Trends Disrupting the Manufacturing Industry

News

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Trends Disrupting the Manufacturing Industry

The first industrial revolution introduced the world to the potential of mechanization and changed history forever. Now, with the rise of data-driven technologies, we are entering the fourth industrial revolution. It’s not an overstatement to say that this moment in manufacturing is as significant as anything that has come before.

Manufacturers are already hitting unbelievable targets for productivity, efficiency, consistency, speed, and much more. Plus, they are doing things that have never been possible before in terms of design, fabrication, and distribution. It’s not surprising the US manufacturers are expected to have another great year, and that global manufacturing remains robust.

It’s clear that the outlook is bright. What requires equal understanding is the kinds of trends disrupting the manufacturing industry for the better:

Working in Virtual Spaces

Virtual reality has countless applications in manufacturing. Products can be designed and tested in virtual environments to cut costs and speed up the time to market. Similarly, technicians could work with augmented reality goggles to overlap digital knowledge onto physical spaces. In general, virtual reality gives manufacturers a space to test things out with little cost or consequence so that finished product is as close to perfect as possible.

Printing in Three Dimensions

3-D printing is cutting down the cost of prototyping and allowing manufacturers to produce more parts in-house. This technology also simplifies complex parts and makes new types of fabrication possible. As the accessibility and utility of 3-D printing develop, this will become an indispensable manufacturing technology.

Leveraging Data at All Levels

Manufacturing is a detail-oriented operation. But, until recently, most of those details were unknown and unknowable. Thanks to the advent of manufacturing data analysis, however, it’s possible for any producer to precisely evaluate performance. Analytics reveals where processes are breaking down, costs are inflating, and strategic opportunities lie. Essentially, it empowers present and future manufacturers to improve anything and everything.

An Intelligent Robot Workforce

Robots are already ubiquitous in manufacturing, but they are becoming both smarter and more widespread. Future robots will be able to handle complex tasks autonomously. Human workers will also increasingly work with or control robots to complete their work. This will involve the displacement of some workers, but it will also lead to new jobs and new types of jobs throughout manufacturing.

Everything Is Connected

Most things are now connected to the internet, and it’s true of manufacturing equipment as well. Connected sensors will be incorporated into machinery, assembly lines, trucks, and much more. All those sensors will capture and transmit data from the front lines of a manufacturing operation. The importance of analytics was mentioned above, but connected devices will provide an essential pipeline of data.

What is remarkable is that for an industry that is changing so much, the outlook is so bright across the board. These trends will cause some uncertainty and some turbulence without a doubt. Over time, however, they are expected to benefit manufacturers, workers, and consumers alike. The future of manufacturing looks a lot more exciting than what it’s replacing.

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Is Magnetized Wire the Key Component Needed to Detect Cancer?

Health

Linda Johnson

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Is Magnetized Wire the Key Component Needed to Detect Cancer?

A new study carried out by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine suggests that a magnetic wire could be used to capture hard to reach and scarce tumor cells as a way of detecting cancer early on. So far the technique has only been used in pigs, but the researchers are hopeful it’s a procedure that could soon be used in humans too.

The wire is capable of attracting special magnetic nanoparticles that are likely to be inside the bloodstream if there is a tumor hiding somewhere. It’s threaded into a vein and lures the magnetized cells out very easily. This technique has proved to be more successful than any other current blood-based cancer-detection method in that it can attract up to 80 times more tumor cells.

“It could be useful in any other disease in which there are cells or molecules of interest in the blood,” says Sanjiv Gambhir, MD, Ph.D., main developer of the wire and professor and chair of radiology and director of the Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection. “For example, let’s say you’re checking for a bacterial infection, circulating tumor DNA or rare cells that are responsible for inflammation – in any of these scenarios, the wire and nanoparticles help to enrich the signal, and therefore detect the disease or infection.”

Some cells break away from the tumor and move the bloodstream freely. These cells are known as circulating tumor cells and are the perfect candidate to be used as cancer biomarkers used in the early detection of the disease. Circulating tumor cells are few and far between, hence the need for a new method that can capture them. And, that’s where the wire comes in.

