Robotics Enhance Productivity, Efficiency, and Success

 Toy
 Robot                      

                                                        Industry Robot                                                                       
  “Technology disrupts many jobs but it create new jobs with more efficiency and consistency to become the lifeline for the economic growth of any country “

During Industry Revolution 4.0, technology wave is moving much faster than predicted by many experts.  Fast strides in technological innovations, computer controlled processes and rapid changes in climate/environment will not slow down but accelerate the change. Those who timely ride this wave are the winners/leaders and others will be onlookers regretting having missed the chance. Digital transformation and industrial automation are the keys to the economic growth of emerging economies. Countries like  the USA, China, South Korea, Singapore, Germany, Sweden, Japan, Canada, and the UK have taken a great leap forward in introducing state-of-the-art technologies like AI and Embedded robotics in manufacturing, transportation, and health care fields. India though 6th largest manufacturing country in the world, it lags behind in introducing Robotics and AI in its industries. However, during 2017–2018, India had taken a big leap forward to maximize the use of emerging technologies in manufacturing and ensure that manufacturing sector contributes 25% to Indian GDP by 2022. The new government of India (23 May 2019), has pledged to make “New India” as one of the leading digital economies of the world.   In this plan, robotics has a versatile role ranging from toys, entertainment electronics, animated movies, space missions, health-care/ surgical procedures, logistics/ transport, and military operations. Robots have great use in chemical and nuclear plants where certain operations are hazardous for human beings.  Robots are programmable using embedded software and can easily reconfigure as per the situation. Robots also find many applications in material handing in assembly-line (manufacturing and processing plants), warehouses, loading/unloading of railway wagons and cargo ships. These are also forming part of hospitals, restaurants, and hotels for housekeeping/cleaning equipment. In today’s fast-paced world, the edge belongs to seamless convergence of Robotics and AI, to handle today’s complex business demands as well as those of the future. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the one innovation providing higher productivity, better operational efficiency and significantly impacting the nature of business practices and alliances. Robotics will accelerate digital transformation for emerging economies.  Although robotics will take away many labor-intensive jobs, yet robotics will also create many new jobs but with new skill sets.

Need for Robots. Martin Ford, a software entrepreneur and the bestselling author of “Rise of the Robots” had pointed out that most jobs can be broken down into a series of routine tasks and many of those can be more efficiently done by the machine-like robot. The robot with built-in logic and controllers can perform certain routine jobs or specific jobs, which are hazardous for human beings. Robots are already in use for healthcare services, housekeeping in hospitals, hotels, restaurants, assembly-line and quality testing in manufacturing /production industry. Robot integrated with optics and laser is doing a great job in surgical procedures. Robots are programmable and have consistent performance since they do not get tired. With embedded logic and AI, Robots are becoming versatile even to give company to lonely technocrats and elderly people. Robots have been used in animated movies since the late 1980s. These will soon be deployed as soldiers in demining or laying minefields and carry out other operations in the war front. Robots are no longer a threat to jobs and infect, robots and AI are integral to future economy and growth.

Robot. A robot is an electro-mechanical machine embedded with software logic to make certain decisions and take situation related actions in autonomous mode.  In a simple way, a robot is a machine that carries out a series of actions automatically for which its inbuilt micro-computer is suitably programmed.  However, the heart of the robot is software engineering related to the following areas:

·  Algorithm development and evaluation. The functionality of the robot is achieved through the embedded algorithm, which is developed by a team consisting of experts from Mechatronics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Operations Research (OR) and a particular industry. It also has experts in Analysis and Design of Algorithm (ADA) and Quality Testing. These activities provide a range of new jobs in related areas. 

·    Embedded Logic.  We as human beings are natural problem-solvers where the basic movement of our limbs in response to a situation comes easily to us. However, for robots, every decision to be made adds a layer of programming complexity. Detection/sensing and dynamic decision making are built into conditional statements to be programmed and embedded in the microcontroller of the robot. That opens up jobs for Instrumentation and Control Engineering (ICE) candidates.

