatic increases in the ability of computers to think as well or better than humans. And thats really the game-changer here. Because thats something that we have never seen before, says Sunil Johal, a public policy expert forCBC News.

Granted, the implications of more intelligent automation on white collar jobs are all speculative at this point. Theres little data to support how much automation will affect that job market, mostly because experts believe its impactwill be far more subtle than inblue- collar industries. In white-collar industries, theres more opportunity to shuffle employees around, or slowly phase out jobs, which means the threat of automation wont be as dramatic. That being said, it willchange things.

Johal believes that to keep up, one must actively develop new skills that will adapt to the changing needs of the job market.

If Canada doesnt take this seriously, we are going to see many Canadians left on the sidelines of the labour market, he adds. They are not going to be able to get back into the job force.

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The Automation Upheaval Won't Be Limited to Blue-Collar Jobs - Futurism

The current job description of an accounts payable clerk will disappear in possibly as little as 20 years. This may seem bleak, but the reality is that software advances, developments in robotics, AI and machine learning are bringing a new age of automation one in which machines will be able to outperform humans in various work tasks.

According to McKinsey Global institutes January 2017 report on the future of automation, nearly half of the activities that people are paid to do in the global economy can be automated by adapting currently demonstrated technology. Activities most susceptible to this automation are repetitive, non-creative tasks such as data collection and processing. This puts at risk many jobs in customer service, sales, invoicing, account management and other data entry positions, not the least of which includes AP clerks.

However, these projections dont necessarily mean that the future is hopeless for those holding AP positions. In McKinseys words, People will need to continue working alongside machines to produce the growth in per capita GDP to which countries around the world aspire.

Skilled employees will work alongside software automation and RPA (robotic process automation) to approve data analyzation, guide software in the right direction and even perform tasks that we may not know exist yet. This will require some new skills-based learning, but it is also an opportunity for AP department employees to step out from behind the curtain, develop their job descriptions and have more interesting and meaningful jobs. Employees will be able to focus on raising their profile, supporting the business with more meaningful work, providing good internal service, and in turn, be more motivated.

Reckon this is wishful thinking? Think again. Its been done before.

After all, the first computers wore skirts. In the early decades of the 1900s, mathematical and technical calculations were made manually rather than by machine. This work required a large workforce to compute all the information. With the industrial boom brought on by WWII, organizations like NASA began recruiting women for this work, who they called computers. It has even been said that the first computers wore skirts.

Eventually, as the machines we know today as computers began to develop, many of these manual tasks were automated. Rather than discarding the women that had previously done this job, NASA and other organizations simply retrained employees to work alongside these machines and perform less menial tasks. This conscious step allowed the women who had been the quiet backbone of the organization to make themselves and their work known.

One example recently made popular by the book and award-winning film Hidden Figures is that of African-American physicist and mathematician Katherine Johnson and her team. Johnson worked as a computer on NASAs early team from 1953-1958, where she analyzed topics such as gust alleviation for aircrafts. When NASA used electronic computers for the first time to calculate John Glenns first orbit around the earth, officials asked Johnson to verify the computers numbers and her reputation for accuracy helped establish confidence in the new technology. Johnson herself went on to use these new computers to aid in calculations until her retirement in 1986. Similarly, the value of AP clerks and other accounting professionals will shift as they become valuable as human analysts and strategists, vital in the role of validating a machines processes.

These kinds of shifts can be seen throughout history, like in the move away from agriculture and decreases in manufacturing share of employment in the United States, both of which were accompanied by the creation of new types of work not foreseen at the time.

We can expect a similar response to automation in the accounts payable department. As AP software becomes more advanced, clerks and controllers will evolve to work with it, not be replaced by it. The important work of AP clerks will no longer be in the shadows. The job will be transformed from paper pusher to vital business asset.

