The history of mankind has several technological breakthroughs: the invention of tools, the subjugation of fire, the domestication of animals, the transition to agriculture and the automation of labor. At each of these stages, people came up with ways to produce more with less effort.
The 21st century marks the transition to the robotization of the economy. According to the developers of IoT solutions Robonomics Network, fully automated enterprises and even companies run by artificial intelligence may appear in the near future. We will tell you how and when it will happen.
From steam hammer to robotic arm
From the 18th to the 20th century, society was transformed several times under the influence of innovations. Historians call these processes industrial revolutions. There were three of them in total, and each next was faster than the previous one.
The first industrial revolution was associated with the transition from manual to machine labor. It began at the end of the 18th century, when European factories began to use steam engines. The result of these changes was an increase in the quality of goods while reducing the cost of services.
The beginning of the second industrial revolution is considered to be 1952 – the time inventions Richard Kegg of a numerically controlled (CNC) milling machine, which greatly reduced the cost of manufacturing small parts.
The third industrial revolution took place in the 1980s, when computers and robotic arms became ubiquitous.
We are on the threshold of the fourth industrial revolution, but for now we can only guess what the enterprises of the future will be like.
Robonomics suggest that big business will implement cyber-physical systems (CPS). They will consist of a combination of many devices and robots that analyze the environment, exchange data, make some decisions, and ideally work without human intervention.
Why we need another industrial revolution
Economist Ronald Coase in the book “The nature of the firm” explains that the structure and size of the company depends on non-productive processes – transaction costs. They include time and money spent on sourcing, negotiating, making decisions, and checking the quality of work.
The hierarchical structure of the company is formed depending on transaction costs. While the company is small, the organization of work processes costs little. But as the business grows, the costs of the internal hierarchy exceed the costs of market negotiations and hiring contractors.
It is profitable for automakers to assemble cars at their own factories. But building an ore mine, opening a metallurgical plant and providing yourself with raw materials for the production of spare parts will be more expensive than negotiating with an intermediary for the supply of steel.
But even with full automation of production, people continue to engage in negotiations, contracts, purchases, logistics and distribution of goods. These transaction costs can also be reduced by outsourcing tasks to computers.
For example, Uber and similar taxi services do without dispatchers: the application takes orders and sends them to the nearest drivers. If you create a trusted system with truthful information about business processes, then on its basis computers will be able to search for ideal contractors and effectively negotiate with each other.
Robonomics We are confident that the fourth industrial revolution will lead to the creation of such robotic companies and will reduce transaction costs to a minimum.
First steps towards Industry 4.0
The term “industry 4.0” appeared in 2011, when the German government proposed an initiative to computerize and automate production. It later became synonymous with the fourth industrial revolution.
In fact, it is happening right now: large companies are gradually implementing the principles of industry 4.0. For example, in 2012 Philips established Drachten’s factory has 50 manipulators that have adapted to the assembly of different models of electric shavers.
Prior to this, employees had to stop conveyors daily and reconfigure robots. New manipulators recognized the details using video cameras and assembled the necessary razor models from them, and engineers could update their firmware without stopping the equipment.
Philips has been testing the new assembly line for a month. Employees practically did not interfere in the processes at the enterprise: they only loaded parts into feeders and monitored product quality.
Equipment downtime at the Drachten factory has been reduced to zero. Employees could instantly launch the production of new models of electric shavers.
Philips has been followed by other companies. For example, in 2015 Siemens united robots from the Amberg factory into an IoT network for remote monitoring and process control. Employees began to set up lines to release new products in one minute, and scrap dropped to 0.1%.
In 2015, the Japanese manufacturer of industrial manipulators Fanuc launched robots that assemble the same robots around the clock, seven days a week. Since then, Fanuc has designed and configured automated assembly lines for 270 companies, including Apple and Tesla.
In 2017 Ocado grocery delivery service automated operation of warehouses with the help of cargo manipulators, which collected orders and transferred containers to the packaging line. The machines handled an order of 50 products in five minutes. It took people hours to complete the same task.
In 2018 auto parts manufacturer Hirotec created IoT platform for robot productivity analysis. She collected data on the speed of operations and equipment errors in order to find bottlenecks in the production of exhaust pipes. Thanks to the information received, Hirotec completely eliminated manual equipment checks and reduced downtime by 20%.
Universal robotization is not far off. Does this mean we will all lose our jobs? Probably not.
Experts of the World Economic Forum thinkthat the technological revolution will create 97 million jobs and eliminate 85 million. According to them, robots and people will share the work equally, while machines will do most of the hard work.
People will be able to be creative, control robots, or just get a basic income. In any case, society is unlikely to change as much as bloggers and the media scare us.
The best employees of 2077 are robots
An example of an ideal company of the future is the taxi service Delamain Corporation from the game Cyberpunk 2077. It was controlled by an artificial intelligence named Delamain: he gave orders to cars, bought new cars, resolved conflicts with customers and expanded the list of company services.
