Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

analytics

Cognitive technologies and AI poised to transform all manufacturing sectors, says Frost

by

ibm ai

Partnership, collaboration, and technology investment crucial for growth opportunities, says Frost & Sullivan’s industrial automation and process control team 

The Internet of Things and data analytics are transforming the manufacturing space, and data is the new currency.

Currently, human intervention is needed for logical and reasonable decision making. However, with the rise of cognitive technologies, machines will be empowered to detect constantly changing manufacturing scenarios and respond in real time with minimum human intervention.

To be successful, manufacturers need to invest in artificial intelligence technology to improve plant efficiency and productivity, and build partnerships and collaborations that drive data-driven intelligence.  [Read more…] about Cognitive technologies and AI poised to transform all manufacturing sectors, says Frost

Kuka agrees deal with Beet on IoT

by

beet analytics video still

Kuka has agreed a deal with Beet Analytics as part of robot maker’s Industrie 4.0 strategy.

Kuka will now be able to offer Beet’s industrial IoT technology as another tool in their Industrie 4.0 eco-system and to offer Beet technology on Kuka solutions.

Ronny Chiang, president Beet analytics technology, says: “We are excited to work with Kuka, whose global industrial leadership in automation systems will further strengthen Beet’s presence in the global market. This will allow OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] to access Beet IoT solutions with a respected and established leader standing behind it.”  [Read more…] about Kuka agrees deal with Beet on IoT

AI knew Trump would win

by

Artificial intelligence systems can predict election results better than traditional pollsters, according to a report on em360tech.com. 

Artificial intelligence systems predicted a win for Donald Trump, of the Republican Party, over Hillary Clinton, of the Democrats, in the US presidential elections held yesterday.

Most traditional opinion pollsters rely on directly asking people about their voting intentions and behaviour.  [Read more…] about AI knew Trump would win

Manufacturers rely on big data to navigate tough business conditions, says Honeywell

by

Survey of 200 executives indicates most manufacturers plan to increase investments in data analytics over next year – even while delaying other technology investments

A recent survey of manufacturing executives indicates many respondents (67 percent) are pressing ahead with plans to invest in data analytics even as they pare back spending in other areas to combat tough business conditions.

The reason: Many say they view data analytics – a key component of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) – as a viable solution to a cycle of problems that lead to downtime and lost revenue.

More than 200 North American manufacturing executives took part in the survey titled Data’s Big Impact on Manufacturing: A Study of Executive Opinions. The survey was jointly conducted by Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) and KRC Research, from May 23 to June 8, 2016.  [Read more…] about Manufacturers rely on big data to navigate tough business conditions, says Honeywell

Optical character recognition drives: Automation of auditing for lean efficiencies and accuracy

by

paperwork

By Thomas R. Cutler

The technology driving the most significant transformation of audits over the next three years is unquestionably Optical Character Recognition (OCR).

Too often the thought of automation has been relegated to the manufacturing plant floor or materials handling in a distribution center.

Yet as small businesses represent the largest segment of private lending (more than 90 per cent of the funds by third party lenders), the new form of automation, artificial intelligence and big data is fast-growing and significant.

There are now many viable options on the OCR market, including: PerfectAudit by Ocrolus, SodaPDF, Adobe Acrobat, ABBYY FineReader, and Readiris; pros and cons to each technology, yet only PerfectAudit is the only OCR application custom built for identifying aberrancies and trends during financial reviews, yet flexible enough to be utilized by anyone reviewing bank and credit card statements.

Many industries can add tremendous efficiency by translating paper documents to intelligent data.  [Read more…] about Optical character recognition drives: Automation of auditing for lean efficiencies and accuracy

The great migration: cloud computing for smart manufacturing

by

smart factory illustration

Martyn Williams, managing director at Copa-Data UK, discusses “unlocking the value of cross-facility data sets” through cloud computing for smart manufacturing

According to an industry survey by IBM, two thirds of mid-sized companies have already implemented – or are currently considering – a cloud based storage model for their organisation.

The analytic advantages of cloud computing in industry are no secret, in fact, 70 per cent of these cloud-using respondents said they were actively pursuing cloud-based analytics to gleam greater insights and efficiency in order to achieve business goals.  [Read more…] about The great migration: cloud computing for smart manufacturing

The potential of predictive analytics for machine builders

by

Martyn Williams, managing director of Copa-Data UK
Martyn Williams, managing director of Copa-Data UK

Martyn Williams, managing director of industrial automation software expert Copa-Data UK, discusses how machine builders can use predictive analytics to minimise the maintenance and downtime costs of their products

The cost of production downtime varies significantly from one industry sector to another, but without a doubt, when it occurs, downtime is a troublesome and expensive inconvenience for all manufacturers.

More often than not, halts in production could be avoided, so imagine just how much manufacturers could save if machine data was available to anticipate breakdowns.

The good news for industry is that the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) is allowing machine builders to design and manufacture intelligent machines with predictive analytics capabilities. [Read more…] about The potential of predictive analytics for machine builders

From fewer human workers to no human workers. That’s the way things are going, says Genpact

by

Paul Burton, senior vice president, analytics and research
Paul Burton, senior vice president, analytics and research

Not very far into the future, business leaders will no longer be asking, “How can I achieve this objective with fewer human resources?”, instead they will be asking, “How can I achieve this objective with no human resources?” 

That is the view of Paul Burton, senior vice president, analytics and research, Genpact. 

In a very thorough and extended blog on the subject of business process outsourcing and related subjects, Burton claims there will be a “fundamental paradigm shift” in the way enterprises approach the objective of efficiency.

Burton writes: “We believe that disruption in our industry will result from a fundamental shift in the BPO paradigm. No longer will we (or our competitors) ask how we can operate a particular process more efficiently with fewer, and less expensive, human resources.

“Instead, our point of departure will be from a new paradigm, one in which the framing question is: how do we operate this particular process with no human resources? When you start with this proposition, everything about the way you approach the problem changes.”

Full article at Genpact.com.

GoDaddy boss says AI and automation to shift power from big business toward small enterprise

by

Blake Irving, CEO, Go Daddy
Blake Irving, CEO, Go Daddy. Picture courtesy of AllThingsD

The chief executive of GoDaddy, the largest domain registrar in the world, says his company wants to transfer global economic power from large businesses to small enterprises with the help of artificial intelligence and automation technologies. 

In an article published on Medium.com, Blake Irving makes a distinction between what he describes as “strong” AI – as practised by Darpa, MIT, Berkeley, IBM, Google and others – and “applied” AI, or AAI, such as machine learning and predictive analytics.

Irving writes: “GoDaddy’s vision is to radically shift the global economy toward small business by empowering people to easily start, confidently grow and successfully run their own ventures.

“We didn’t come to that vision by chance, but rather by identifying the intersection of technological and global economic opportunities — and Applied AI is at the heart of both.”

He adds that there are many benefits to be gained from increasing utilisation of AI and automation, but cautions that these technologies will inevitably lead to global economic upheaval, and result in millions of job losses.  [Read more…] about GoDaddy boss says AI and automation to shift power from big business toward small enterprise