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Voices The hidden figures behind automation - Accounting Today

"We cannot solve our problems with the same kind of thinking that we used when we created them," Albert Einstein supposedly said. One of his namesakes, an artificial intelligence called Einstein that Salesforce is incorporating into all of its products, embodies that sentiment: Salesforce is betting that human cognition won't drive its next wave of commercial growth. Rather, machine learning will push Salesforce's products deeper into its clients' businesses, and help Salesforce penetrate new companies, by augmenting human decision-making.

If Einstein is anywhere near as useful as Salesforce claims, the technology will supplant some human workers -- maybe a lot of them. Salesforce wants to make sales and marketing more efficient, which means that fewer people will be needed accomplish the same tasks. CEO Marc Benioff once wrote, "The only constant in the technology industry is change." Automation has hit factory workers hard, and soon members of the information economy will feel the same pain. The deadline may arrive before most knowledge workers, or the societies they occupy, are prepared.

On Tuesday, Salesforce held a "customer kickoff" event. It executives and partners discussed product development, with a heavy focus on Einstein's artificial intelligence capabilities. IBM CEO Ginni Rometty spoke briefly, apropos the two companies' recently announced partnership. "2017 is the year that AI enters the world at scale," she said. "The cognitive era is just beginning."

Of course, humans have engaged in cognition as long as the species has existed. What Rometty meant is we won't keep our monopoly on thought for long.

AI has been subject to enough hype cycles that default skepticism is warranted. However, recent technological breakthroughs suggest that the frothy press coverage and equally frothy corporate salivation may indicate something real this time. Google's DeepMind division programmed an AI that beat a complex strategy game before anyone expected it to be able to. Andrew Ng, renowned machine learning expert and chief scientist at Baidu, told the Wall Street Journal, "I think we're in the phase where AI will change pretty much every major industry."

Ng added, "Things may change in the future, but one rule of thumb today is that almost anything that a typical person can do with less than one second of mental thought we can either now or in the very near future automate with AI." Perhaps human workers should be frightened, since "there are a lot of jobs that can be accomplished by stringing together many one-second tasks."

Salesforce's Einstein is already doing some of this. In practical terms, the AI will not provoke an immediate revolution -- it's a version of what many SaaS clients expect from the applications they pay for. You could even argue that innovation hides in plain sight. Einstein enables prosaic but immensely useful functions like automated lead-scoring, based on information pulled into Salesforce's system. Einstein can aggregate signals such as whether a contact has looked at marketing materials (e.g. a webinar or whitepaper), and what their role is within the target organization.

"In a world powered by AI, signals are important," chief product officer Alex Dayon noted at the customer kickoff event. Einstein is able to interpret a variety of data inputs without much setup. In fact, most of Einstein's capabilities are available out of the box. Other features like Einstein Vision have to be integrated by developers. Salesforce is bringing automatic customization to all of its customers, while enabling those with greater resources to craft a deeper layer of specialized processes.

Some levels of customization are designed to be leveraged by non-technical users. "I can create a lead-management process with clicks, not code," product marketing EVP Stephanie Buscemi said. Salespeople who use Einstein are "not just smarter, they're also more productive," according to Buscemi.

Today's productivity gains are tomorrow's layoffs. It's not that productivity gains are bad. Rather, increased efficiency simply means that fewer inputs produce greater outputs. As it stands, labor is among the most significant inputs for a majority of businesses. The acceleration of what artificial intelligence can do is poised to multiply the impact of individual human workers -- while obsoleting others.

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Salesforce's Big Bet on AI Shows How Automation Will Affect Knowledge Workers - Inc.com

The same technology that makes self-driving cars possible could also transform wheelchairs.

For someone with advanced Lou Gehrig's disease or severe paralysis, a motorized wheelchair can be very hard to use: If you can't move a joystick with your hand, you have to use a switch embedded in the headset or a "sip-and-puff" device controlled with the breath.

The devices only allow you to control one thing at a time: You can adjust your speed or the direction that your wheelchair is pointing, but not both simultaneously.

