Summary of Globalization Goes High-Tech: A Worrisome World of Abundance - mass customization

William E. Halal talks about shared knowledge as abundance in his book Technology’s Promise that will continue to shape the way the world does business. The seven areas he forecasts for this are designed material, mass customization, micromachines, modular homes, nanotechnology, smart robots and smart sensors. I found the mass customization to be of great interest showing the change from mass production as people express distinctiveness. This made me think of shopping with my daughter and her friends recently and realizing that it was not just about having the latest cool clothes or phone but how to make them your own to stand out. This can also be seen with computer sales playing old kids songs to highlight the bright colors they now come in. The computer itself has not really changed but the kids now all want the new blue or pick one because it is an extension of their style. Halal gave a 2010 to 2016 for this and based on what I’ve seen I think he is right on the money.

Robots - repeatable tasks in near future

The following is base on this paper

http://www.cs.cornell.edu/~asaxena/papers/challenges_for_robot_manipulation.pdf

Robots are used in factories for manufacturing products and helping workers by lifting heavy objects. These robots perform repeatable tasks based on algorithms that operate in a controlled environment and do not have to consider unknown variables. Other robots can he operated by humans to again safeguard against the unknown.

The challenges for robots to be able to perform task without human intervention are considerable but with the need growing so are advances in the field. Robots are being made to sense and readjust to objects. This will be very helpful with items like the one’s shown in the picture above but what happens when you dog is around and maybe wants to play with the robot or just gets in its way.

These robot helpers are coming soon and will continue to evolve. However, I think they will most likely have issues with regulatory challenges when it comes to putting them in potentially life and death situations such are home care or the elderly. There have been many movies that are based on robots taking over or becoming dangerous such as iRobot, AI or Terminator. These are based on fears that people have and as the technology advances I believe these fears will become more real causing more road blocks for advancement.