抢货机器人bot
Ever since I started investing in early stage AI and automation startups, I’ve regularly found myself explaining what robotic process automation (RPA) is, and repeating my “schtick” over and over again. This is understandable. It’s easier to think about a robot if it has some kind of tangible plastic or metal “body.” RPA however, is not your regular physical bot. It’s a piece of software code that performs repetitive tasks for you. To be fair, the complexity of software like RPA demands a better name than just “computer” or “program.” With true AI still a long way off and this software designed to act like a human, we settled on calling them robots (thanks to sci-fi movies of the late 1990s) and the term robotic process automation stuck (there were many moniker variations before it did). On this blog and elsewhere in the RPA world, we often end up referring to RPA robots as little minions with anthropomorphic qualities. But that is only half accurate. They are just very sophisticated computer programs. 🤷♂️
Ë版本,因为我开始早期人工智能和自动化初创企业进行投资,我经常发现自己解释什么是机器人过程自动化(RPA)是,并重复我的“滑稽特点”一遍又一遍。 这是可以理解的。 如果机器人具有某种有形的塑料或金属“物体”,则更容易考虑它。 但是,RPA不是您的常规物理机器人。 这是一段为您执行重复任务的软件代码。 公平地说,像RPA这样的软件的复杂性要求其名称不仅仅是“计算机”或“程序”。 真正的人工智能还有很长的路要走,并且该软件旨在像人类一样工作,因此我们决定将它们称为机器人(由于1990年代后期的科幻电影),机器人过程自动化一词被搁置了(之前有很多绰号它做了)。 在该博客以及RPA世界中的其他地方,我们常常最终将RPA机器人称为具有拟人化特征的小仆人。 但这仅是一半的准确性。 它们只是非常复杂的计算机程序。 ♂♂️
With the evolution of screen scraping in the early 2000s, automation joined hands with the then prodigal science product, artificial intelligence, to form RPA―a fresh kind of wine packed in an age-old conceptual bottle. I would argue this original definition is a misnomer today in that production grade AI-driven RPA is a few years away. We still see most RPA vendors trying to add AI capabilities via partnerships or third-party add-ons. Notwithstanding, I know it. You know it. It’s the question on the tip of everyone’s tongue the minute someone mentions automation.
随着2000年代初期屏幕刮擦技术的发展,自动化技术与当时的浪潮科学产品人工智能结合在一起,形成了RPA-一种装在古老的概念瓶中的新鲜葡萄酒。 我认为今天的原始定义是一个错误的说法,因为由生产级AI驱动的RPA距离还有数年之遥 。 我们仍然看到大多数RPA供应商试图通过合作伙伴关系或第三方附件来添加AI功能。 尽管如此,我知道。 你知道的。 在有人提到自动化的那一刻,这是每个人都想知道的问题。
Is a bot going to steal my job?
机器人会偷我的工作吗?
It’s natural to ask this question, but like so much else in life, the truth is in the details. When you dig a little deeper, you find three core truths about RPA that really limit its ability to displace the human workforce:
提出这个问题是很自然的,但是就像生活中的许多其他事情一样,事实是细节。 当您深入研究时,会发现有关RPA的三个核心真理,这些真理实际上限制了它取代人类劳动力的能力:
With the current technology, McKinsey predicts less than 5% of all occupations can be automated entirely
麦肯锡预测,使用当前技术, 只有不到5%的职业可以完全自动化
- Today, RPA bots cannot deal with unstructured data or execute decision-oriented tasks. They work best only on simple business rules that govern low-skill, repetitive tasks 如今,RPA机器人无法处理非结构化数据或执行面向决策的任务。 它们仅在管理低技能,重复性任务的简单业务规则上发挥最佳效果
The reality is that bots are being hired to do jobs that are hard to find human talent for. Think advanced analysis, help desk, and data correlation
现实情况是,机器人被雇用来做 难以找到人才的工作 。 考虑高级分析,帮助台和数据关联
To appease our hypothetical colleague worried about losing their job, even when machines do take over some human activities in an occupation, this doesn’t necessarily spell the end of jobs in that line of work. For instance, we didn’t have data science as a profession just 10 years ago. On the contrary, the number of jobs at times increases in occupations that have been partly automated, because overall demand for their remaining activities continues to grow. For example, the large-scale deployment of bar-code scanners and associated point-of-sale systems in the United States in the 1980s reduced labor costs per store and the cost of the groceries for consumers. But cashiers were still needed; in fact, their employment grew at an average rate of more than 2 percent between 1980 and 2013.
