Trends Identified
Autonomous robots
Robots will eventually interact with one another and work safely side by side with humans and learn from them. These robots will cost less and have a greater range of capabilities than those used in manufacturing today.
2015
Nine Technologies Transforming Industrial Production
Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
Automation
Robots in manufacturing go back to the 1960s. Now it's the scale and breadth of the transformation that automated systems make possible, as a result of other advances in machine learning and connectivity, for example, that puts automation firmly at the forefront of technology trends. From convenient devices at home to industrial applications on a massive scale, automation will be a key focus of technological change, with potentially far-reaching economic and social consequences. Currently, professional services such as the legal and finance industry are being disrupted by automation with feedback from these sectors being that core technical skills together with management and people skills being more important than ever. How will automation disrupt your industry?
2019
Five tech trends for 2019
University of Technology Sydney
Robot dexterity
Robots are teaching themselves to handle the physical world.For all the talk about machines taking jobs, industrial robots are still clumsy and inflexible. A robot can repeatedly pick up a component on an assembly line with amazing precision and without ever getting bored—but move the object half an inch, or replace it with something slightly different, and the machine will fumble ineptly or paw at thin air. But while a robot can’t yet be programmed to figure out how to grasp any object just by looking at it, as people do, it can now learn to manipulate the object on its own through virtual trial and error. One such project is Dactyl, a robot that taught itself to flip a toy building block in its fingers. Dactyl, which comes from the San Francisco nonprofit OpenAI, consists of an off-the-shelf robot hand surrounded by an array of lights and cameras. Using what’s known as reinforcement learning, neural-network software learns how to grasp and turn the block within a simulated environment before the hand tries it out for real. The software experiments, randomly at first, strengthening connections within the network over time as it gets closer to its goal. It usually isn’t possible to transfer that type of virtual practice to the real world, because things like friction or the varied properties of different materials are so difficult to simulate. The OpenAI team got around this by adding randomness to the virtual training, giving the robot a proxy for the messiness of reality. We’ll need further breakthroughs for robots to master the advanced dexterity needed in a real warehouse or factory. But if researchers can reliably employ this kind of learning, robots might eventually assemble our gadgets, load our dishwashers, and even help Grandma out of bed. —Will Knight
2019
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2019 - How we’ll invent the future, by Bill Gates
MIT Technology Review
Robotics
Robots are machines with enhanced sensing, control, and intelligence used to automate, augment, or assist human activities. The robot market, which has grown for industrial applications, is poised for growth in a broad range of services applications. These applications are transforming manufacturing and non-manufacturing operations with new capabilities that address the challenges of working in changing, uncertain, and uncontrolled environments, such as alongside humans without being a danger to them.
2017
The Essential Eight - Your guide to the emerging technologies revolutionizing business now
PWC
Robotics
Robotics, under which we include both advanced robotics increasingly able to augment humans in the workplace and traditional robotics, in which machines reproduce repetitive human actions, as well as autonomous and near-autonomous vehicles
2019
Tech for good
McKinsey
Robotics
Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, opera on and application
of robots and related computer and control systems. Robots help with or take the place of humans
in dangerous environments or manufacturing processes, and/or resemble humans in appearance, behaviour or cognition. Increasingly, robots are designed to act in roles complementary to humans.
Today, experimental robots can inventory stock, move loads, pick berries, do housework, perform elder care, sense remotely and create a virtual presence. As their AI improves, they will get smarter and more capable. Robot hardware is improving quickly; the challenge is the so ware – the intelligence behind the machine that allows it to function in a specific manner. Task-specific robots could do tasks as diverse as surgery, cooking and driving. Businesses will continue to be early adopters of robot technology, with home use following as prices decline and features become more competitive.
2013
Metascan 3 emerging technologies
Canada, Policy Horizons Canada
Robotic Process Automation – Rule-Based Bots
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) refers to rule-based and easily programmed software, that promises to eliminate repetitive, easily automated tasks. RPAs are fully programmed, cannot learn and have to be updated when IT systems change. RPA is seen as a next step towards automation where machine learning is not needed. It can be tied together with machine learning to automate more complex tasks to create intelligent enterprises. Most RPA today uses text analytics, image processing, text search, or optical character recognition. Analytics will become critical as RPA will soon be developed towards more smarter versions. While we are heading towards an automated world, the process seems to take longer than anticipated and is more complex than anticipated, so RPAs could be a fast forward solution for those processes that yet do not need sophisticated algorithms. For now, a central control of bots is not fully established and changes of IT systems could lead to expensive updates. Besides that, RPA can boost productivity with minimal process change, it offers easy-to-calculate ROIs and it is an in-route to more complex automation with machine learning.
2018
Trend Report 2018 - Emerging Technology Trends
SAP
The Rise of Roboadvisors & App-based Investments
Roboadvisors are viewed as one of the most disruptive of AI-influenced fintech services. Robo-advisors rely on technology, rather than a financial planner, to deliver financial advice at any time of the day.
2018
Top Tech trends 2018
Juniper Research
RNA-based Terapeutics
RNA-based therapeutics used artificial RNA with unique sequences that can selectively control target genes. The technology can be applied for therapeutic purposes by enabling the control of gene expression. The technology can also be employed in cell therapy through manipulation of stem cells.
2009
KISTEP 10 Emerging Technologies 2009
South Korea, Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP)
RNA-based Therapeutics
RNA is an essential molecule in cellular biology, translating genetic instructions encoded in DNA into the production of the proteins that enable cells to function. However, as protein production is also a central factor in most human diseases and disorders, RNA-based therapeutics have long been thought to hold the potential to treat a range of problems where conventional drug-based treatments cannot offer much help. The field has been slow to develop, however, with initial high hopes being dented by the sheer complexity of the effort and the need to better understand the variability of gene expression in cells. Over the past year, there has been a resurgence of interest in this new field of biotech healthcare, with two RNA-based treatments approved as human therapeutics as of 2014. RNA-based drugs for a range of conditions including genetic disorders, cancer and infectious disease are being developed based on the mechanism of RNA interference, which is used to silence the expression of defective or overexpressed genes. Extending the repertoire of RNA-based therapeutics, an even newer platform based on messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules is now emerging. Specific mRNA sequences injected intramuscularly or intravenously can act as therapeutic agents through the patient’s own cells, translating them into the corresponding proteins that deliver the therapeutic effect. Unlike treatments aimed at changing DNA directly, RNA-based therapeutics do not cause permanent changes to the cell’s genome and so can be increased or discontinued as necessary. Advances in basic RNA science, synthesis technology and in vivo delivery are combining to enable a new generation of RNA-based drugs that can attenuate the abundance of natural proteins, or allow for the in vivo production of optimized, therapeutic proteins. Working in collaboration with large pharmaceutical companies and academia, several private companies that aim to offer RNA-based treatments have been launched. We expect this field of healthcare to increasingly challenge conventional pharmaceuticals in forging new treatments for difficult diseases in the next few years.
2014
Top 10 emerging technologies for 2014
World Economic Forum (WEF)