The tiny wire is around a couple of inches or so long and is about the same thickness as a paperclip. In order for it work the circulating tumor cells have to first be magnetized with nanoparticles. Then the nanoparticle and tumor cell become joined. Now, because the cell is magnetized, when it passes the wire it’s gets drawn in by its magnetic force and ends up stuck to the wire. The wire can then be removed, taking the potentially cancerous cells with it.

As mentioned above, Gambhir and colleagues are yet to try out the wire in humans. In order to that they need to have approval from the Food and Drug Administration. But still, they are confident it will work. The device was tested in pigs and placed in a vein located near the pig’s ear that’s very similar to that of a human arm vein. “We estimate that it would take about 80 tubes of blood to match what the wire is able to sample in 20 minutes,” says Gambhir.

The same technique could also be used to provide data on the efficiency of cancer treatments of to collect genetic information about tumors that are in hard to reach places. The wire itself could even become part of a long term treatment plan. “If we can get this thing to be really good at sucking up cancer cells, you might consider an application where you leave the wire in the longer term,” explains Gambhir. “That way it almost acts like a filter that grabs the cancer cells and prevents them from spreading to other parts of the body.”

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Einstein Gates Proven Right Again by New Study

Science

Ryan Young

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Einstein Gates Proven Right Again by New Study

Lorentz symmetry is a principle that states how everything in the universe should be assumed symmetrical and that any scientist should apply these same laws to any situation as long as the object in question is moving at a constant speed.

The problem is that the same rules may not apply to everyone, particularly for tiny objects that operate over universe-spanning distances at ridiculously high energies. It is these extreme circumstances that a Lorentz violation may occur in which an undetermined field modifies the behavior of these objects in such a way that Einstein wouldn’t have predicted.

Scientists have long been trying to prove the existence of the Lorentz violation for a long time. But as of yet, there have been no definitive results. One place physicists believe it may exist is in neutrinos, the Universe’s lightest known particles. However, if they were to prove the Lorentz violation exists it would be a completely new law of physics that is unexplainable using Einstein’s theory.

To try and prove this phenomenon does exist in neutrinos, MIT scientists and colleagues put together the IceCube Experiment. This project involved analyzing two years worth of data gathered by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in search for variations in the neutrinos oscillation patterns.

After careful analysis, there was no such abnormality found among the data, and therefore, they have concluded there is no Lorentz violation in neutrinos. These results were published earlier this month in Nature Physics. They also presented evidence that neutrinos do in fact behave just as predicted by Einstein’s theory.

There are three main varieties (flavors) of neutrinos: electron, muon, and tau. Neutrinos can oscillate their flavor and morph into another. Typically, the way in which a neutrino oscillates depends on how far it’s traveled or its mass. But, if a Lorentz-violating field does exist somewhere, it could communicate with passing neutrinos and affect their oscillations as a result.

As a way of testing if the Lorentz violation could be found in neutrinos data from the IceCube Observatory was gathered and analyzed. The neutrino detector here consists of more than 5,000 light sensors, all of which are attached to strings which are frozen into several boreholes and splayed over a cubic kilometer of ice in the Antarctic.

Neutrinos that stream through Earth and space can interact with the ice in the detector. As it does so, muons are produced. As muons travel through ice, they emit light which produces long tracks ideal for going through the whole detector. With that recorded light on board, scientists can work out the trajectory and estimate the muon’s energy level. With this, they can backtrack to calculate the expected oscillation of the original neutrino.

During the study, the team looked in the highest-energy neutrinos in the search for the Lorentz violation. “Neutrino oscillations are a natural interferometer,” explains Teppei Katori, one of the leaders of the study and a particle physics lecturer at Queen Mary University of London. “Neutrino oscillations observed with IceCube act as the biggest interferometer in the world to look for the tiniest effects such as space-time deficit.”

The team searched through more than 35,000 interactions that traveled in a two year period between the detector and a muon neutrino. If a Lorentz violating field were to exist the researchers assumed it would produce an abnormal pattern of oscillations in the neutrinos, which would become more significant as the energy increased.

In comparing the deviation in the energy spectrum the researchers expected to see with that of the real results IceCube they found no real difference. “We were looking to see if a Lorentz violation caused a deviation, and we didn’t see it,” says Conrad. “This closes the book on the possibility of Lorentz violation for a range of high-energy neutrinos, for a very long time.”