Such an advanced cyber-physical system is unlikely to appear at the current level of technology development. However, researchers and enthusiasts are already creating cases of economic interaction of robots with each other and with people.
A potentially important component of this process is blockchain. Robots cannot open bank accounts and interact with fiat money without human intervention.
Blockchain allows robots to become economic agents: negotiate the best prices for services, accept and send payments for work, spend money on maintenance and repairs.
The platform for such interactions is being developed by Robonomics Network. With it, developers will run applications, IoT services and robots in a decentralized cloud, and users will find performers and pay for their work with cryptocurrency.
So far, the project team has implemented 17 scenarios use of Robonomics, including Delamain’s prototype. Among them:
- Production quality control system based on Feecc platform. It includes an IP camera, a single board computer and network equipment for accessing the Internet. The system records how, for example, a barista prepares coffee and saves a QR code with a link to the video;
- Gaka-Chu, robot artist. This is an industrial KUKA manipulator that has a brush and paints. He studies trends, draws Japanese characters and puts paintings up for sale. In addition, he can create NFTs, accept cryptocurrencies to his wallet, and use his earnings to buy canvases, paints, and brushes. Gaka-Chu is a true self-supporting robot entrepreneur;
- Leasing Spot – Boston Dynamics robot dogs. Users rent a robot remotely and send commands to it via the SSH protocol. With the help of this project, developers gain experience with modern robotics, test their theories and software, and download the Spot action log blockchain certificate;
- Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) – autonomous transport management system. Cars coordinate actions and bargain for the right to drive first. A “fast” car can pay a “slow” car for the right of way. UTM will help to avoid traffic jams that occur due to driver errors.
Developers are constantly improving Robonomics. The ultimate goal of the project is to scale the platform so that smart factories and cities can run on it.
conclusions
In 1962, Gianni Rodari published The Planet of the Christmas Trees. In the story, the boy Marco ends up on a planet where robots cook food, build houses, fight space dogs, and even control the weather. After 60 years, we have almost brought this fairy tale to life.
While robots solve routine tasks and collect data under the control of people. However, in the near future, the first autonomous cyber-physical systems may appear, and then smart factories that will independently produce, deliver and sell goods.
General robotization will affect the economy: the quality of goods will increase, and their prices will decrease. Production will become more environmentally friendly: robots will better assess the balance of supply and demand in order not to produce unnecessary goods.
Subscribe to Cryplogger news in Telegram: Cryplogger Feed – the entire news feed, Cryplogger — the most important news, infographics and opinions.
Found a mistake in the text? Select it and press CTRL+ENTER
The history of mankind has several technological breakthroughs: the invention of tools, the subjugation of fire, the domestication of animals, the transition to agriculture and the automation of labor. At each of these stages, people came up with ways to produce more with less effort.
The 21st century marks the transition to the robotization of the economy. According to the developers of IoT solutions Robonomics Network, fully automated enterprises and even companies run by artificial intelligence may appear in the near future. We will tell you how and when it will happen.
From steam hammer to robotic arm
From the 18th to the 20th century, society was transformed several times under the influence of innovations. Historians call these processes industrial revolutions. There were three of them in total, and each next was faster than the previous one.
The first industrial revolution was associated with the transition from manual to machine labor. It began at the end of the 18th century, when European factories began to use steam engines. The result of these changes was an increase in the quality of goods while reducing the cost of services.
The beginning of the second industrial revolution is considered to be 1952 – the time inventions Richard Kegg of a numerically controlled (CNC) milling machine, which greatly reduced the cost of manufacturing small parts.
The third industrial revolution took place in the 1980s, when computers and robotic arms became ubiquitous.
We are on the threshold of the fourth industrial revolution, but for now we can only guess what the enterprises of the future will be like.
Robonomics suggest that big business will implement cyber-physical systems (CPS). They will consist of a combination of many devices and robots that analyze the environment, exchange data, make some decisions, and ideally work without human intervention.
Why we need another industrial revolution
Economist Ronald Coase in the book “The nature of the firm” explains that the structure and size of the company depends on non-productive processes – transaction costs. They include time and money spent on sourcing, negotiating, making decisions, and checking the quality of work.
The hierarchical structure of the company is formed depending on transaction costs. While the company is small, the organization of work processes costs little. But as the business grows, the costs of the internal hierarchy exceed the costs of market negotiations and hiring contractors.
It is profitable for automakers to assemble cars at their own factories. But building an ore mine, opening a metallurgical plant and providing yourself with raw materials for the production of spare parts will be more expensive than negotiating with an intermediary for the supply of steel.
But even with full automation of production, people continue to engage in negotiations, contracts, purchases, logistics and distribution of goods. These transaction costs can also be reduced by outsourcing tasks to computers.
For example, Uber and similar taxi services do without dispatchers: the application takes orders and sends them to the nearest drivers. If you create a trusted system with truthful information about business processes, then on its basis computers will be able to search for ideal contractors and effectively negotiate with each other.
Robonomics We are confident that the fourth industrial revolution will lead to the creation of such robotic companies and will reduce transaction costs to a minimum.
