This week's 3 Bells
A special this week: 3 bells about the coming world of robotics
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We seem to think of humans and robots as "either-or." Why not both together? The FT featured SEW-Eurodrive’s factory in Baden-Württemberg, where a lighter and more flexible robot is arriving on the factory floor to collaborate safely with human workers thanks to advances in sensor and vision technology, and computing power. These "cobots" are affordable enough to revolutionise manufacturing, particularly for smaller-scale firms, once their dexterity and intelligence improves. They would not necessarily displace human labour, just remove the "dull, dirty and dangerous" bits. And what's wrong with that? It's time we stopped making our fellow human beings beasts of burden. The challenge: training tomorrow's workforce to do added-value jobs, not heavy lifting.
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Many collaborations between humans and technology are coming - soon. Think about them for your industry - before your competitors do.
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Did you enjoy your meal? No tip needed.
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Is that a fairly standard restaurant in the photo above? Surprise one: it's a KFC. A little more elegant than you expected, huh? Surprise two: it's a fully digital restaurant, covering everything from ordering to paying, as well as entertainment.
This is a concept restaurant unveiled in China in a collaboration by KFC and Baidu. Consumers place their orders using Baidu's virtual personal assistant, Duer. Other fancy stuff: automatic ordering machines, wireless smartphone charging. Digital fast food, in other words. This will have its limits; I'm not too happy with a vision of a future all-tech restaurant. Human beings enjoy human warmth as they dine. But if the human beings are failing to be warm and friendly and are slow and inefficient to boot, then...
Photo credit: China Daily (adjusted)
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Digital automation is coming to all industries, and it will enhance customer experience if done well. Don't be caught in the pure-analogue trap as these technologies come onstream.
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And finally - a robot you swallow!
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Say what? Swallow a robot? No way, you say...but not so fast. MIT reported it has developed exactly that: a robot you ingest. Why would you do that? Researchers at MIT, the University of Sheffield, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have demonstrated a tiny origami robot that can unfold itself from a swallowed biocompatible capsule and, steered by external magnetic fields, crawl across the stomach wall to remove a swallowed button battery or patch a wound. Little robots crawling around inside us fixing stuff, so that we don't have to be cut open? Bring it on!
Photo credit: Melanie Gonick/MIT
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Healthcare will be one of the most profoundly affected sectors. Many of today's interventions and techniques will seem primitive in twenty years' time.
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