Work

• Robots will take over the physical jobs.
• As early as 2016, robots will be on security patrol in the streets.
• Technologies enhancing built environment and robots will be a part of the construction process.
• Surging capabilities of robots and artificial intelligence will see a range of current jobs supplanted, potentially including driving as well as more process-oriented roles in mining and financial services.
• The world's first hotel staffed entirely by robots is set to open in Japan later this year. 10 robots will staff the 72-room hotel.

• Transportation (including autos and equipment) and machinery sectors will buy about three quarters of robots through to 2025.
• Automation will have a potentially transformative impact across all transportation modes.
• More industrial robots will be operating in China's production plants than in the European Union or North America.
• Investment in industrial robots will increase by 10 percent by 2025.Production lines will become more customized.
• Furniture made by robot arms will be packaged and delivered to whoever imagined it.
• Skyscrapers of tomorrow could comprise modular components which can be rearranged and assembled by robots.

Identities

• Merging robotics and fashion within the practice of Sartorial Robotics will enhance the explorations of identities for both humans and robots.

Productivity

• There is overall competition to provide cheaper goods and services and a big part of providing it will be with robotic automation and process improvement.
• Robot deployment is projected to lower U.S. manufacturing costs by about 22 percent by 2015.
• Artificial intelligence and robotics will revolutionize the legal sector.
• Self-driving cars will disrupt the transportation, delivery, insurance, and many other industries.
• Robot scientists like Eve could be used by pharmaceutical companies to streamline the drug development process.
• More robots could appear at other Bank branches in the coming months.
• Mechanical robot tasks like picking fruit or moving a hospital patient will be solved.
• Infinite computing power will combine with AI to transform the field of synthetic biology to create everything from new foods to new vaccines.
• Robotics, 3D printing and smart artificial intelligence will challenge the advantage of EMs in low-cost manufacturing and services.
• The arrival of diagnostic robots will remove some of the demand for doctors' services.
• A variety of jobs from loan officers to stockbrokers and traders could be computerized in the coming new world of cyborg finance.

Attitudes

• Humans are going to have to get used to working alongside robots.
• Robots and artificial intelligence of various sorts will become an accepted part of daily life by the year 2020 and will almost completely take over physical work.
• Skepticism of cyberconsciousness is driven in part by the societal fear that advancements in robotics will one day erase the need for human labor.
• The pace of change is expected to accelerate as robotics become easier and safer to use.

Development

• Deep learning will eventually allow robots to recognize objects they haven't seen before and navigate to new locations on their own.
  Increasing levels of automatic control will lead to full automation over time.
• Accurate and intelligent machines could go some way towards mitigating the impacts of food and water production.
• Non-invasive sensors and mobility could provide fast, accurate and objective data on the state of farms and vineyards.
• 47 percent of all U.S. jobs could be automated.
• There will be less people working in the factories.

Leadership

• Business leaders should identify jobs that robotics will replace over the next 10 years and leverage attrition and training to prepare employees for new roles.
• Automation will be key to keeping labor costs under control in the long-term.
• Ethical, legal, societal and economical aspects of robotics will be addressed to ensure wider take up of the technology by citizens and businesses.

Learn more
To find the sources and more resources on Shaping Tomorrow about the future of business some of which were used in this Trend Alert. View Rise of the Machines Report.

Also, click here to find out how Shaping Tomorrow can help your organization rapidly assess and respond to these and other key issues affecting your business.