First steps towards Industry 4.0
The term “industry 4.0” appeared in 2011, when the German government proposed an initiative to computerize and automate production. It later became synonymous with the fourth industrial revolution.
In fact, it is happening right now: large companies are gradually implementing the principles of industry 4.0. For example, in 2012 Philips established Drachten’s factory has 50 manipulators that have adapted to the assembly of different models of electric shavers.
Prior to this, employees had to stop conveyors daily and reconfigure robots. New manipulators recognized the details using video cameras and assembled the necessary razor models from them, and engineers could update their firmware without stopping the equipment.
Philips has been testing the new assembly line for a month. Employees practically did not interfere in the processes at the enterprise: they only loaded parts into feeders and monitored product quality.
Equipment downtime at the Drachten factory has been reduced to zero. Employees could instantly launch the production of new models of electric shavers.
Philips has been followed by other companies. For example, in 2015 Siemens united robots from the Amberg factory into an IoT network for remote monitoring and process control. Employees began to set up lines to release new products in one minute, and scrap dropped to 0.1%.
In 2015, the Japanese manufacturer of industrial manipulators Fanuc launched robots that assemble the same robots around the clock, seven days a week. Since then, Fanuc has designed and configured automated assembly lines for 270 companies, including Apple and Tesla.
In 2017 Ocado grocery delivery service automated operation of warehouses with the help of cargo manipulators, which collected orders and transferred containers to the packaging line. The machines handled an order of 50 products in five minutes. It took people hours to complete the same task.
In 2018 auto parts manufacturer Hirotec created IoT platform for robot productivity analysis. She collected data on the speed of operations and equipment errors in order to find bottlenecks in the production of exhaust pipes. Thanks to the information received, Hirotec completely eliminated manual equipment checks and reduced downtime by 20%.
Universal robotization is not far off. Does this mean we will all lose our jobs? Probably not.
Experts of the World Economic Forum thinkthat the technological revolution will create 97 million jobs and eliminate 85 million. According to them, robots and people will share the work equally, while machines will do most of the hard work.
People will be able to be creative, control robots, or just get a basic income. In any case, society is unlikely to change as much as bloggers and the media scare us.
The best employees of 2077 are robots
An example of an ideal company of the future is the taxi service Delamain Corporation from the game Cyberpunk 2077. It was controlled by an artificial intelligence named Delamain: he gave orders to cars, bought new cars, resolved conflicts with customers and expanded the list of company services.
Such an advanced cyber-physical system is unlikely to appear at the current level of technology development. However, researchers and enthusiasts are already creating cases of economic interaction of robots with each other and with people.
A potentially important component of this process is blockchain. Robots cannot open bank accounts and interact with fiat money without human intervention.
Blockchain allows robots to become economic agents: negotiate the best prices for services, accept and send payments for work, spend money on maintenance and repairs.
The platform for such interactions is being developed by Robonomics Network. With it, developers will run applications, IoT services and robots in a decentralized cloud, and users will find performers and pay for their work with cryptocurrency.
So far, the project team has implemented 17 scenarios use of Robonomics, including Delamain’s prototype. Among them:
- Production quality control system based on Feecc platform. It includes an IP camera, a single board computer and network equipment for accessing the Internet. The system records how, for example, a barista prepares coffee and saves a QR code with a link to the video;
- Gaka-Chu, robot artist. This is an industrial KUKA manipulator that has a brush and paints. He studies trends, draws Japanese characters and puts paintings up for sale. In addition, he can create NFTs, accept cryptocurrencies to his wallet, and use his earnings to buy canvases, paints, and brushes. Gaka-Chu is a true self-supporting robot entrepreneur;
- Leasing Spot – Boston Dynamics robot dogs. Users rent a robot remotely and send commands to it via the SSH protocol. With the help of this project, developers gain experience with modern robotics, test their theories and software, and download the Spot action log blockchain certificate;
- Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) – autonomous transport management system. Cars coordinate actions and bargain for the right to drive first. A “fast” car can pay a “slow” car for the right of way. UTM will help to avoid traffic jams that occur due to driver errors.
Developers are constantly improving Robonomics. The ultimate goal of the project is to scale the platform so that smart factories and cities can run on it.
conclusions
In 1962, Gianni Rodari published The Planet of the Christmas Trees. In the story, the boy Marco ends up on a planet where robots cook food, build houses, fight space dogs, and even control the weather. After 60 years, we have almost brought this fairy tale to life.
While robots solve routine tasks and collect data under the control of people. However, in the near future, the first autonomous cyber-physical systems may appear, and then smart factories that will independently produce, deliver and sell goods.
General robotization will affect the economy: the quality of goods will increase, and their prices will decrease. Production will become more environmentally friendly: robots will better assess the balance of supply and demand in order not to produce unnecessary goods.
Subscribe to Cryplogger news in Telegram: Cryplogger Feed – the entire news feed, Cryplogger — the most important news, infographics and opinions.
Found a mistake in the text? Select it and press CTRL+ENTER