为了安抚我们假设的同事担心失去工作,即使机器确实接管了某项职业中的某些人类活动, 也不一定意味着该工作类别的工作已经结束 。 例如,仅仅10年前我们还没有将数据科学作为职业。 相反,部分自动化的职业的工作机会有时会增加,因为对其剩余活动的总体需求持续增长。 例如,1980年代在美国大规模部署条形码扫描仪和相关的销售点系统降低了每家商店的人工成本和消费者的杂货成本。 但是仍然需要收银员。 实际上,他们的就业在1980年至2013年期间平均增长了2%以上。
Startups have historically found it challenging to target the horizontal use cases of RPA. Focus has always been on building a sophisticated product that targets a single vertical with niche use cases.
小号 tartups历来发现它具有挑战性的目标RPA的水平用例。 一直以来,重点一直放在构建针对具有利基用例的单个垂直行业的复杂产品 。
We have a good factory but we need a fancy showroom.
我们有一个好的工厂,但我们需要一个高档的陈列室。
Recently, a director of digital engagement at a mid-sized RPA provider admitted to me that although they have the brains in the firm to bring research around intelligent automation to life, they are incentivized to present niche RPA solutions customized for a client i.e. have a fancy showroom that appeals to the customer and sells. This sentiment added fuel to my hitherto untested hypothesis that companies are only beginning to abstract and template a vertical-focused model to leverage across industries―an aggregator platform model where code and semantic models are reusable across industries and regions. While there are many horizontal use cases―most of them use legacy technologies implemented in the 1990s and 2000s. Bots are more likely to be adopted in niche use cases, where there is a clear repeatable task, but broad basis bots are unlikely to take over many jobs.
最近,一家中型RPA提供商的数字参与总监向我承认,尽管他们有公司的才能将围绕智能自动化的研究付诸实践,但他们仍然被激励提出为客户量身定制的利基RPA解决方案。吸引顾客并销售的高档陈列室。 这种观点为我迄今未经检验的假设(即公司才刚刚开始抽象和模板化垂直聚焦模型以在整个行业中利用)提供了动力,该模型是一种聚合平台模型,其中代码和语义模型可在各个行业和地区重复使用 。 尽管有许多横向用例,但大多数情况下都使用1990年代和2000年代实施的遗留技术。 在有明确的可重复任务的利基用例中,更可能采用机器人。但是,基础广泛的机器人不太可能接任许多工作。
I was curious to investigate the intersection of the broad use cases and innovative technologies.
我很好奇地研究了广泛的用例和创新技术的交集。
With that, I looked at the top RPA vendors―Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, and UiPath―to assess how they stacked up against the most successful applications of generic RPA tools.
因此,我考察了顶级RPA供应商-随处可见的Automation,Blue Prism和UiPath,以评估它们如何与通用RPA工具的最成功应用程序相提并论。
将数据整合为标准化格式 (Consolidating data into standardized formats)
RPA is ideal for routine work of collating, rekeying, and posting data between systems. It will likely need to be used together with other tools to structure unstructured and semi-structured data or paper such as invoices and freight bills or voice calls. Exhibit 1 shows a typical problem in which RPA could be used in finance and accounting to enter structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data into systems. Considering the critical capabilities of the overall development environment and feature integration, I believe UiPath = Automation Anywhere > Blue Prism.
RPA非常适合在系统之间进行常规的整理,更新密钥和发布数据的工作。 它可能需要与其他工具一起使用,以构造非结构化和半结构化的数据或纸张,例如发票和货运单或语音呼叫。 图表1显示了一个典型的问题,其中RPA可用于财务和会计,以将结构化,半结构化和非结构化数据输入系统。 考虑到整个开发环境和功能集成的关键功能,我认为UiPath = Automation Anywhere> Blue Prism。
![Image for post](https://miro.medium.com/max/9999/1*Yo5omYU6PdqHEprKtyKbrQ.png)
将数据从A移动到B再移动到C (Moving data from A to B to C)
RPA can be leveraged in many organizations where we have people rekeying data between finance & accounting and supply chain management systems and/or entering data into the two systems from digital images or paper, as shown in Exhibit 2. When we consider support for wider business processes vs. task-level movement, I hold Blue Prism > UiPath > Automation Anywhere.