[Photo: argallab]

"This basically makes it so the operation of the wheelchair is much more challenging, especially when you're dealing with tightly constrained spaces," says Brenna Argall, a professor at Northwestern University who is developing technology for autonomous wheelchairs in her Assistive and Rehabilitation Robotics Laboratory. "What this means, in practice, is that for many people it's a burden or very fatiguing mentally and physically to operate the wheelchair," she tells Co.Exist.

And there's the fact that some people don't have enough motor control to be prescribed a wheelchair. Children who can't easily use a wheelchair, similarly, may not be allowed to bring it to school.

Autonomy can change that by outfitting wheelchairs with sensors to avoid obstacles in much the same way a self-driving car does. Several researchers are working on variations of the wheelchair-adapted technology. At Oregon State University, a team is developing a low-cost kit that could be added to existing wheelchairs. At MIT, a team is developing a self-driving wheelchair that could be used in nursing homes or hospitals.

[Photo: C. Jason Brown]

"There is a lot we can borrow from the field of autonomous robots and what mobile robots have been able to do on their own for decades now," Argall says.

Her focus is on developing a wheelchair that can leave users with as much control as possible. "We don't want to take autonomy away from peoplewe only want to add autonomy," she says. The system balances human and robotic control; if the wheelchair senses that it's going to run into something if it continues on a path set by a human, it makes only minute adjustments instead of taking over and driving on its own. The final device will likely give people options for how much control they want to retain.

The automated wheelchair may still be in development for another five years, as the team continues to refine the technology. Argall's lab, which is part of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, is moving into a new research hospital this month called the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, which puts researchers directly next to therapy spaces for patientssomething that could help aspects of the technology's design, like the lab's wheelchair or robotic prosthetics.

"We're going to now directly see people interacting with their therapists in ways that maybe we wouldn't have seen in our lab, which might cause us to think of different considerations in the technology we're building," Argall says. "And vice versa, they will see what our technology is capable of or not capable of, and they might have ideas for how it can be changed or something new that we could develop."

If the wheelchair can be commercialized, it could change lives, potentially giving someone the ability to go to a job by themselves, or do daily tasks that would have required a caregiver in the past. "It could have big implications for costs in terms of caregiving," she says. "It's also been shown that independence matters a lot for people's mental health . . . part of that is because of your loss of autonomy, and this can help with that as well."

Slideshow Credits: 01 / Photo: C. Jason Brown; 02 / Photo: Sally Ryan; 03 / Photo: Sally Ryan; 04 / Photo: argallab; 05 / Photo: argallab; 06 / Photo: C. Jason Brown; 07 / Photo: C. Jason Brown;

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The Next Frontier In Automation: Self-Driving Wheelchairs - Co.Exist

ProMATIC Automation, Inc. specializes in the design and build of custom factory automation equipment to meet specific customer needs utilizing state-of-the-art automation technologies.

Watch this video to see an overview of the types of projects we have automated.

ProMATIC Automation has nearly 20 years of experience as a supplier of custom industrial automation services and equipment. Our highly skilled employees have the knowledge and experience to design and build everything from manufacturing lean cells to complex fully automated assembly equipment to our customers exact specifications.

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ProMATIC has extensive experience in Automotive applications involving assembly, material handling, and testing processes meeting the stringent quality requirements while maintaining aggressive program launch schedules.

With attention to clean-room requirements and FDA regulations, ProMATIC can deliver high-tech automation solutions for the medical industry and assist customers in the equipment validation process and documentation.

ProMATIC has developed automation solutions for a wide variety of general industrial clients including customers in the Electrical Equipment, Heavy Construction, Plastics Molding, Industrial/Mobile Hydraulics, Printing and Packaging Industries.

