futurefridays Archives - Robbie Agustin

Virtual Reality and its Impact to the Future of Businesses

For today’s edition of #futurefridays let’s talk about Virtual Reality, and how it will change the Future of how Businesses operate today.

Have you ever been in a situation where you were trying to choose a resort to go to for your vacation, and you made your decision based on the pictures you saw?

What if there was a way to “try before you buy” by way of virtually immersing you into the resort, so you can experience what it’s like being there first-hand. Would that make your decision-making faster?

That’s what Virtual Reality can do for you. And it has many more use cases other than that.

Join me as we explore what Virtual Reality is and how it can be helpful in changing the way we do things within and around your business.

Let’s start with a video that defines what Immersive Technology like Virtual Reality is, and some examples of how it applies in the world today.

Artificial Intelligence Basics: What is Machine Learning?

It’s #futurefridays and today we’ll be talking about the basics of Artificial Intelligence.

Previously, I talked about Natural Language Processing, and before that, Computer Vision.

But today we’ll tackle another field of Artificial Intelligence called Machine Learning.

Wikipedia defines Machine Learning as:

Machine learning (ML) is the scientific study of algorithms and statistical models that computer systems use to perform a specific task without using explicit instructions, relying on patterns and inference instead. It is seen as a subset of artificial intelligence. Machine learning algorithms build a mathematical model based on sample data, known as “training data”, in order to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to perform the task. Machine learning algorithms are used in a wide variety of applications, such as email filtering and computer vision, where it is difficult or infeasible to develop a conventional algorithm for effectively performing the task.

Let me show you some examples of how Machine Learning is being used in real-world scenarios.

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What will happen to RPA (Robotic Process Automation) in 2020?

For #futurefridays let’s talk about RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and what will happen to it in 2020.

With all the rage about AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the Future of Work, people have been saying that RPA seems to have taken a back seat from all the action.

To the uninitiated, I’ll talk about the difference between RPA and AI.

So back to what will happen to RPA, in the recent past, people have been so afraid about RPA and that people would lose jobs because of it.

That was only for RPA. What more for AI? I guess people are, and were, just afraid of what they don’t know.

But now that people have become accustomed to having a “Digital Workforce” or software robots working alongside them, people’s thoughts have changed from fearing about job security, to scrutinizing where RPA falls short!

In my opinion, that’s a good thing, because we can now start doing innovations!

Here are some of the things I’ve heard people say about RPA lately:

It’s becoming a band aid solution
It can only do so much
With AI coming in, let’s just set our sights on that

With that, I’d like to talk about each of those bullet points in detail.

I will share my thoughts based on my own experience, as well as where I think RPA will be going to next.

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Does the Future of Work need Lean Six Sigma?

For #futurefridays I was asked a question: “Does the Future of Work still need Lean Six Sigma?”

Well, based on my own personal experience, it’s a big YES.

You see, Lean Six Sigma is simply a structured problem-solving approach.

So if you have a problem that requires root-cause-analysis before you find the appropriate solution, then Lean Six Sigma’s DMAIC approach is what you need.

You can’t just implement some sort of software automation or that snazzy new technological tool just for the sake of it.

To put it bluntly, Automations and such Technologies are part of the Solutions. But to uncover the root causes of the problems that require these solutions, that’s where you would need Lean Six Sigma.

So if anything, Lean Six Sigma is actually becoming a foundational skill that continuous process improvement and innovation experts of today must master.

Let me give you an example.

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DEMYSTIFIED: What’s the difference between Classification and Regression?

For today’s #futurefridays I’m going to answer a question that confuses a lot of people trying to learn Data Science and Machine Learning.

The question is “What’s the difference between Classification and Regression?”

Let me give a shot at this with a simple explanation and example.

Think about the output that you want to achieve.

If you have a dataset, and the output you want to get are labels or categories, then it’s classification.

However if the output you want to get is a numerical value based on computations done on the dataset, then it’s regression.

Let me give you a specific example.

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Artificial Intelligence Basics: What is Natural Language Processing?

It’s #futurefridays and today we’ll be talking about the basics of Artificial Intelligence.

Previously, I talked about Computer Vision. But today we’ll tackle another field of Artificial Intelligence called Natural Language Processing.

Wikipedia defines Natural Language Processing as:

Natural language processing (NLP) is a subfield of linguistics, computer science, information engineering, and artificial intelligence concerned with the interactions between computers and human (natural) languages, in particular how to program computers to process and analyze large amounts of natural language data.

Let me show you some examples of how Natural Language Processing is being used in real-world scenarios.

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Turn Your Car into a 600hp Electric Vehicle in 2020

For today’s #futurefridays, the car enthusiast in me has its juices flowing.

With all they hype about the new Cybertruck, people either love it or hate it. And the hate is mostly about the design.

So what if you can pick any car you want, based on how you like the design, and then just make it go electric. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

That’s exactly what the wizards at Stard Advanced Research and Development in Austria have done.

And it’s going to go full swing in 2020 racing at the World Rallycross Championship.

Imagine having the power to go 0-60 in 1.8 seconds. That’s faster than an F1 car!

The kit that they’ve developed has an all-wheel-drive drivetrain powered by 3 electric motors – 1 in front and 3 at the back, giving the car a total of 600hp, and a staggering 1100N-m of torque instantly available within 1 millisecond.

Even private teams can build their own electric rallycross cars based on the kit technology and the technical systems provided by Stard for a full and practical integration into these cars.

Check out the video. If you’re a true car guy, it’s going to be one of the best 4 minutes and 17 seconds of your life. You’ll thank me later.

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Artificial Intelligence Basics: What is Computer Vision?

It’s #futurefridays and today we’ll be talking about the basics of Artificial Intelligence.

If this catches on, I might even turn this into a series!

For this first installment, I’ll be talking about Computer Vision.

Wikipedia defines Computer Vision as:

Computer vision is an interdisciplinary scientific field that deals with how computers can be made to gain high-level understanding from digital images or videos. From the perspective of engineering, it seeks to automate tasks that the human visual system can do.

Let me show you some examples of how Computer Vision is being used in real-world scenarios.

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Innovation: How the Deaf-Blind can use a Mobile Phone. Or can they?

It’s #FutureFridays and today we talk about one of the latest innovations from tech giant Samsung.

Imagine, what if you are living in this current age, but you lack the ability to see the world around you, hear the people talk to you, nor speak back to your family or loved ones.

What would your world be like?

That’s the kind of world a Deaf-Blind person lives in.

Thankfully, Samsung has come up with their latest innovation to solve this problem.

Read on to see how it works, and watch the video demo. I assure you, it won’t disappoint.

And if your eyes don’t swell in tears after watching it, you have no emotion.

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How can OCR (Optical Character Recognition) become AI (Artificial Intelligence)? Here’s how.

Alright, it’s #FutureFridays and today’s topic is OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and AI (Artificial Intelligence).

OCR has been around for quite some time already, and is widely considered as mainstream technology.

OCR is simply the ability to have a machine convert text from a scanned document or image into machine readable format.

In a sense, it is a simple form of “Artificial Intelligence,” but because it has become mainstream technology already, most people no longer consider it to be a subset of AI, even though technically, it is, as it is part of Computer Vision.

How OCR really becomes AI is dependent on what you do with the machine readable data after the conversion process.

Let me show you an example of a how a company took OCR technology to the next level with AI.

Continue reading “How can OCR (Optical Character Recognition) become AI (Artificial Intelligence)? Here’s how.”