RPA可以在我们有人密钥更新财务会计和供应链管理系统和/或输入数据之间的数据转换成数码图像或纸质两种系统的许多组织加以利用,如图表2。当我们考虑更广泛的业务支持流程与任务级移动之间 ,我按住Blue Prism> UiPath> Automation Anywhere。
自动化或构建结构化的工作流程 (Automating or building a structured workflow)
At its most basic level, the RPA tool handles single transactions. At its most sophisticated, a pool of robots is capable of being deployed as required to follow process maps, move structured data, run straight-through processes in a “lights-out data center,” and be allocated to different processes in real time controlled via operational dashboards. An RPA tool can be triggered manually or automatically, move or populate data between prescribed locations, conduct calculations, and trigger downstream activities. When it comes to Optical Character Recognition (OCR) or script library support including version control and reusing sub-elements, Automation Anywhere > UiPath > Blue Prism.
RPA工具在最基本的级别上处理单个事务。 在最复杂的情况下,可以根据需要部署机器人池,以遵循流程图,移动结构化数据,在“无人值守的数据中心”中直接运行流程,并实时控制分配给不同的流程通过操作仪表板。 RPA工具可以手动或自动触发,在指定位置之间移动或填充数据,进行计算并触发下游活动。 当涉及光学字符识别(OCR)或脚本库支持(包括版本控制和重用子元素)时,请选择Automation Anywhere> UiPath> Blue Prism。
I want to nuance these generic use cases with the reality that there are various architectural structures of RPA tools, ranging from ones that operate on individual desktops with limited ability to take different data feeds to ones that operate on enterprise servers and are able to perform multiple scheduled tasks while meeting enterprise security criteria.
我想细化这些通用用例,因为RPA工具有各种体系结构,从在单个台式机上运行的能力有限(无法接收不同的数据馈送)到在企业服务器上运行并且能够执行多种操作的结构计划的任务,同时满足企业安全性标准。
As investors, we look for the white spaces or areas where a critical mass of startups has not entered―could be a new market or gaps in the existing market or product lines. Now for an analysis of the white spaces in the RPA domain for physical-digital interfaces? Well, that’s another blog post for next time. 👨💻
作为投资者,我们寻找尚未进入关键数量的初创公司的空白区域或领域,这可能是一个新市场,也可能是现有市场或产品线中的空白。 现在要分析RPA域中用于物理数字接口的空白吗? 好吧,这是下一次的另一篇博客文章。 💻
Thanks for reading―shout out to the investment team at Baidu Ventures, our portfolio company Automation Hero, and Chieng Moua for their input. What did I miss? I’d love to hear from you―holler at me on LinkedIn or Twitter. ⛹️♂️
感谢您的阅读,在此向Baidu Ventures的投资团队,我们的投资组合公司 Automation Hero 和Chieng Moua表示感谢。 我错过了什么? 我希望收到您的来信-在 LinkedIn 或 Twitter 上全神贯注于我 。 ⛹️♂️
Robotic Process Automation. (2020). ALTEN Calsoft Labs.
机器人过程自动化 。 (2020)。 ALTEN Calsoft实验室 。
David Wright, Dupe Witherick, Marina Gordeeva. The robots are ready. Are you? (2018). Deloitte.
David Wright,Dupe Witherick,Marina Gordeeva。 机器人已准备就绪。 你是? (2018)。 德勤 。
Robots at work. (2017). ISG.
机器人在工作 。 (2017)。 ISG 。
Katie Behrens. What We Mean When We Talk About Robots. (2015, January 7). UiPath.
凯蒂·贝伦斯(Katie Behrens)。 我们谈论机器人的意思是什么 。 (2015年1月7日)。 UiPath。
翻译自: https://medium.com/baidu-ventures-blog/bits-on-bots-is-a-bot-going-to-steal-my-job-dc18b1cb6336
抢货机器人bot