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Promatic Automation | Asheville NC

When it comes to depictions of futuristic societies in film and literature, science fiction nigh unanimously errs on the side of dystopia. So too do pundits and nearly half of young people in developed industrial economies, according to a 2016 poll by Future Foundation when the topic of automation of the labour force is discussed. Indeed, headlines often blare job losses to technological innovation in numbers that seem impossible: one 2016 report by the Mowat Centre, a public policy think tank, declared that a little over 40 per cent of Canadian jobs are highly vulnerable to automation in the next 10 to 20 years. And while high-risk occupations also tend to be low-income, illustrious STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) have also become increasingly susceptible to creeping automation due to some of the repetitive task-based elements that come along with high degrees of specialization.

While this isnt the Terminators famous Skynet scenario, the prospect of large-scale unemployment at the hands of robots may understandably foster hostility and anxiety in the minds of todays modern precarious worker, or alternatively, precariat. Another major factor in this potential discontent is the current status of social infrastructure in Canada and the West at large, which is frankly failing.

Unions have been falling both in terms of strength and membership since the eighties, and benefits for both the employed and unemployed have been subject to continual downgrades over the past few decades. Employed workers have seen their benefits shrink due to the spread of the gig economy, which has replaced traditional full-time employment and all the security alongside it with much more turbulent, part-time contract work. Meanwhile, the vast majority of the unemployed have seen their safety net shredded. In the past 40 years, the distribution of employment insurance has been halved, covering only 39 per cent of unemployed Canadians in 2016 as opposed to 82 per cent in 1978. At large, both local and global labour markets have become characterized by precarity.

It is speculated that the new digital economy will only exacerbate these woes. However, such a conclusion rests on premises of maintaining the ideological status quo: the assumption that labour regulations will continue to benefit owners at the expense of labourers. But rather than becoming mired in cynicism, we must at least attempt to summon the political will to change the course of the future for the better. That is to say, the automation of the workforce need not be a looming dystopia, but instead could be a gleaming utopia so long as the weaknesses in our social infrastructure are addressed.

Fears surrounding a robotic invasion of the workforce are largely influenced by the trenchant grip of late capitalism on modern society. With certain measures in place, mass automation of the labour force is not only permissible, but desirable: a pursuit worthy of all the political capital the left can muster.

A priority of any government allied both to the modern day labourer and economic automation should be the implementation of a robust universal basic income. Specifically, one with a progressive index that scales back the payable sums the higher a recipient falls on the income bracket. This is in order to ensure that those who are temporary or permanently displaced from the workforce can continue to live a reasonable lifestyle, and as a result are able to continue engaging in the economy.

Secondly, all industries that provide the infrastructure for automation must be nationalized. Otherwise, income inequality would soar as capitalists reap massive profits as staffing costs vanish altogether from budgets. To allow private holdings in critical industries of the digital economy would spawn a superpowered class of robo-capitalists, consisting of those who own the intellectual property rights to automation technology and those who own the companies manned not by salaried but automated workers. It would be nave to think the ensuing economic boom in the private sector wouldnt translate to a monopoly on political power.

Through nationalization, we can ensure that the fruits of automation are distributed appropriately and equitably. Not only would extreme class stratification be prevented, but re-energized profit streams on an unprecedented scale raised from booming business will fund a universal basic income scheme among other additions to the welfare state. These will include comprehensive skill-building programs needed for the maintenance of a smaller but more diversified economy as well as the resources necessary to integrate coding curricula into the education system. Both would be necessary for the maintenance of economy-wide automation.

With such measures implemented, a reduced workload becomes one of the stepping stones to enlightenment. Freed from the monotonous drone of an all-consuming work week, workers subject to automation will be displaced not only from their jobs but from being cogs in a machine. With widespread automation, once-workers will be able to invest in their creative pursuits, their relationships, and meaningful projects that genuinely attract their interest. Even those who wish to continue as career-driven will be free to do so without repercussions, as the types of employment primarily requiring human capital will be dynamic, complex, and richly engaging. Of course, this is all ideal speculation. Nevertheless, the chance of this never coming to pass ought not to dissuade our pursuit of what could be.

