Robots, Robots, Robots… How Smart Are They?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58mf14SLDKI

 Robot is not something new in this era. The creation of robots to be man’s best friend has been expected since early 20^th century. During that time many scientist had struggled to find the latest technology to that can contribute to the creation of robot, because they believe that robot will help human to be more effective and efficient in completing task. This is really not an easy task because robot does not have any intelligent brain like we have. The scientists need to ensure that robot can understand and do task based on instruction and able to digest information. Although at that time there are many skeptic people who believed that to develop a robot that can perform task autonomously without human control will take decades, but the scientist from time to time still manage to create the robots. Thanks to all the scientists around the world because of their patient, now we can enjoy a world that full with technology. Let’s take a look at the robotic devices that we currently use. 

1. Robotic Vacuum Cleaners

http://newlaunches.com/archives/samsung_tango_stealth_robotic_vacuum_cleaner_unveiled.php

This robot is very special and suitable to live in every houses and offices. They are not only cute and round like a pet, they also have undeniable high class brain. The function of this robot is just the same with the traditional one and they are well equipped with brushes and suck dust and dirt just like their traditional counterparts. But the different is, this vacuum cleaner is high-tech robot and the traditional one is just a plain machine that needs us to operate them.

This robotic vacuum cleaner has a Visionary Mapping System (introduced by Samsung) inside their brain and onboard camera which enables this vacuum to captures 30 frames per second, documents your home's layout and memorizes the best possible cleaning path. With this technology, they can know where they want to go and where their current place. They can help you to clean the living room, hallway, couch, under the coffee table and many more places.

Not only that, if you are a pet owner, this vacuum also have pet hair care system and brushes that are specially designed for you. It makes them become really sensitive toward any pet’s hair and it can help you to avoid from any allergy or asthmatic problem by picking up any pet’s hair, dust, dirt, crumbs and other debris.

This vacuum can really do their task without we need to check out whether they are tired or not because when they are tired and required to be charge, they will go back to its charging port and eat the power as much as they need. Once they are done having their lunch or dinner, they can continue to work and go many places because it operates wirelessly.  

In short, once you put a robotic vacuum cleaner on your floor, your task of cleaning is done because they will take care of the cleaning process. Awesome isn’t it? Guess what, this robot is not new. It was created since 2001.

2. Robotic Lawn Mowers

http://thefuturediaries.com/2012/12/11/are-domestic-robots-spying-on-you/

These robots are almost the same like the robotic vacuum cleaning above. But they have a different task where they their task is to autonomously move around the lawn and trim the grass. Cool right? We do not have operated it under the sun and get tired of going here and there. They will take care of it.

These robots have the cutting blades and cutting deck that similar to traditional one, but they are more compact and lighter. To use a robotic lawn mower, you just need to define the area to be mowed with a border wire and not to forget to place the recharging dock within this area, then, switch the device on. Then it will go around trimming the grass using the sensors to find it ways. Whenever they need to recharged, they will automatically go back to the recharge dock. In addition, they also have rain sensors so that it will stop working if it is rain.

You must be very satisfied with these robots because on average, they are capable to maintain an area of 5 acres. This is ten times more than what the average walk-behind unit can handle. See, it really can help you to save your hours and energy and do your work while they did theirs.

3. Mobility Robot

                         http://www.disabilityinaction.com/wheelchair-toyotas-robot.html

 In 2008, Toyata has unveiled a prototype of a mobility robot. It looks more like a cockpit covered from all sides rather than like a car. It is for a single person and has a single seat. It moves autonomously using a GPS system and uses cameras and 2D and 3D laser sensors, which define the distance between it and other object and help avoid collisions. The robotic vehicle can overcome obstacles and turn swiftly around corners.

According to Toyota, the robot is meant to function as a personal transportation vehicle in places where people usually walk. The main use is for short distance personal transport. The robot has very sophisticated capabilities where it can negotiate steps with independent vertical movement of left and right wheels. It has a travelling range of 20 km on one hour of battery charge, can reach a top speed of 6 km/hour, and can climb slopes of up to ten degrees. The weight of the robot is 150 kg, 100 cm tall when stopped for boarding or alighting and 110 cm tall when in motion.

It also can act as a porter and help to avoid any obstacle to reach its owner. This robot is very useful to be use in hospital as it help patient to move from one place to another and it usually found at the golf resort and other places.

There are many other kinds of robots, and now, companies and scientist have never stop inventing and innovating the robots in order to help to simplified human life. All of these smart and intelligent robots are actually can be created because of the widen and globalized spread of information which has been advanced from day to day.

The Impact of Technological Advancement

Nowadays, nobody can run from technology. We cannot live separately with it. Let me prove it, when we want to communicate, we use mobile phone and, when we want to search for data, we use internet, when we want to travel, we use the car and GPS so that we won’t get lost, when we want to produce goods, we use machines, when we want to complete tasks at the office or universities we will use the Microsoft office and any other software and many more activities in our live will require us to use technologies. We can’t live without it.

Together with technology come a lot of invention, innovation and creativity. It helps us to turn ideas into something that we can touch and use or something tangible. It also helps us to add value and luxury to life which increase our quality of life. It can be so beneficial and the most important is it has make today’s world to be full of automation and make things become simpler than before.

Through the examples that I’ve mentioned above, technology has affected both of our professional and private life. There are so many different gadgets that are used in our house that can help to save our time when it comes to doing responsibilities around the house and office. There are machines that do just about everything for us these days. Technology has really changed the way everything is done.

Source From: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIDF_60ok04

When we think about how things are done now, verses how they were done years ago, we can see a drastic difference. Technology has allowed us to perform the same tasks that they have done for years much more easily and quickly. This allows us to have more time to focus on other things in our life. Technological advancements have also made a big impact on our lives when it comes to economic growth.

Source From: http://lindaindriyana.wordpress.com/perkembangan-ilmu-teknologi/

Source From: http://greatestfunnypics.blogspot.com/2012/12/evolution-of-hand-phone-in-size-in-near.html

Through my observation, I can see that one of the biggest and rapid changes in technology is the mobile phone. Mobile phones have really made a difference over the past twenty years. It started small but now mobile phones allow you to communicate virtually anywhere. