Monthly Archives: May 2017

May 16, 2017 by Daniel Evans Pritchard "The new frontier is learning how to design the relationships between people, robots, and infrastructure," says David Mindell, the Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing, and a professor of aeronautics and astronautics. "We need new sensors, new software, new ways of architecting systems." Credit: Len Rubenstein

Science and technology are essential tools for innovation, and to reap their full potential, we also need to articulate and solve the many aspects of today's global issues that are rooted in the political, cultural, and economic realities of the human world. With that mission in mind, MIT's School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences has launched The Human Factoran ongoing series of stories and interviews that highlight research on the human dimensions of global challenges. Contributors to this series also share ideas for cultivating the multidisciplinary collaborations needed to solve the major civilizational issues of our time.

David Mindell, the Frances and David Dibner Professor of the History of Engineering and Manufacturing and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, researches the intersections of human behavior, technological innovation, and automation. Mindell is the author of five acclaimed books, most recently "Our Robots, Ourselves: Robotics and the Myths of Autonomy" (Viking, 2015). He is also the co-founder of Humatics Corporation, which develops technologies for human-centered automation. SHASS Communications recently asked him to share his thoughts on the relationship of robotics to human activities, and the role of multidisciplinary research in solving complex global issues.

Q: A major theme in recent political discourse has been the perceived impact of robots and automation on the United States labor economy. In your research into the relationship between human activity and robotics, what insights have you gained that inform the future of human jobs, and the direction of technological innovation?

A: In looking at how people have designed, used, and adopted robotics in extreme environments like the deep ocean, aviation, or space, my most recent work shows how robotics and automation carry with them human assumptions about how work gets done, and how technology alters those assumptions. For example, the U.S. Air Force's Predator drones were originally envisioned as fully autonomousable to fly without any human assistance. In the end, these drones require hundreds of people to operate.

The new success of robots will depend on how well they situate into human environments. As in chess, the strongest players are often the combinations of human and machine. I increasingly see that the three critical elements are people, robots, and infrastructureall interdependent.

Q: In your recent book "Our Robots, Ourselves," you describe the success of a human-centered robotics, and explain why it is the more promising research directionrather than research that aims for total robotic autonomy. How is your perspective being received by robotic engineers and other technologists, and do you see examples of research projects that are aiming at human-centered robotics?

A: One still hears researchers describe full autonom as the only way to go; often they overlook the multitude of human intentions built into even the most autonomous systems, and the infrastructure that surrounds them. My work describes situated autonomy, where autonomous systems can be highly functional within human environments such as factories or cities. Autonomy as a means of moving through physical environments has made enormous strides in the past ten years. As a means of moving through human environments, we are only just beginning. The new frontier is learning how to design the relationships between people, robots, and infrastructure. We need new sensors, new software, new ways of architecting systems.

Q: What can the study of the history of technology teach us about the future of robotics?

A: The history of technology does not predict the future, but it does offer rich examples of how people build and interact with technology, and how it evolves over time. Some problems just keep coming up over and over again, in new forms in each generation. When the historian notices such patterns, he can begin to ask: Is there some fundamental phenomenon here? If it is fundamental, how is it likely to appear in the next generation? Might the dynamics be altered in unexpected ways by human or technical innovations?

One such pattern is how autonomous systems have been rendered less autonomous when they make their way into real world human environments. Like the Predator drone, future military robots will likely be linked to human commanders and analysts in some ways as well. Rather than eliding those links, designing them to be as robust and effective as possible is a worthy focus for researchers' attention.

Q: MIT President L. Rafael Reif has said that the solutions to today's challenges depend on marrying advanced technical and scientific capabilities with a deep understanding of the world's political, cultural, and economic realities. What barriers do you see to multidisciplinary, sociotechnical collaborations, and how can we overcome them?

A: I fear that as our technical education and research continues to excel, we are building human perspectives into technologies in ways not visible to our students. All data, for example, is socially inflected, and we are building systems that learn from those data and act in the world. As a colleague from Stanford recently observed, go to Google image search and type in "Grandma" and you'll see the social bias that can leak into data setsthe top results all appear white and middle class.

Now think of those data sets as bases of decision making for vehicles like cars or trucks, and we become aware of the social and political dimensions that we need to build into systems to serve human needs. For example, should driverless cars adjust their expectations for pedestrian behavior according to the neighborhoods they're in?

Meanwhile, too much of the humanities has developed islands of specialized discourse that is inaccessible to outsiders. I used to be more optimistic about multidisciplinary collaborations to address these problems. Departments and schools are great for organizing undergraduate majors and graduate education, but the old two-cultures divides remain deeply embedded in the daily practices of how we do our work. I've long believed MIT needs a new school to address these synthetic, far-reaching questions and train students to think in entirely new ways.

Explore further: Should cars be fully driverless? No, says an engineer and historian

This story is republished courtesy of MIT News (web.mit.edu/newsoffice/), a popular site that covers news about MIT research, innovation and teaching.

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Expert discusses the future of human-centered robotics - Phys.Org

The robots are coming, the robots are coming! Everywhere you look, you see whitepapers and discussions about robotics and its use in AML and compliance generally. And rightfully so, this is definitely going to be a boon to the industry in allowing for more efficiency, consistency, and effectiveness. The problem with all the content and hype is that Robotics has been blown out of proportion. Promises are being made that cant be kept I left one presentation wondering if compliance departments would just become rooms full of servers. Compliance requirements are only increasing, creating more work for AML compliance departments. At the same time, banks are becoming leaner and less likely to throw more headcount to solve issues. Instead, AML Compliance Departments need to start finding ways to make their employees more efficient and effective, essentially take on more work with the same amount of people. This is where Robotics can help.

Especially if you are not a technology person, Robotics can be very daunting. You either avoid it because you dont understand it or you avoid it because you are overwhelmed by the volume of information in the market. Ignoring the obvious hypocrisy of this post adding to that volume, the goal here is to clarify what Robotics is and filter out the noise of how it can be used in your AML program.

RPA or RDA?

Robotics is a general term that can refer to a few different uses of digital robots to automate work. For the most part, when discussing Robotics most people refer to Robotic Process Automation (RPA). This is using Robotics to automate an entire process, from start to finish. This is the T-1000 Terminator, completing replacing a person in a process. The other type of Robotics, which is discussed less often, is Robotic Desktop Automation (RDA). This is the Robocop, combining human and robot. This involves automating parts of an overall process, to allow for the human to focus on the more complex and value add tasks.

At first glance, RPA sounds like the way to go its like adding more headcount, but in robot form. Great! The truth is, this is extremely hard to do. There are few processes, especially in the AML world that will not require some level of human review and decisioning think transaction monitoring and sanctions screening investigations or even due diligence reviews.

In comes RDA. Augment your analysts with robots, to help them work faster. Those robots can take on the manual and repetitive tasks like logging into multiple mainframe systems, collect information from the same internal systems repeatedly, running the same searches on external websites or data providers over and over again. While you arent adding headcount, you are enhancing your analysts and allowing them to focus on synthesizing information and making decisions making them more efficient.

You want Robocops, not Terminators.

Transaction Monitoring and Sanctions Screening Investigations

What are the tasks that take the most time for your investigators? From my days managing investigators, the tasks that took up most of their time were repeatedly logging into the various databases, mainframes, applications, and websites that they needed to use for their investigations; pulling customer and account information from various systems; and running negative news searches and internet searches on parties of interest. In essence, they spent most of their time collecting information. Instead, imagine them starting their investigation with all of the initial information at their fingertips? They could then start their investigation by using their brains, not mindlessly collecting data. Not only does this make them more efficient, it makes them happier. Happier investigators are better investigators and better investigators can work more cases.

Customer Due Diligence (CDD)

Collecting CDD for your Know Your Customer (KYC) information is no easy task. The regulations continue to increase the requirements, and with regulatory scrutiny increasing, internal policies are becoming more onerous as well. To make things worse, most banks dont have unified databases for customer information internally, rely on legacy systems, and use a multitude of external sources to collect information. As a result, analysts have to search multiple systems, have difficulty finding information, and conduct repetitive searches over and over.

Robotics can address these issues by creating strategic integrations between internal and legacy systems, collect information from websites where an API integration does not exist, and take over the repeated searches on external sites. Similar to the assistance provided in financial crime investigations, Robotics can help centralize and collect all the necessary information for due diligence, allowing the analysts to focus on reviewing/assessing customer information and conducting enhanced due diligence.

Robotics is a great tool to gain efficiency, but dont think of it as the silver bullet to save all your problems. It should be one of the tools in your automation tool bag, not the only one. Just like any tool, you need to understand the problems that it is meant to solve so it can be used correctly.

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Robotics and AML: Enhancing, Not Replacing, Your Analysts - Finextra (blog)

Ministry of Design told Engadget that the lab's primary function is "to train and inspire more people to use robotics automation in their everyday work." The experience starts in the minimalist, all-black lobby that features just the lab signage (also created by the firm) and LEDs running at various crazy angles. A door leads to the highly unusual lab's black interior that's clad with a "second skin" of aluminum tubes and custom LED strips, also set at random, rakish angles.

There is a method to the madness, beyond just wowing potential clients. The lab required a continuous interior with small hands-on training clusters, so the open-space plan is divided into smaller, multi-faceted interiors.

At the same time, the panels "cloak the necessary but unsightly mechanical and electrical services while allowing ease of access for operation," says Ministry of Design. As such, each work cluster has separate hatches, allowing easy access to the services hidden behind.

RACE Robotics is a collaboration between Nanyang Technical University (NTU) and PBA Group, a Singapore-based firm specializing in contract manufacturing. The lab started running in January, offering novice and advanced training sessions in robotics and automation. It's working with industrial robotics giants, including Delta Electronics, Universal Robots and Kawasaki.

We're not sure what it's like to work and learn in such a dizzying interior, but if there's any place that justifies such a design, it's a robotics lab. "Overall, the space provides a suitable future-forward backdrop to usher in an age of automation and robotics," says Ministry of Design.

More:

Decor as dystopia at a Singapore robotics training center - Engadget

TechCrunch

Amazon's Tye Brady and ABB's Sami Atiya to Speak at TC Sessions: Robotics July 17 at MIT TechCrunch We first developed the idea for TC Sessions: Robotics because we wanted to bridge the gap between startups and investment in the robotics world namely research, academia, government and industry. On July 17 at MIT's Kresge auditorium in Cambridge, ...

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Amazon's Tye Brady and ABB's Sami Atiya to Speak at TC Sessions: Robotics July 17 at MIT - TechCrunch

Cane Bay High Schools FIRST Robotics Team 3490 Viper Drive, the first in the schools history, has ended another productive season.

Following a regional competition in Myrtle Beach, the 40-member group contended at the Rocket City Regional Competition in Huntsville, Alabama on Mar. 22.

Team spokesperson Ogugua Nwaezeigwe said the group learned from past errors and made modifications to their robot, enabling them to place seventh out of about 50 teams. The team did not place high enough to qualify for the national championships, but Nwaezeigwe said Cane Bays engineering-group remained strong.

We had to really stick together when we lost, Nwaezeigwe said. That mentality made our robotics team a family and more tightly-knit than we were before.

Despite the setback, the group clinched an entrepreneurship award for their thorough business plan that outlines their funding resources and intentions to continue inspiring youth with STEM initiatives. And while they didnt qualify through the regional competition for a championship bid, patience on the FIRST championship waiting list and donations from generous sponsors afforded them a trip to the national competition in Houston.

There, they snagged $5,000 in a social media FedEx Innovation Challenge to cap off a successful season.

I accomplished my dream of holding a big check, Nwaezeigwe joked.

Perhaps one of the teams most notable achievements this season, though, was its very own spokeswoman capping the Deans List award at the earlier Palmetto Regional competition. The FIRST robotics founder, Dean Kamen, developed the award to celebrate students whose passion, leadership and dedication to FIRST proves exemplary.

Nwaezigwe was quite modest about the accomplishment.

[Deans List] students try to make a change in their communities, she said. Thats all I try to do nowadays.

She added that the group placed 46 out of about 60 teams in Houston in the midst of fierce competition on a rigorous robotics course.

FIRST is a nationwide initiative that challenges students to create a robot with a six-week time frame to accomplish a specific task. Students are also simultaneously raising funds for their organization, as well as obtaining teamwork and leadership skills.

Cane Bays robotics group is led by Nikki Stancampiano, who teaches introduction to engineering and design at the high school, and a host of volunteer mentors.

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Robotics team concludes successful season - The Gazette