Robot Types.  Larger size robots are for the industry, small ones could be for toys and entertainment while micro-robots could be for surgical procedures or other critical applications. Their broad categorization /applications are briefly given below:

·    Robot Toys.  The robot-like “Transformer” has already captured 60 % of the robot toy industry.  You have robot cars which can quickly change to a walking robot carrying small weapons. These robots could be moving, turning, fighting and flying with hand-held Infrared (IR) remote control or as per pre-stored instructions for various actions in an autonomous mode.

·         Industrial Robots. George Devol in 1959 for General Motors, USA was perhaps the first to design and deploy the first industrial robot (Ultimate). This robot arm was used to manipulate hot die-cast parts in automobile manufacturing, a task that was dangerous for humans to handle. In the present era of automation, industrial robots are increasingly used on most of the industries like manufacturing, packing, storage, loading /unloading of cargo ships, transportation, processing industries, and animated movies.

·     Collaborative Robots (Cobots). The Cobots are designed to be easier to operate than traditional industrial robots. Till 2010, to automate an industry, the only option was to deploy industrial robots which are imagined to be big, heavy, and expensive.  This is partly true since industrial robots have been developed to satisfy the requirement of high-volume production in industries like automotive, aerospace, construction, transportation and consumer goods.  On the other hand, Cobots have been created at an affordable cost for Small-to-Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs). Industrial robots and cobots have many similarities and are deployed based on functional requirement and related cost benefits. Cobots allow you to perform the same tasks as industrial robots, but with a smaller investment and much greater flexibility in terms of setup.

·         Consumer Services robots. These are used for automatic vacuum cleaning of house floors, lawn mowing or car washing at service stations.

·         Palletizing Robot. It is also referred to as robot stacking. Palletizing can be roughly divided into three types, box palletizing, woven bag palletizing and bulk palletizing. The traditional palletizing machine consumes more power, occupies a large space and end up in irregular stacking. Palletizing robots do a much better and faster job.

·   Surgical  Robots.   Surgical robots/ micro-robots have wide applications in areas like surgery related to brain, heart, eye, Urology, Orthopedic, Neurosurgery, Cardiovascular, Gynecology, Radiology, and Transplant. The ailments like diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular, disorders and neurological disorders are growing globally.  Consequently, the demand for surgical robots is growing by leaps and bounds. As a surgeon, you must have good expertise in handling these sophisticated robots.

·     Humanoid Robots. Developing female robots with embedded AI to give human-like response has been a big challenge. In countries like Japan where they have the great scare of a young workforce, these robots will be their personal secretary/ office assistant in the future. They also have “Buddy” robots with emotional expression and basic courtesy (please, thank you, love you, good morning, good night, bye-bye). These robots can provide company and chit-chat with lonely elderly people.  These can provide very convenient physiotherapy services at your convenient place.

·         Playmate Robots. ”Buddy” robot can also play hide and seek game with kids. Buddy is an emotional robot that wins the heart of the whole family, including children and adults. These robots are easily available from online stores of Amazon, Alibaba, Google and you can choose the right price and configuration. You may refer for more details on   https://buddytherobot.com/

·    Hotel Room Service Robots. These robots are proving very efficient and courteous in providing room service and delight their customers.  Receiving meal/snack order from a room and delivering the right meal, on time to the right room and in a courteous manner is the hallmark of modern services in any big hotel. In the future, many more services like floor cleaning, reception desk manning, and restaurant management are being added.

·     Restaurant table service.  Robots dressed as a human being are common for visiting customer tables, take orders and come back with an ordered meal. They can clear the table and lay the table as well. They can also assist in the kitchen/ pantry.

·         Hospitals Room service. Robots are being used for collecting medicines as per prescriptions for various patients and draw those from the medical store and efficiently deliver the right medicine to the right patient on right time. Similarly, robots can provide meals on-time for various patients. These robots can move to the service lift, enter and come out and then traverse the floor to reach the right ward/ room to serve the right patient. Robots are also used in for clearing floors, vacuum cleaning rooms, corridors and picking up waste bins.

