33,041 research outputs found
AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs
This report is the latest in a sustained effort throughout 2014 by the Pew Research Center's Internet Project to mark the 25th anniversary of the creation of the World Wide Web by Sir Tim Berners-Lee (The Web at 25).The report covers experts' views about advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, and their impact on jobs and employment
Social robots for older users: a possibility to support assessment and social interventions
In the last decades, various researches in the field of robotics have
created numerous opportunities for innovative support of the older population.
The goal of this work was to review and highlight how social robots can help
the daily life of older people, and be useful also as assessment tools. We will
underline the aspects of usability and acceptability of robotic supports in the
psychosocial work with older persons. The actual usability of the system influences the perception of the ease of use only when the user has no or low experience, while expert users’ perception is related to their attitude towards the robot. This finding should be more deeply analysed because it may have a strong
influence on the design of future interfaces for elderly-robot interaction. Robots
can play an important role to tackle the societal challenge of the growing older
population. The authors report some recent studies with older users, where it
was demonstrated that the acceptability of robotics during daily life activities,
and also in cognitive evaluation, could be supported by social robot
Is China Systematically Buying Up Key Technologies? Chinese M & A transactions in Germany in the context of “Made in China 2025”. Bertelsmann Stiftung GED Study 2018
“Made in China 2025” (MIC 2025) is the Chinese central
government’s main industrial policy strategy aimed at
turning China into the global leader of the fourth industrial
revolution. Chinese M & A transactions abroad explicitly
belong to the instruments for implementing MIC 2025.
Germany is an attractive location for Chinese M & A transactions
and offers tailor-made know-how for MIC 2025 due
to its large number of “hidden champions”, i. e. technological
world market leaders in highly specialized niches.
64 percent or 112 of the 175 analyzed Chinese M & A transactions
with a share of at least ten percent in German companies
between 2014 and 2017 percent can be assigned to
one of the ten key sectors in which China aims to assume
global technology leadership with the help of MIC 2025.
On the one hand, there is a clear focus on the MIC 2025
sectors of “energy-saving and new-energy vehicles”,
“electrical equipment” and “high-end numerical control
machinery and robotics” – i. e. sectors in which Germany
can in part demonstrate significant competitive technological
advantages. Even before the introduction of MIC 2025
in 2015, however, these sectors were already a focus of
interest for Chinese investors in Germany.
On the other hand, key sectors that played little or no
role for Chinese M & A transactions in Germany have also
become increasingly important since the introduction of
MIC 2025. This is particularly evident in the MIC 2025
sector of “biomedicine and high-performance medical
devices”.
The majority of the 112 Chinese M & A transactions (just
under 60 percent) that are relevant for MIC 2025 are distributed
across only three German states: Baden-WĂĽrttemberg
(26), North Rhine-Westphalia (22) and Bavaria (18)
– the very regions in which the majority of the German
“hidden champions” are located.
State-owned investors make up 18 percent of the Chinese
M & A transactions examined, and are therefore a minority.
However, taking into account only the M & A transactions
that can be assigned to the MIC 2025 sectors, their share
rises to around 22 percent – a possible indication of state
stakeholders’ greater interest in acquiring know-how
abroad for the implementation of MIC 2025.
However, the formal type of ownership of Chinese companies
does not show the full picture of potential state influence
due to the complex interplay between the state and
companies in China. Therefore, the great challenge for Germany
consists in the forms of state influence that are not
or only insufficiently reflected in the majority ownership
type of Chinese investors
How 5G wireless (and concomitant technologies) will revolutionize healthcare?
The need to have equitable access to quality healthcare is enshrined in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which defines the developmental agenda of the UN for the next 15 years. In particular, the third SDG focuses on the need to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. In this paper, we build the case that 5G wireless technology, along with concomitant emerging technologies (such as IoT, big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning), will transform global healthcare systems in the near future. Our optimism around 5G-enabled healthcare stems from a confluence of significant technical pushes that are already at play: apart from the availability of high-throughput low-latency wireless connectivity, other significant factors include the democratization of computing through cloud computing; the democratization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing (e.g., IBM Watson); and the commoditization of data through crowdsourcing and digital exhaust. These technologies together can finally crack a dysfunctional healthcare system that has largely been impervious to technological innovations. We highlight the persistent deficiencies of the current healthcare system and then demonstrate how the 5G-enabled healthcare revolution can fix these deficiencies. We also highlight open technical research challenges, and potential pitfalls, that may hinder the development of such a 5G-enabled health revolution
Robot Autonomy for Surgery
Autonomous surgery involves having surgical tasks performed by a robot
operating under its own will, with partial or no human involvement. There are
several important advantages of automation in surgery, which include increasing
precision of care due to sub-millimeter robot control, real-time utilization of
biosignals for interventional care, improvements to surgical efficiency and
execution, and computer-aided guidance under various medical imaging and
sensing modalities. While these methods may displace some tasks of surgical
teams and individual surgeons, they also present new capabilities in
interventions that are too difficult or go beyond the skills of a human. In
this chapter, we provide an overview of robot autonomy in commercial use and in
research, and present some of the challenges faced in developing autonomous
surgical robots
Business Case and Technology Analysis for 5G Low Latency Applications
A large number of new consumer and industrial applications are likely to
change the classic operator's business models and provide a wide range of new
markets to enter. This article analyses the most relevant 5G use cases that
require ultra-low latency, from both technical and business perspectives. Low
latency services pose challenging requirements to the network, and to fulfill
them operators need to invest in costly changes in their network. In this
sense, it is not clear whether such investments are going to be amortized with
these new business models. In light of this, specific applications and
requirements are described and the potential market benefits for operators are
analysed. Conclusions show that operators have clear opportunities to add value
and position themselves strongly with the increasing number of services to be
provided by 5G.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure
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