Automation Technologies: Robots vs. People

4 September 2021

Automation Technologies: Robots vs. People

KEY CONCLUSIONS

Technologies and robotics have become firmly embedded in our everyday lives, and will need to become even more widespread in order to improve operations

“There are systems which automatically control water pressure and manage electricity. What’s more, these artificial intelligence systems sell this electricity to neighbouring cities. Artificial intelligence has begun to earn money. In fact, robots have become firmly embedded in our lives,” Andrey Dymchenko, General Director, White Soft.

“When a process of urbanization is under way, it is logical that this will result in fewer people working in agriculture, along with migration from rural areas to cities. We need to highlight three technologies in this area, which have the objective of increasing productivity, optimizing costs, and shoring up the agricultural industry, including by reducing losses. With this in mind, the technologies which are exerting a transformative effect today are a combination of automation, robotics, and digital technologies,” Armen Harutyunyan, Director of the Department of Agroindustrial Policy, Eurasian Economic Commission.

“Modern technologies, including robots and artificial intelligence, make it possible to analyse huge quantities of transactions, rather than just a single sample. You can search for links in transactions, and for signs that may indicate some kind of fraudulent activity,” Ekaterina Nekrasova, Partner, Head of Financial Services Regulatory Group, PwC in Russia.

There is a shortage of personnel with the education required to work effectively with technologies; however, a skills training process is under way, and offers a good springboard for launching a new branch of education

“The education sector has made some decent attempts, but these are at the level of skills and training. <...> As soon at the term “educational goal” crops up, as soon as a person starts wanting something, to predict their future, I guarantee that it’ll be 10 years for sure, and more likely 30 before anything happens, because sentient AI is something which society is only beginning to approach,” Vladimir Rakhteyenko, Chief Executive Officer, Custis; Developer, Modeus Platform for Managing Individual Educational Paths.

PROBLEMS

It is frequently the case that only large corporations are able apply technologies, when they should be applied everywhere

“Technology is being implemented today, and of course, in the main this is being done at large enterprises which can afford a transformation of this kind. Unfortunately, it is still very difficult to implement this kind of technology at small farms, for example,” Armen Harutyunyan, Director of the Department of Agroindustrial Policy, Eurasian Economic Commission.

A lack of personnel with the requisite educational background is hindering the integration of technology at companies

“Why is it that this area [the implementation of robotics and artificial intelligence – ed.] is developing at a much slower rate in Russia than in other countries, particularly Japan, the US, and China? The cost of resources seems to me to be the first factor. The second one is education. In terms of the cost of resources, a good example is in fact the agricultural sector. While the cost of resources is low in Russia, it makes little financial sense to use robots,” Andrey Dymchenko, General Director, White Soft.

“Quite a lot of solutions have already appeared. These are either built into an organization’s current operating systems, or are separate solutions which are integrated with them and help with working with data. However, there’s an underlying question here – where are the people who are able to work with the data?” Ekaterina Nekrasova, Partner, Head of Financial Services Regulatory Group, PwC in Russia.

“Clearly, a downside in all this is that without professional judgement, without interpreting the data which we get through using automation processes and robots, we won’t get anywhere,” Elena Boitsova, Director of the Financial Audit Department, Accounts Chamber Russian Federation.

Demand for skills is negatively affecting the education sector

“We are seeing a situation whereby lots of companies are entering the education market, and the only thing that unites them is their complete lack of understanding of what education is. What they’re actually offering is training,” Vladimir Rakhteyenko, Chief Executive Officer, Custis; Developer, Modeus Platform for Managing Individual Educational Paths.

Data collected for the purposes of automating processes is frequently of a low quality, which can in turn lead to mistakes being made

“Unfortunately, an awful lot of attempts to implement new technologies encounter problems to do with the fact that there is not enough data, or the data is of a poor quality... The issue is that poor data can lead to mistakes being made. These can have serious consequences, both from a regulatory and oversight point of view,” Ekaterina Nekrasova, Partner, Head of Financial Services Regulatory Group, PwC in Russia.

SOLUTIONS

Government support to help smaller sectors implement technology and move towards automation

“Support for implementing technology needs to be offered. Again, that’s because they are unfortunately only affordable to large organization. <...> A foundation should be built in the education sector, because training agricultural specialists on an individual basis is not particularly effective. We need agricultural engineers who understand the technology and understand agriculture. I would propose three solutions: popularizing technology, educational programmes, and government support providing additional incentives to implement these kinds of projects moving forward,” Armen Harutyunyan, Director of the Department of Agroindustrial Policy, Eurasian Economic Commission.

Partnerships between universities and businesses could help improve the educational system, as could training aids to build up skills. In addition, social dynamics could help engage the interest of young people

“We can see successful instances of commercial or public organizations opening departments at universities to train personnel for the sector capable of fundamentally reshaping working practices the industry,” Ekaterina Nekrasova, Partner, Head of Financial Services Regulatory Group, PwC in Russia.

“A range of fantastic things is emerging in the education sector, such as adaptive learning. This is a training aid which can help people build up their skills in a fairly easy way,” Vladimir Rakhteyenko, Chief Executive Officer, Custis; Developer, Modeus Platform for Managing Individual Educational Paths.

“It is only possible to engage young people today through social dynamics, charisma, projects, business games, and workshops. These must be made to be highly appealing. <…> It will be important to take steps in this direction fairly quickly, and develop modern communication formats. Speaking about my experience, the things I am good at today are related to areas where I had talented teachers,” Vladimir Rakhteyenko, Chief Executive Officer, Custis; Developer, Modeus Platform for Managing Individual Educational Paths.

For more information, visit the Roscongress Foundation’s Information and Analytical System at roscongress.org/en.

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