Moving forward, the team is planning to continue searching for the Lorentz violation. Their next move is to look in even higher-energy neutrinos. At the moment, scientists are still a little unsure of how neutrinos behave, including their normal oscillation patterns. Once this has been determined, Conrad and his team will have a much better chance at finding patterns that steer away from the norm.

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The Brief Guide in Main Characteristics of Printers

Gadgets

Wendy Cunningham

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The Brief Guide in Main Characteristics of Printers

If you want to purchase a printer, you need to know at least basic concepts about them in order to choose the best model for you. And sometimes it is really difficult to make a choice between printer ink vs toner. We decided to help you and provide a brief guide with everything you should know.

What Are the Main Types of Printers

A laser printer works much faster and prints much sharper than an inkjet one. However, toner cartridges are more expensive for it than inkjet cartridges, but the cartridge for a laser printer is more durable. The laser printer also allows you to work with paper of different sizes. It is very convenient, especially for printing labels, tags and other documents of a custom size.

An inkjet printer is usually chosen for general use, and it’s something like a workhorse in the office. To date, the only advantage of an inkjet printer, in comparison with a laser one, is the price. Although inkjet cartridges are much cheaper than laser ones, you still have to replace them more often. Buying an inkjet printer, you may save, but in order to print the same amount of documents as laser equipment, you will have to spend all the money saved on the printer cartridges. Inkjet printer also has a slower speed of printing documents. This is better suited for home use than for the office because the speed and quality of printing are more important in business than at home.

Consumables

Consumables for printers are ink and toner cartridges. The price of consumables must be taken into account when buying a printer. In the future, large amounts of money will go to buy these materials.

Memory

All printers have memory, usually, it is used to temporarily store the document at the time of printing. It is also used to monitor printer functions. From this, it follows that the more memory it has, the faster it will work.

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The Parker Solar Probe Launch Date is Fast Approaching

Space

Ryan Young

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The Parker Solar Probe Launch Date is Fast Approaching

All set for August 11 (after another delay) is the launch of the much awaited, and much talked about, Parker Solar Probe. The probe will allow scientists to get a closer look at the Sun than ever before and will be an exciting event, particularly for those involved in the project.

In a recent press conference held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Nicky Fox, Parker Solar Probe’s project scientist, and Alex Young, associate director in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, spoke about the goals of the mission as well as some of the technology behind it.

The Sun is an extremely complex object that’s constantly evolving. It’s a magnetically active star that continually sends all kinds of magnetized material flying through the solar system. Some of this energy bursts out with such force that light and particle radiation is sent flying through the atmosphere causing temporary disruptions such as scrambling radio signals near Earth.

This kind of solar activity is what we call space weather and the key to understanding it all lies in understanding the Sun first. “The Sun’s energy is always flowing past our world,” says Fox. “And even though the solar wind is invisible, we can see it encircling the poles as the Aurora, which is beautiful – but reveals the enormous amount of energy and particles that cascade into our atmosphere. We don’t have a strong understanding of the mechanisms that drive that wind towards us, and that’s what we’re heading out to discover.”

The Parker Solar Probe spacecraft will carry a whole range of instruments that are designed to help scientists study the Sun more intently. From this mission, scientists are hoping to answer three fundamental questions about the Sun:

The mystery behind solar wind acceleration that’s emitted from the Sun
The secret surrounding the extremely high temperatures of the corona
The mechanisms involved in the acceleration of solar energetic particles

To answer these questions, the Parker Solar Probe relies on four separate suites of instruments:

The FIELDS Suite: this measures the magnetic and electric fields surrounding the spacecraft. It can also capture waves and turbulence from within the inner heliosphere and does so with such high resolution.
The Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) instrument: this is the spacecraft’s only piece of imaging equipment. Its job is to take images of the various ejecta from the Sun.
The Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons Investigation (SWEAP) suite: this suite uses two instruments together in which to gather data. What this suite does is it counts as the most abundant particles in the solar wind (i.e. protons, electrons, and helium ions) and measures properties such as density, velocity, and temperature.
The Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISIS) suite: This suite is responsible for measuring different particles across various energies.