The drawbacks to automation on a mass scale stem not from the innovation itself but rather from the fact that modern social systems are woefully unequipped to deal with the upheaval that would follow from what is essentially an economic revolution. The welfare state in its current form does not have the resources to effectively cope with the aftershocks of widespread automation of the labour force. As the economy undergoes paradigm shifts, so too must public policy and the discourse surrounding it. Should we successfully reimagine the boundaries of this debate, past the neoliberal confines of free markets and small government, then society as a whole will reap the benefits. In terms of progress, the alternative simply does not compute.

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Automation isn't the problem, capitalism is - The Manitoban

For this years International Womens Day, expect to see numerous articles calling for more women in tech.

Theyre all right, of course a report released by Allbright earlier this week shows that a mere 3% of all VCs in Sweden are women, so little wonder that less than one in ten of VC investments in Sweden go to female entrepreneurs.

Sweden is at the forefront of gender equality across the board, but when it comes to the tech sector we have an embarrassingly long way to go. And unfortunately, its starting to get pretty urgent.

The advancement of tech and automation of jobs is waiting for no one. Arecent report from McKinsey shows that 46% of Swedish jobs are likely to be wiped out by emerging technology and female-dominated sectors like retail, administration and healthcare are taking some of the hardest hits.

This is not a bad thing per se quite the opposite. Innovation and new technologies should be embraced as important parts of moving countries and societies forward. Moreover, new jobs will be created en masse to build, develop and manage the technology replacing those jobs.

But considering thatwomen still make up of only a fifth of Swedens programming workforce, and less than 30% of the countrys STEM students, most of them risk missing out on the new opportunities that lie ahead.

Or, as areport from World Economic Forumput it given womens low participation in STEM professions (..) women stand to gain only one new STEM job for every 20 lost across other job families."

The same number for men? One new job for every four lost.

In other words, women's underrepresentation in STEM and technology combined precipitous job declines in women-dominated professions may well lead to women becoming grossly disadvantaged in the new, automated economy.

Regarding gender balance in tech, weve mainly heard concerns about women and girls not having enough role models, or too little female representation among VCs and founders. These are valid concerns but with jobs in female-dominated fields of work being wiped out in large numbers, women in tech is no longer a nice-to-have, but rather a pretty urgent need-to-have.

Failing to foster environments that encourage more women to approach STEM professions comes with the risk of excluding huge numbers of people from the general workforce benefiting no one.

Mina Hesar is the Head of Program and Culture at the Malm based accelerator Fast Track Malm.

Also Read:Here are Sweden's most powerful women in tech 2017

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With the rise of automation, women in tech is no longer a nice-to-have but a need-to-have - Business Insider Nordic

The global economy remains uncertain and volatile, which means companies must be ready to adapt quickly as elections in Germany and France will have a lasting impact, said Ulrich Spiesshofer, CEO of ABB Group, the Swiss engineering and automation company.

"For us as industrial leaders, it is very important for us to stay extremely agile," he said in an interview withTheStreet on Tuesday during CERAWeek by IHS Markit. "Brexit has a dampening effect on the European economy and what will come out of the major elections nobody knows at the moment."

The outcome of some of the European elections will have "quite a significant impact" on energy policy on the economies and market, said Spiesshofer.

While the impact of geopolitical tensions on the markets remain unknown, he remains optimistic about many regions of the world which are continuing to expand by adding infrastructure and other projects as the population increases.

The continued growth in China and India as well as Japan's "moderate growth pattern" are all positive indicators. The Middle East is "reinventing itself" as the region ramped up the use of renewable energy five years ago and presents "remarkable opportunities" as many countries are investing in infrastructure, he said. Africa demonstrates underlying opportunities with its strength in its natural resources as the continent represent one of the fastest growing populations, resulting in good market dynamics.

Spiesshofer believes that 2017 will likely emerge as a "transition year" for many regions of the world while the long-term sentiment of the U.S. is "very positive."

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ABB CEO Says Automation and Artificial Intelligence Will Increase Number of Jobs - TheStreet.com

With pressure on machine builders and manufacturers to find ways to lower equipment costs, companies are looking to suppliers for helpand a good start is to lower the installation cost of cabling that connects I/O and field devices.