·       Robots in animated movies.  Robots have been used for creative and thrilling scenes in animated movies since 1987.  Some popular animated movies are Robo-cop(1987), The Matrix(1999), Artificial Intelligence (2001),  Robots(2005), Transformers(2007). Big Hero  (2014)

·   Spacecraft Robots.  The robots used in space applications are autonomous robots, reconfigurable /self-reconfigurable robots, and modular robots. Robots used in spacecraft have strict requirements for outside environment, maneuverability, and handling of special tools/ instruments. These are specially designed and programmed to carry out onboard maintenance, repair and other tasks which are risky for crew members. Very special robots like “Opportunity”, “Curiosity” were launched to land on other planets like Mars and carry out scheduled exploration tasks. They could move on that terrain, take samples of soil, take pictures of the area around its landing site and send those to NASA for interpretation.

·     Military Applications.  In the military, robots offer an alternative to human soldiers for carrying out tasks like demining an area or laying minefields or carry out other operations like surveillance and terrain mapping in the war front. The security of data transmitted to and from mobile robotic platforms is vital in the military or any security operation.  Hence the transmission has to be secured both ways by the end-user (Military / Law enforcement agencies) so that no one can interfere with the images/videos being picked up and transmitted to the base station, which could be few miles away. While the outer body of such robots is very robust, its other electronic components, micro-controllers, cameras, and cables must withstand extreme hot and cold weather conditions.

Industrial Applications of Robots/ Cobots. There are many applications where industrial robots / cobots can be gainfully deployed. Some commonly known applications are given below:

·         Machine tending. The robot can move parts in and out of a machine for processing. While the robot loads and unloads the parts, human operators are free to work on other tasks.

·        Milling/Machining.  Milling robot can perform the exact cuts and precise movements needed to produce the highest quality of machining.

·   Polishing robots. Polishing robots are also known as Grinding robots used for surface processing of the complex surface of a work-piece. For grinding purposes, these robots use special cutting software and machining power control technology.

·        Pick-and-place. The robot can pick an item from one location and move to place it at another location. Likewise, it can pick and move a part from the output of one process to the input of another process. This is also useful for placing and taking off items from a running belt conveyor.

·         Assembly Robots.  These are also called Assembly Robot Arm System (ARMS) consisting of robotic operators, controllers, end actuators and sensing systems. The robot can  also perform part-assembly tasks that require human-robot collaboration. The robot can perform the basic assembly tasks, and move that assembly to a position where a human operator can finish the remaining assembly process.

·      Painting robots. These are also known as spray robots and can be used for automatic painting or spraying on walls or other surfaces.

·      Palletizing. These robots also called stacking robot. Palletizing robots are used in the dispatch section of a production/manufacturing unit.

·       Load /unload stores. These can be part of the crane system used to loading /unloading of stores from a train wagon, truck or ship/boat.

·         Quality Testing. The robot loads products into a quality testing machine and removes them once testing is complete.

·         Basic lightweight applications. The robot can perform basic packaging, gluing, finishing, and other such tasks required in a warehouse/store.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA).  RPA can plug and play with all applications and systems.  Compared to other ways to automate, RPA takes a fraction of the time while being able to execute in any environment and across any application. RPA bots can start immediately, scale on demand, and keep working at 100% capacity non-stop.

Business benefits of RPA Automation of various industries related to manufacturing of toys,   consumer goods, vehicles, material handling equipment, earth moving machinery, continues to move ahead at a great pace. Similarly, process control industries like oil refinery, cement, fertilizer, power generation, power grid management, milk plants, drinks industry, food processing, and many others are fast adopting robot technologies to stay ahead in this highly competitive and uncertain global market. Robots are your Digital Workforce. They can interact with any system or application in the same way humans do. Robots can learn fast. Some common benefits are:

·         Reusability.  Operations of robots are programmable which allows their reusability and cost saving.

·         Accuracy and precision.  There is minimum wastage of material as robots provide accuracy and precision while measuring, cutting and joining during various stages of manufacturing.

·         The repetitive operations. Unlike the human workforce, robots do not get bored or tired while doing repetitive operations. Robots can take away the burden of manual repetitive processes so that  human experts can achieve  other great things

·         Cost Saving. In the long term, robots (Digital workforce) are cost-effective as compared to the human workforce. There is no monthly salary, expense claims, insurance and other perks like Employee Provident Fund (EPF), Dearness Allowances (DA), Transport Allowances, and Leave Travel Allowance (LTA) which the human workforce is entitled to.