It’s taken in the region of sixty years to get to where it is now, ready to take flight. And only in the past few decades, with thanks to the advancement of technology, has it come far enough to make the Parker Solar Probe more than just a plan. Three main breakthroughs are the key to Parker’s success. They are the advanced fault management system, the solar array cooling system, and the cutting-edge heat shield.

Using data from each of the seven sensors located around the edge of the shadows cast by the heat shield, Parker’s fault management system prevents the spacecraft from problems when it’s out of contact with those on Earth. If a problem is detected it will automatically self-correct its course to keep it out of danger while out of communication with Earth. The heat shield on-board the spacecraft is called the thermal protection system (TPS). And although it’s nearly 8-feet in diameter it only weighs around 160 pounds which is pretty good as the Parker Solar Probe itself is pretty small (about the size of a small car).

The only thing the Parker Solar Probe needs now is energy. “The launch energy to reach the Sun is 55 times that required to get to Mars, and two times that needed to get to Pluto,” confirms Yanping Guo from the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, designer of the mission trajectory. “During summer, Earth and the other planets in our solar system are in the most favorable alignment to allow us to get close to the Sun.”

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The Ultimate Car Security Camera System is Finally on SALE!!

Gadgets

Mehmet Hatipoglu

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The Ultimate Car Security Camera System is Finally on SALE!!

The Waylens Secure360 is an in-car camera that functions as a complete safety solution for your vehicle. Unlike regular dash cams, the lens rotates 360°, capturing footage of inside the vehicle as well as the front, rear and side views. The unit works in tandem with the Waylens Secure App, which live-streams camera footage straight to your cell phone. Once you’re connected to the app, you can choose between immersive 360° panoramic or split-screen mode, which lets you see the front and rear view at the same time.

The high-performance Ambarella camera captures crystal clear HD footage of every journey you make and uses specialized infrared radar ‘night vision’ technology to capture clear video even in dark and low-light conditions. The Secure360 also protects your car after you park – a fusion of radar and triple axis accelerometer sensing technologies will detect any unusual activity, prompting the camera to begin recording to the microSD card and instantly sending an alert to your cell phone.

The unit will also begin flashing to deter thieves. In the event that your vehicle is stolen, you won’t lose any evidence because all the footage will be automatically uploaded and stored remotely. If your vehicle is often used by other friends or family members, you can connect to the app to view camera footage in real-time and even speak to the driver for total peace of mind – ideal for parents!

All video footage is automatically uploaded to the Waylens Cloud to access on demand, keeping it safe and secure should you need it for insurers or the authorities. As an added bonus, the 4G model also has built-in GPS technology which communicates with the app so that you can locate your vehicle quickly and easily at all times – especially handy if you often forget where you parked!

There’s also no need to worry about running out of power – the low-power sensors are capable of protecting an unattended vehicle for an incredible 15 days. Due to the intelligent, heat-dissipating design, the unit will also continue to function even on the hottest summer day.

The Secure360 is available in two different models to suit your lifestyle and your pocket – the WiFi model will connect to your cell phone whenever it’s in range, and the 4G model will connect to your phone no matter where you are for real-time updates.

360-DEGREE VISION – A single lens provides a truly seamless 360-degree view in and around your car.
HDR – Advanced HDR engine with multi-exposure fusion and motion artifact reduction provide crystal clear video.
NIGHT VISION – IR LEDs help the Secure360 see in low light conditions, even in the dark.
SMART THERMAL MANAGEMENT – The deliberate absence of a battery in the camera body and a novel spiral architecture optimizes heat dissipation to perform under extreme conditions.
FAST PROCESSING – High-performance Ambarella camera processor manages an abundance of visual data, providing sharp and clear video.
ADVANCED SENSOR FUSION – Fusion of radar, 3-axis accelerometer, and GPS provide intelligent event detection for your parked vehicle.
SMART POWER MANAGEMENT – Low-power sensors sleep with one eye open, protecting an unattended vehicle for an unprecedented 360 hours or 15 days.
4G LTE – High-speed 4G bandwidth delivers live alerts and gives you the ability to monitor your car in real-time from any location.
AUTOMATIC CLOUD UPLOADING – Automatic uploading of event video to the Waylens Cloud keeps evidence secure and available for on-demand access.
LOCATION TRACKING – Built-in GPS technology provides location data to help you find your car. (4G MODEL ONLY)

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How Come Some People’s Immune Systems Have the Ability to Fight Off CMC and Others Don’t?

