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SPOTLIGHT ON : AUTONOMOUS MACHINES SPOTLIGHT ON : DIALOG ALGORITHMS
Based on these characteristics , autonomous machines enable a degree of automation that has been impossible with conventional robotics .
3.05 1.37
MILLION
industrial robots are expected to be in use worldwide by 2020 – up from just 1.83 million units in 2016 . 13 Robot density in 2016 was highest in South Korea ( 631 robots per 10,000 employees in the manufacturing industry ), followed by Singapore ( 488 ), Germany ( 309 ) and Japan ( 303 ). 14
A relatively new development is the collaborative robot : instead of operating in a fenced-off-workspace , these robots work side by side with humans and can be fully integrated into existing production workflows . Using this technology , Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Changying Precision Technology has been able to increase productivity by 250 % and reduce production errors by 80 %. 15
Speech recognition has made rapid progress in recent years :
BILLION users will be using digital voice assistants by 2019 – almost twice as many as two years earlier , with growth rates unlikely to taper off any time soon . 16
Dialog algorithms based on speech recognition technologies are used to improve customer service . Telefónica , for instance , has introduced a chatbot , Aura , which is to serve as the first point of contact for customer enquiries and concerns .
Conversational commerce takes this a step further . Here , digital assistants advise customers in a natural interaction . The interaction takes place fast and provides callers with extensive information . This could elevate online customer service to new levels and increase brand loyalty .