It was 100 years ago when Karel Čapek first used the term “robot” in his play Universal Robots Rossum, premiered in Prague on January 25, 1921. Actually, it was his brother Josef who suggested he use “robot,” Czech for “robota” or “hard work,” to refer to the androids that star in his play. Robot is the most widely used Czech word in the world.
In these 100 years we have seen how the real world has been approaching that other imaginary one of Karel Čapek with robots that help us in the hardest jobs, with excellent efficiency when mechanics, electronics, artificial intelligence… bring us together their benefits and possibilities.
Today, many production lines incorporate robots, medicine uses robots in surgery, research relies on artificial intelligence to accelerate its results… and cognitive automation, a symbiosis of RPA and artificial intelligence, is transforming our workplaces.
Physical robots are efficient. They free humans from the hardest, most dangerous jobs, providing precision and quality. Digital robots, like physical robots, free us from the most routine and repetitive tasks, and using artificial intelligence, the so-called cognitive automation, create jobs where robots and people complement each other, enhancing their capabilities.
Cognitive automation is discovering new areas of application every day. There are many explanations for this continuous progress, and one of them is undoubtedly the immediacy of the results. After more than 30 years dedicated to technology and information systems, I have never seen a technology implemented faster and with better returns on investment.