Health

Ryan Young

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That’s the million dollar question hoping to be answered in the near future thanks to a newly formed team of Stanford researchers.

While organ transplants no doubt save a huge number of lives each year, the drugs needed to help the recipient recover leave them susceptible to possible deadly infections such as cytomegalovirus or CMV. With the help of four budding researchers, we may soon know why that only happens to some patients and what we can do to prevent it.

The four main researchers taking part in the study are Olivia Martinez, research professor of surgery; Stephan Busque, a professor of surgery; Mark Davis, a professor of microbiology & immunology, and Marc Lucia, a postdoctoral fellow.

Cytomegalovirus CMV, a DNA virus from Herpesviridae family on a background with giant cells. 3D illustration. CMV mostly causes diseases in newborns and immunocompromised patients
Dr_Microbe/GettyImages

CMV is something most people catch at some point during their lives. Normally it happens as a child and our bodies simply find a way to ward off the virus. Unfortunately, organ donors don’t have the same resilient immune system that children do, thanks to the drugs that protect their newly imported organ. It’s estimated that a third of all kidney transplant patients who suffer from CMV infections either lose the transplant or die.

As of yet, doctors are unable to determine who is most susceptible. If they could, they would be in a much better position to help those who are most at risk. Part of the research will involve the team examining T cells. These are special immune system cells that are usually responsible for warding off CMV infections.

This is where the research differs from all the studies that have been done previously as they all tend to focus on animal models of the disease whereas this study examines the fingerprints of T-cells in humans. “T cells are critically important in the immune control of viral infection,” says Martinez.

The problem is that they’re not always successful, and to find out why the team will have to take a closer look at T cells from both those with CMV activated and those with the virus under control. To help them do this they will employ the use of a single T cell RNA-sequencing. This will give a much clearer picture as to the insides of T cells.

Results from the study will help scientists develop more advanced tools to determine which patients are most at risk from a CMV infection. It will also “be used more broadly for understanding basic characteristics of viral immunity and vaccine design,” says Martinez. The team is hoping to have the results in about one year’s time.

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The Future of Digital Banking: AI-Driven Smart User Journeys

Programming

Natalie Brown

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The Future of Digital Banking: AI-Driven Smart User Journeys

The rapidly changing digital environment and the continuous adaptation of the AI technologies are seeing a sharp rise in the trend graphs. Every business is getting empowered by the artificial intelligence technology, and the banking sector is no exception. According to a survey, 60 percent of the millennials say that they prefer an app for making payments and more than 70 percent say that having a banking app is very important”. The digital banking is the choice of the majority now, and the number will only grow in the future. Adoption of artificial intelligence has made the banking customer oriented and smarter.

Let’s check out what is the usage of AI in financial as well as the banking sector-

From the graph, we can see that banking and finance are not far behind from IT in using the AI/ML techniques.

Digital Journey of Users

The traditional process-oriented banking sector is evolving as a user-oriented technology hugging digital sector. The banking processes are transforming rapidly to stay ahead in competition by providing a holistic, and personalized banking experience to its consumers.

The revolution in the technologies has changed the face of the banking business. The banks have become fintech institutes where the business is driven by tech-savvy users and the innovation of smart devices. Digital payments like recharge, are the choices of today’s consumers.

According to a summit conducted by VISA, the rise of AI and IoT, which are empowered by the big data and analytics, will lead the digital payment explosion by 2022. This includes new methods of payment, that include nearly 400 million ways to get paid and over 30 Billion ways to make payments.

Use of the mobile and smart devices have increased the usage of smart payments. Payment methods like prepaid recharge, e recharge of mobile services, e-payments for entertainment, retail and every service possible, are now driving the banking sector. Users can make a fund transfer, raise a service request, interact with the banking officer or the RM, pay bills, set up the monthly billing cycle for recurring payments and many more with just a few clicks.

Technologies that are shaping the way of Banking augmented user experience

Artificial Intelligence has come to the point of maturity where it can be implemented into the real business and can be used to empower them. In the meanwhile, the banking sector has come to a saturation point with the traditional practices and has to offer something new to its consumers to provide them intuitive customer experience.