In an effort to meet industry needs, Beckhoff Automation introduced the concept of EtherCAT P (EtherCAT + Power) in 2015, with the EtherCAT Technology Group publishing a first draft of the official EtherCAT P technology spec at Hannover Messe last year. Last week, during PACK EXPO East, the company had the technology on display and highlighted its benefits during a presentation on the Innovation Stage.

EtherCAT P is an addition to the EtherCAT technology on the cabling level, enabling the use of the standard 4-wire Ethernet cable not only for data, but also for two electrically isolated, individually switchable 24V/3A power supplies. This technology facilitates the cascading of several EtherCAT devices and therefore only requires one cable to connect and power I/O and field devices.

With EtherCAT P, the Us (system and sensor supply) and Up (peripheral voltage for actuators) voltages are directly coupled into the 100 Mbit/s EtherCAT communication line, which leads to reduced cabling, compact, cost-effective wiring, lower system costs and smaller footprint for devices, equipment and machines.

Since EtherCAT P carries both power and data, which can be dangerous to transfer to a network that doesnt support it, the cable connectors are specially designed for EtherCAT P in order to prevent false connections.

And, while a cable that combines power and communications may not seem so remarkable, it can save a lot of time and money. One cable means stocking less parts, less potential for failure of parts and less commissioning time, said Andy Garrido, I/O market specialist at Beckhoff.

EtherCAT P covers all types of apps from the 24V I/O level to drives with 400V AC or 600V DC. A complete machine can be supplied with one line and include all of the advantages of EtherCAT, including choice of topology, high-speed and optimized bandwidth utilization. And, when designing the machine, connections and cabling, Beckhoff has software that can help calculate the maximum distances and loads without having to test it with hardware.

To summarize, EtherCAT P is one cable with power and data combined. We have a deterministic high-speed protocol to send and receive data almost simultaneously and a design tool and error-proof connectors, Garrido said. All of this increases production and decreases cost.

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One Cable Automation - Automation World

Adelaide Airport has announced it has replaced its key operational IT systems with automated solutions provided by Madrid-based IT firm Amadeus.

The airport has adopted Amadeus' full suite of cloud-based airport data management systems, which is expected to streamline Adelaide Airport's management of aircraft parking, boarding gates, check-in desks, customer information, and other mission critical airport terminal services.

"With our new terminal hotel about to start construction, the plans for the expansion of the terminal well advanced and new check-in kiosks and automated baggage systems being deployed, we need the right airport technology partner that can support our growth," said David Blackwell, Adelaide Airport executive general manager for customer service.

With more than 8 million passengers annually and a forecast of more than 18 million passengers by 2034, Adelaide Airport said it has implemented three Amadeus' Airport Solutions -- Airport Operational Database, Airport Fixed Resource Management Solution, and Flight Information Display System -- in a bid to meet growth plans and be "future-ready".

"These sophisticated aeronautical airport data management systems are the first cloud-hosted systems in Australasia and this partnership positions Adelaide Airport as a leader in airport operational data management," Amadeus added.

As a result of its new technology, Adelaide Airport said it will receive accurate and timely data from its daily operations, including information on flights, passengers, baggage, and equipment.

Over 124 airlines in more than 190 countries currently rely on Amadeus systems to manage travel reservations.

Speaking with ZDNet earlier this year, Olaf Schnapauff, CTO of global operations at Amadeus, explained that when taking a flight anywhere in the world, the technology will likely be run by Amadeus.

"Amadeus provides the technology that keeps the travel sector moving. From the initial search to find what you want, to making a booking, to pricing, ticketing, reservations, check-in and departure, hotels, rail, and the overall travel experience," Schnapauff said.

In 2015, Amadeus handled almost 450 million passengers, 4 million booking at peak times each day, according to the CTO.

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Adelaide Airport heads to the cloud for automation | ZDNet - ZDNet