From a purely engineering perspective, 3-D printing is allowing researchers to build, modify and make repairs to robotic machines quicker and easier
Chief Economist, CanaData
Continued from Economy at a Glance Part 1.
From a purely engineering perspective, 3-D printing is allowing researchers to build, modify and make repairs to robotic machines quicker and easier.
Some of the biggest names in the high-tech sector are showing a greater willingness to make the necessary investments in the industry.
Amazon Inc. has made acquisitions to advance its dream of employing more and better robots to run its warehouses more efficiently.
Further down the logistics chain, the company has already floated the notion of delivering packages door-to-door by means of aerial drones.
The use of flying drones has expanded hand-in-hand with the wide-spread adoption of global positioning system (GPS) technology.
With a target date that’s not far away, sometime in 2015, the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) is drafting legislation to govern the domestic usage of drone aircraft.
Google has been another leader in acquiring start-up firms in robotics research.
A clear indication of Google’s commitment to the field — with a degree of wishful thinking mixed in — can be found in the name it has adopted for its mobile-phone operating system: Android.
Speaking of aerial drones, what’s next after driverless cars? Pilotless planes?
Yes, almost certainly. The appeal becomes more obvious when considered in the context of the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370 out of Malaysia. At some future date, external control of flight systems may circumvent such tragedies.
Perhaps the most successful use of robotics so far has been achieved by the military.
Robotic bomb detectors have been successfully deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, reducing casualties from I.E.D.’s (improvised explosive devices).
Aerial drones have also demonstrated extraordinary usefulness in difficult fly zones. They’ve served a purpose in rooting out and eliminating terrorist cells in inaccessible and heavily guarded enemy camps.
As with many seismic shifts in human history, the military use of aerial drones is presenting those in authority with some dilemmas. One of the most interesting concerns the awarding of medals for valour.
The U.S. military is currently grappling with what level of honor should be bestowed on drone operators who win major victories but remain in relative safety back at their home base.
Are there any points of comparison between such actions and the physical risk that is involved in live combat?
Once the new FAA regulations come down with respect to the commercial use of drones, agri-business is likely to embrace their wide-spread adoption to monitor crop health and yields.
The environmental movement should be pleased with the knowledge that drones can be assigned the task of keeping an eye on the mechanical worthiness of important infrastructure projects such as pipelines.
It will be possible to identify leaks and spillage sooner with a corresponding shortening of cleanup crew response times.
It’s also easy to imagine that emergency robots will serve a myriad of purposes during tornado and hurricane seasons.
Their usefulness in moments of disaster, natural or otherwise, is obvious. The Fukushima nuclear plant catastrophe in Japan, following an earthquake and tsunami, highlighted the need for greater robotic capacity to go into areas that were too dangerous for man.
The Economist magazine includes a special report entitled Rise of the Robots in its March 29-April 4 edition. One of the articles suggests that tomorrow’s world may mandate that large industrial complexes be equipped with emergency robots.
On a gentler note, robots are already being employed to deliver food trays to patients in hospitals.
Cuddly versions of robots, designed to appear as a teddy bear or family pet, have been found to help the infirm and aging — especially those with some degree of mental deterioration — cope better with stress.
In terms of commercial sales to households, the most successful robot so far has been the Roomba vacuum cleaner made by iRobot. There are more than eight million units of this little circular device in home use.
You place it on your carpeting or hardwood flooring and leave it to merrily careen around your living room and kitchen area while you are engaged in some other activity. Even the TV ads for the product are fun to watch.
Much of the emotional impact in science fiction literature and movies comes from the interaction between humans and their robots. R2D2 and C3PO in the Star Wars films were richly imagined characters that had both amusing and touching moments with their humanoid “leads”.
It’s part of our human nature to personalize our surroundings. According to the makers of the Roomba, 80% of purchasers have given their cleaning “buddy” a name.
Continuing with a “personal” theme, let me return to the subject of job displacement for my closing comments.
I’m not sure what this trend towards robotics means for economists in general, but my own job description has evolved to the point where I now write for a living.
It won’t surprise me much if someday an artificial brain puts together a better phrase than I can muster.
That leaves one unanswered question. Will he or she get the sex scenes right?
For more articles by Alex Carrick on the Canadian and U.S. economies, please see his market insights. Mr. Carrick also has an economics blog.
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