Hybrid in the automation world — The Daily PPILL #108

Hybrid in the automation world — The Daily PPILL #108

Alexa is dumb, but it beats Siri. Yes, that’s what most of the people think. Also, on the shop floor, objects have to be aligned specifically for robots to pick up. The roomba got indigestion from the area rug. The list goes on and on. Automation and AI are a fantastic thing, but they require us to modify our behavior.

Don’t make no mistake, it is not staying like this for long.

This same pattern is what we have seen with any other technology. I can still remember the days when taking off on a road trip longer than two hours was an expedition that had to be prepared with weeks in advance, and not too long ago our PCs were nerd-only stuff, not because other people wouldn’t think they had any potential, but because they wouldn’t bother to go through the constant maintenance tasks.

For some time, we are going to experience this transition period, where the human is mostly there to “iron out the wrinkles” of the natural world for the robot. And most applications will be Hybrid, requiring both a human and an automaton. Remember how printers used to be? Or taping programs on your VCR? Even email, Remember when it wasn’t “push”?

Just give them some time, and you’ll see how little by little they become smarter and soon the experience will be seamless, end to end, without the need of human intervention.

For now, just be particularly orderly with their thing, we don’t want to get them upset.

As published on The ChannelMeister