·         Undertake hazardous jobs. Robots can perform jobs which are hazardous to human beings, say in chemical plants, fertilizer plants, cement plants, nuclear plants or in any biological industry.

·      Underwater Operations. Robots can be successfully deployed for the deep under-water search of sunken ships/boats or bodies of crashed aircraft.

·         Weather Proof. Robots do not get affected by climatic conditions and continue to perform as planned.

·     Productivity. Robots increase business processing speed and can execute at the fastest possible speed. This increases productivity and profitability.

·       Flexibility. The robot-based process is programmable and flexible. It can easily scale up/down in real-time.

·      Consistency in performance. The robot does not get fatigued during the day/night operations. Its performance is consistent with Quality Control (QC) criteria and it does not deviate/degrade with time.

·     Maximize Availability. Robots don’t sleep and can work non-stop round the clock on all days (24 x 365).

·         Improve Business Process Compliance.  Its performance is consistent and as per predefined business rules and Quality Assurance (QA) criteria laid down.

·     Accelerate Digital Transformation. Robots are contributing significantly to building a digital economy. It is changing the way companies do business.

·      Facilitates Alliances and business partnership.  The industrial process can be quantified and easily evaluated for compliance.

Skills required for robotic jobs. There will be many applications and manufacturing jobs related to robotics. There will be industrialists who will import robot kits and assemble robots locally for selling in their own/other countries. There will be some who have collaboration with a foreign company to manufacture and export/ sell in the domestic market.  In addition, there will be government departments like defence, the space agency, infrastructure development, agriculture,  construction sea/airports needing highly skilled knowledge workforce. Professionals with the following skills will be in great demand:

·         Mechatronics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE).Operations Research – Dynamic Programming.

·         Software Programming, C++, Lisp, Python, Java.

·         Electronics and Communication.

·         Instrumentation and Control, sensors and microcontrollers.

·         Simulation and design optimization using software tools like Matlab, Lab-view.

·         Embedded software and microprocessor.

·         AI , Analysis and Design of Algorithm (ADA).

·         Machine Learning ( ML).

·         Quality testing and control.

·         Inventory management.

·         Innovation and creative thinking.

Robots and AI will actually create more jobs than they take away. A number of experts and leading survey agencies have now recognized that robots will create more jobs than they take away. However, these jobs will need new skills and expertise in developing robots with embedded AI. There will be a great demand for experts in mechatronics, AI, ML, software programming and developing/testing algorithms. As per PwC, UK report, the integration of AI and robotics will displace up to 7 million jobs between 2017 and 2037. However, this will lead to a reduction in costs and increases in spending, which in turn could generate 7.2 million jobs – a net gain of 200,000 jobs.  Jobs in health care, scientific and technical services and hospitality are predicted to increase, while those in manufacturing, transport, and storage, and public administration will decrease.

Automation seems to be less disruptive than it was feared. In 2013, a study from the University of Oxford suggested that around 50% of jobs in the US and 30% in the UK were at “high risk” of automation in the preceding years.  However, this job loss has now been lowered to 10 %  in the US and 12 % in the UK.  Besides the above inputs, robots have brought in high efficiency, increased productivity and consistency of quality in the manufacturing sector. Robots form the digital workforce in the manufacturing sector. These also form great assistance in health care and service sector.  Robots are of great assistance in security service and military operation. It is recommended that young professionals in areas of mathematics, applied sciences, medical, mechanical engineering, computer science, and engineering, IT, product designers should continuously upgrade their skills and stay aligned with emerging technologies like robotics.

For more articles, visit my blog   http://sarbjit-share-knowledge.blogspot.com

For more information you may visit   www.amazon.com   and refer to my books/e-books :

1)      A2Z – 26  Steps for Assured Success.

2)      Career Challenges during Global Uncertainty.

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Dr. Sarbjit Singh, Former Exec Director, Apeejay College of Engineering & Hony Advisor,  School of Engineering and technology, Apeejay  Stya University, Gurgaon, Haryana, 122103, India