Cape Town Picnic (III): Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation

eleonoraescalantestrategy 8 Dec 2017 Leave a Comment

Hi to all of you!

Today I have decided to be unpredictable. I believe Cape Town deserves a wonderful farewell party chapter about these three topics. I am amused by the big amount of data available about Robotics, AI, and Automation. Let me share with you a video from the International Robotics Federation, which can give us an executive summary of the current situation of the Robotics industry in the world. If you are interested to know about the robotics industry status, I decide to leave you connected with the robotic experts. I believe it is a very complete source of information. Of course, be patient to listen to this corporate presentation, don´t expect it to have the french Cyprien youtube style. It doesn´t have music either. Please listen to the following IFR presentation even if you think it is a bit boring. Boring people are usually the smartest on the planet. In addition, I attach a video of Cyprien below (I usually see Cyprien videos because it is a good tool to improve my acquired french auditive skills).

As mentioned above, I decided to share the following video about Cyprien. He is the number “one” Youtuber in France by number of subscribers. At the time I am writing this post, Cyprien has 1,753,913,364 of video views. Keep in mind this is what youngsters like to see. Can we compare the video from the International Federation of Robotics with a video from Cyprien?.

My personal impression when comparing both videos: the Robotics sector should be a bit more appealing to young people. What do you think? If the techie innovative industry wishes to hire youngsters who think about the world as Cyprien, it will be very difficult to attract the new media digital geniuses. There are plenty of marketing and public relations experts which can help the technology sector to be attractive to young people. And I truly recommend it from my young heart. Even though I am 47 years old, I still believe of having a young heart. I love to listen to the most recent trendy music on Youtube and I love to dance since I was a petite girl… that keeps me next to the newest music available in the market. People who know me in town can tell you I enjoy dancing classes and Cycling workouts at the World Gym from San Salvador. On top of that, I like to listen to French videos and French news every week because Youtube is the best free language learning tool on earth!. As a result of my frequent Youtube use, I have seen what the young people look for. The closest we are to what they listen and dance, the better we are to understand the youngster needs and wants. The better we will be able to attract and retain young people in our companies. And the better we will evolve for the future with them as friends, clients, as potential workers, and even as future investors.

Now, let´s go to automation. Let me share with you in one phrase what do I think about Automation. For me, automation is something normal. It doesn´t scare me. It doesn´t create “l´angoisse” or anxiety. Maybe because of my first background before business administration and economics, was engineering. Also, the fact I worked for ABB in Switzerland, makes me a firm believer in automation as part of the industry 4.0 revolution. Automation has been happening since many decades ago. And since I was born in a world with automation I do not find it dangerous, and it has evolved over the years.

Automation encompasses many vital elements, systems, and job functions.

The dictionary defines automation as “the technique of making an apparatus, a process, or a system operate automatically.” The International Society of Automation (ISA) has defined automation as “the creation and application of technology to monitor and control the production and delivery of products and services.” Automation provides benefits to virtually all and every single industry. ISA has named some examples: Manufacturing, including food and pharmaceutical, chemical and petroleum, pulp and paper; Transportation, including automotive, aerospace, and rail; Utilities, including water and wastewater, oil and gas, electric power, and telecommunications; Defense and Facility operations, including security, environmental control, energy management, safety, and other building automation.

“Automation crosses all functions within the industry from installation, integration, and maintenance to design, procurement, and management. Automation even reaches into the marketing and sales functions of these industries. Automation involves a very broad range of technologies including robotics and expert systems, telemetry and communications, electro-optics, Cybersecurity, process measurement and control, sensors, wireless applications, systems integration, test measurement, and others”.

I found the following information from a Deloitte presentation. The more I try to segment and classify where we stand with AI, automation, Robotics and Digital Technologies, the more options I find about each expert opinions about these technologies.

Evolution of Automation, Deloitte The Netherlands, Dec. 2016

And guess what have I discovered during these days? Every single top strategy consulting company, scientists, academics, tech experts and international well-recognized gurus about IT topics have their own definition, segmentation and point of view about the following terms: Digital technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Automation, etc. AI experts tell us Robotics is part of AI technologies. Robotic experts have their own segmentation and tell us that AI is part of Robotic Technologies. Digital Technology experts segment AI, Robotics and Automation as technologies from the big Digital field, and Gartner displays many of these terms in different hype cycles. Common guys, put yourself in the shoes of the young teenagers… let´s be clear about all these terms, particularly for the youngsters who are planning ahead to choose a career and have no idea what to do and are considering technology. I mean these kids deserve a better reference guide.

As a strategy advisor, and personally, I believe the term digital technologies is much better and pretty than Artificial Intelligence and Robotics or Automation. Don´t you think it is time for “rebranding” the terms and coin them again, with a standard benchmark for all of us? I leave this question to the IT, digital, data science, automation, AI and Robotics experts. Be on the same page, please. What type of messy technology world are we going to leave to the youngsters???

I will close this post today leaving you with pending information about Artificial Intelligence. I will deliver this during next Leg 3. I have to reshape the AI information a bit since I have found a huge mess about it. Better to go “despacito”.

Enjoy the Youtube Rewind Shape of 2017. In one day after its publication on Youtube, and when writing this post, this beautiful video has reached 60,001,900 views. And I bet, tomorrow this video will double the views. Cheers!