The robots aren’t coming… they’re here!
Update 1: see 2022 follow-on The future is digital… only it’s not what you think!
Update 2: see a 2023 update at bottom, why I quit LinekdIn in 2020
In my last LinkedIn Pulse post, I saw a non-anthropomorphic robotic future, where machine learning and AI will take on many of the business and technical functions. This was not only from the three shows in London last fall described there, but also from ongoing coverage on BBC Click. Robotics of course loom large in pop culture, especially with the current exhibit, Robots, at the London Science Museum from 8 February to 3 September 2017. And Dave Waters also just posted a LinkedIn Pulse post taking a North Sea oil&gas industry view.
Tele-presence
It’s one thing to see tele-presence on the TED show “Edward Snowden: Here’s how we take back the Internet” filmed March 2014, pictured at top left. It’s another one however to be presented with a chance to do this today! Jess Kozman reported here in the LinkedIn PPDM Group “Robot at the PPDM Houston Data Management Symposium”. Pictured at top right, it’s not for for the faint of heart, as you can see from the wiring and kit in the background of that picture, but is it not the future of meetings? Travelling has become so expensive and problematic at customs and pollution, that tele-presence may be an answer. Large corporations have video-conferencing rooms, but various video-conferencing software now run for free on desktops and smartphones.
The difference here, however in Jess’ words, a better sense of ‘being there’: “Lots of good information from the panel discussion and talks, and an opportunity to interact with other attendees on the floor and in the exhibit hall during the breaks”. While it does take an operator on the shop floor never mind the equipment, this is a pretty amazing way to implement tele-presence.
Remote presence
Another example is to go where it’s too dangerous or impractical to put human operators. Norway’s Eelume offers sub-sea infrastructure inspection, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill is a patent case of such dangerous environments — not suggesting this sort of equipment may have helped, but it’s illustrative of such a scenario — another example of non-humanoid robots.
Even remoter presence
A previous Medium post discussed drones and micro-satellites. But even more pervasive might be clouds of satellites like SpaceX envisages. That would allow an alternative internet network to cover the globe, much like Google’s Project Loon as in stratospheric balloons circling the earth. These are a little more far-reaching robotic apps — they might replace the laying of copper or fiber wires or satellite dishes to provide us with internet access — drastically reducing human intervention, and admittedly minor on-the-ground disruption, in erecting such networks.
Game changers
Everyone has seen robotics assembling automobiles, and that has changed the economics of scale, this article being one of myriads on the topic. The game changer in Project Loon at least is more disruptive: build a network such that internet services can be provided for free. While undersea snakes will clearly augment not replace industrial deep-sea diving, tele-presence robots may significantly change the need for travel as described above.
So rather than looking to robots like us as in the science museum — and artificial baby look creepy to me if not the hostess — let’s look at game-changers as described here and in my Pulse post above. And as Dave Waters said in his Pulse post above, is artificial intelligence not the tissue (my words) that holds all this together and propels it all forward? In fact the UK government is bullish on its report of a £17M boost to the local AI industry adding £654B to the UK economy as a whole! And to scale it to a tangible level, Geovation Hub has a Challenge 2016: Undeground Assets: I wager a start-up will involve some robotics with a mix of humans and AI, don’t you?
I ditched my oil&gas LinkedIn profile after this incident was widley reposted there (rejoined LinkedIn here as social enterprise for good in 2023):
An Alberta oil and gas services company called X-Site Energy Services was caught up in controversy after a decal surfaced online. A post has been circulating on social media of what appears to be a decal depicting teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg in a sex position with the logo of X-Site Energy Services on the bottom¹. The company has since apologized for the decal and has taken responsibility for it² ⁴.
Source: Conversation with Bing, 01/08/2023
(1) Oil field services company caught in controversy over graphic Greta …. https://calgary.citynews.ca/2020/02/27/oil-company-caught-in-controversy-over-graphic-decal/.
(2) ‘We will do better:’ Alberta company says it regrets Greta Thunberg decal. https://energynow.ca/2020/03/alberta-company-says-not-enough-to-apologize-for-explicit-greta-decal/.
(3) Alberta company takes responsibility for explicit Greta Thunberg decal …. https://globalnews.ca/news/6618775/greta-thunberg-decal-apology/.
(4) ‘We will do better:’ Alberta company says it regrets Greta Thunberg decal. https://energeticcity.ca/2020/03/02/alberta-company-says-not-enough-to-apologize-for-explicit-greta-decal/.
(5) Oil Company ‘Accepts Full Responsibility’ Over Greta Thunberg Sticker. https://www.newsweek.com/greta-thunberg-sticker-oil-compnay-xsite-1490245.
(6) Alberta energy company under fire for image appearing to depict Greta …. https://globalnews.ca/news/6605199/alberta-energy-company-greta-thunberg-image/.