The main business factors that are driving the adoption of AI in banking are –

A new generation of consumers who are exposed to systems like Siri or Amazon recommendations
A sharp shift to the progressive banking arrangements and stiff competitions by new and challenger banks and other fintech institutions must lead the way to adopt the AI system by traditional banks
The larger number of consumers and an infinite number of transactions which led to the emergence of technologies like Big Data and analytics. To keep up with the momentum of the need of scale of the banks have started to adopt the technologies like big data, speech recognition, image and text processing and more.
The adoption of intelligent processes maximizes the profitability reducing manual efforts on mechanical tasks.
AI techniques extract the value from the lame data resources which are the output of the big data technology in the banks
Open Banking produces more valuable and meaningful customer data which bank can use to build better business models and intelligent services and apps through AI techniques.
The predictive analytics of businesses contribute to the success of the banking services providing better business insights. It leads to better business decisions.
Building smarter apps for smarter devices and access to cloud helps the banking sector building and maintaining intelligent apps.

Smart application of AI in Banking

Machine Learning

Machine learning can be used in banking to make a fraud detection system. An intelligent algorithm will help in processing the payment transaction, identify the patterns from the data collected and will alarm in case of any anomalies or inconsistency in data.

Deep Learning

Deep learning in banking can be used for finding new opportunities of business using the relevant customer information from social media or other platforms, to identify potential business opportunities

Smart VAs and Bots

Smart VAs and Bots can be built by using the speech recognition and language processing systems. This will enhance and multiply the customer service experience.

RPA

Robotic process automation is the application of ML to create a robot which performs high volume repetitive tasks to reduce the human intervention. The difference between automation and RPA is it learns continuously from human behavior and responds when the tasks are needed. The customer onboarding process, data entry, data validation and workflow acceleration can be done in banks through the implementation of RPA.

Expert Systems

Now the AI systems have become matured enough to take decisions and provide business advice. Robotic systems and analytics can help wealth advisors to provide better advice to the consumers.

In conclusion, the coming years of banking and financial market and the whole industry will be influenced and impacted by the AI technologies which will further raise concerns about the aspects like data security, security threats, and banking frauds as well. However, after everything, it will open new directions and innovations to offer an unimaginable customer experience in the banks.

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The Way in Which Plants Absorb Carbon Affects How They Respond to Climate Change

News

Linda Johnson

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The Way in Which Plants Absorb Carbon Affects How They Respond to Climate Change

A new study has confirmed that in warmer weather plants absorb more carbon dioxide by using carbon more efficiently. While some of the carbon gets used for plant growth, some of it also gets used in respiration, which involves the plant breaking down sugars in order to get energy.

Plant growth is affected by the balance between the fixation of carbon during photosynthesis and the releasing of carbon dioxide (CO2) during respiration. This is something which not only affects the individual plant. The whole global carbon balance is affected. And, the faster respiration-related photosynthesis occurs, the greater the rate at which carbon is absorbed by the rest of the world’s ecosystem.

In a new study published earlier this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers report of how the rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere caused by human input are affecting the balance between photosynthesis and respiration in individual plants They found that when plants use more CO2 for growth, they are effectively ‘locking up’ more of the CO2 from the atmosphere as it gets absorbed through their stems and leaves.

In previous studies, researchers measured this ratio at a given temperature in order to estimate the plant’s response. However, there is a third factor to consider which had not been taken into consideration previously called the “carbon allocation efficiency.” The new study will hopefully enable scientists to produce how plants will respond to climate change more accurately.

The carbon allocation efficiency will determine what route the CO2 takes as its absorbed through photosynthesis (i.e. will it be used for growth or respiration). What the team discovered was the warmer the temperature, the more carbon plants allocated to growth. They discovered this by combining mathematical modeling and previous data obtained from algae experiments.

In the end, the researchers concluded that an increase in carbon allocation efficiency induced by warm weather is, in fact, a general phenomenon. “Plants may be more capable of compensating the negative effects of warming on carbon fixation than previously thought, across both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems,” says co-author of the study. Dr. Samraat Pawar, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial. “Our study provides a new way to better predict the effect of warming on carbon fixation by individual plants, and ultimately whole ecosystems.”

