Tuesday, September 06, 2016

Will the Robots change the Human endurance and create a revolution in the organisation’s life-cycle?

January is the official start of a New year, whereas for an organisation it is on 1st of April and for those into academics it starts on 1st of July. Why I am saying this is because I was fully patched with my PGDM juniors of almost 267 students who joined our college. While exploring Bangalore and running for 5kms with them, I came to know about very important news “Ramco system Chennai”. Released an announcement stating that “They have created 34 Bots for their company, in which 22 bots will be used for HR – related functions and a dozen for their Aviation Industry”. This was said by their Chief Executive Virender Aggarwal that "We've seen a rapid proliferation of chat bots and started working on finding applications on the enterprise side six months ago". They already use HR bots for the internal purpose as well as for some clients.
When I read about this news, the only thing which strikes my mind is the famous movie of Super Star Rajinikanth “Robot”. Where the robot in that movie was trained to help out in defence force as well as for emergency purpose. Human also act as robots throughout their life with a brain that controls their activities very much under command of their master. The difference between manmade robots and natural robots is that, they do whatever they are made to do without any objection, with desired accuracy, honesty, low cost, punctuality, less time consuming, in hostile environments and untiringly. There are many examples in Indian mythology highlighting the existence of human or animal robots from classical times. In Ramayana, acting of Maricha as a deer on the orders of King Ravna to attract the attention of Lord Rama is one of many such examples where human has acted on the command of their master’s even by changing masquerade. Therefore, today's robotics is an advanced inspiration by nature contributing to the arena of robotics to bio-inspired robotics.
These technologies deal with automated machines that can take the place of human in dangerous environments or manufacturing processes, or resemble human in appearance, behaviour, and/or cognition. Robots can replace human to do any monotonous, dirty or hazardous tasks in any industry. Throughout history, it has been frequently couched that robots will mimic human behaviour and manage task in a human like fashion.
Robots can also be effective in areas where there are skill shortages. Significant solicitation opportunity exists in the emerging service robotics sectors, whose products will impact on our everyday lives by causative high-value-added services and providing safer working conditions. In the fields of medical diagnosis, therapy and convalescence, robot-based systems will assist health workers performing novel procedures, thereby increasing their effectiveness. In space, the use of robots has become almost obligatory. Both unmanned and manned missions, be it in earth orbit or interplanetary, will be preceded or augmented by robots. In addition, the technologies applicable to space robotics will enable a wide range of earth-based exploration and material-processing activities from automated thalassic inspection to mining and mineral extraction under hazardous conditions.

Wondering how Robots work?
India is an upcoming potential market for industrial robotics industry with a worldwide market share of approximately 15%. With suitable stimulation and investment in the key underlying technologies, a broad range of robotics activities can be enabled. Key to this is the identification of first-wave technologies that will drive early markets. Industrial robots form an essential part of the current manufacturing sector of India. Without the use of robotics technologies or cost-effective production, a pillar of emerging Indian wealth would not be possible. Furthermore, robot-based production increases product quality, improves work conditions and leads to an optimized use of resources. The miniaturization of robotic technologies and newly developed sensing capabilities mean that these benefits are becoming applicable to an even wider range of manufacturing industries, including those with small and varying lot sizes, materials and product geometric.

The robots in the near future:
There is no denial that Robotic technologies are all set to change the way things are done in the industries in which they are being implemented. All the entrepreneurs are clearly optimistic about the use of Robotics in various industrial segments and its future in India.  Robots will capture industries like manufacturing, pharmaceutical, packaging and inspection. A jiff of Robots would also be seen in the healthcare sector primarily in the form of assistive and skill development technologies. The other promising sectors are defence and education. Robots shall give a sure shot opening for the burgeoning opportunities, but there are still many challenges that this field faces in an Indian scenario. In India, the standard of robotics should rise to reach a world class product and compete with 347 robots form South Korea which is the highest number of robots employed amongst the Robotics industry across the world with deep specialization in serving engineering, electrical, embedded programming and mechanical engineering (with focus on design, manufacturing an.d materials).  Someone craving to get into the Robotics industry must have a wide variety of skills and a thorough indulgent system control along with system integration and those who are passionate about Robotics from any field of engineering can be a part of a team working on a particular Robotics project.
It can be replaced for human in the work place where it is going to reduce cost for the organisation in many different things like: cost-effective, compensation, performance appraisals and engagement programs. On the other side it is going to create an evolution in the manufacturing sector and the time taken for converting any raw-material into finished goods would just take few minutes rather than taking hours of time and similarly the labour force can be enhanced.
Company like Ramco Systems which is completely into software are able to adopt the Robotics, so this gives a point of view that there is a definite chance of more number of Robots replacing human workforce which will make the human endurance problematic.