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Is the Gambling Market Ready for Robot Technology?

Gaming

Ryan Young

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Is the Gambling Market Ready for Robot Technology?

The gambling industry has been engaged in debates recently regarding cost maintenance and hiring live casino dealers in both online and real-world casinos. During the discussion, the idea of using robot dealers was also discussed.

A lot of people in the industry think that this is an ideal solution to the ever-increasing expense of casino workers, especially the dealers. However, a lot of casino goers are not as excited about the idea of robots dealing the cards for them. They still prefer the human touch.

Such sentiments show that automation, specifically robot technology, won’t be part of the industry anytime soon. However, there are still people within the industry who are making moves to incorporate robots into everyday reality slowly. It’s not surprising, observers say, considering the amount of money that goes into hiring, training, and paying the salary of casino dealers.

Robot Workers – Already a Reality

It might come as a surprise to many, but the shipping industry has been incorporating robot workers in their operations. For example, Royal Caribbeandeal ships have a robot bartender in their bar making cocktails and mixing drinks for customers while doing a mini song and dance number to entertain them.

Called the Tipsy Robot, it has now been introduced in Las Vegas as well. This step is just probably the beginning of introducing robotic workers in the gambling industry. If it’s a success, it is likely that robotic dealers are well on their way in the gaming halls of casinos.

Welcome the Robot Dealer

During the G2E (Global Gaming Expo) in Asia in 2017, leaders in the industry discussed developments and changes in the future. They also considered the salary of casino dealers as well as cost-effective alternatives to it. Aside from that, they also discussed some table games in the markets could feature automated betting and human dealers to settle bets.

Meanwhile, several manufacturers are experimenting in automated robot-dealing arms, but the gambling industry market is still divided in their opinions. While they are open to the idea of using robots in certain table games, they are still in doubt if robotic croupiers will be as efficient and effective as their human counterparts.

For example, Chinese dealers love the challenge of outdoing live dealers in controlling the game. This kind of ‘connection’ will surely be missing if players will deal with robots. Surely the game will not be the same anymore.

What Happens to Recreation?

The reason a lot of people are attracted to casinos is not only about the high price at stake on the tables. It is also about the recreational element of the game, especially the euphoric feeling a player feels when trying to outdo live croupiers. What happens if robots take control of the tables? Will players still experience the fun and the challenge they feel with human interaction?

Another reason why human dealers are much better than robots is their sensitivity to the players. Live croupiers will ask players if they want more cards or not or they are ready to show their cards. There is also the element of banter between players and dealers making the atmosphere livelier and bearable. Plus, live dealers acknowledge patrons by their names and provide ‘encouragement’ to the losers and newbies – a connection that might be gone as well if robots replace humans on the tables.

Is the Gambling Market Ready for Robot Technology?

Yes, robots are already present in some areas of the gambling industry, but the questions are still asked whether or not the industry can fully embrace the new technology.

At the moment, the casino industry is unlikely to embrace it in the context of wholesale format. It is also not clear whether the economics for robotic dealers are already in place. Although robotic dealers might not be able to replace humans, they can be a useful stand-in for live dealers temporarily.

The idea of live dealers manning the table for certain times of the day while a virtual dealer takes over after hours or during less busy periods. This can surely lessen the cost of the casinos. It is also a reasonable compromise to the players.

On top of all these, safety should also be considered since the technology can be hacked or misuse. This can cause some problems in the industry; thus, utmost care is needed when developing the software to guarantee its safety and invincibility.

How Will Human Players Feel about a Robot Dealer?

Although we humans have a great interest in robots, there is still the feeling of discomfort when we think of them being a part of our daily lives. Indeed, there’s been a lot of ruckuses when the discussion regarding robots taking over our jobs was raised. Then, it’s also a bit creepy to see robots who are almost human-like in form. However, new players find comfort in interacting with robots because it is less humiliating for them if they make a mistake during the game.

With all the discussions going on, the casino industry is still at the crossroads whether they are going to incorporate robotic technology or not. Although they welcome the idea of robot dealers, that change will mostly not happen overnight but in a distant future. Indeed, it will still take a long time before robots dealing cards and replicant roulettes become a common sight in casinos. And this is good news for casino dealers – at least, for now.

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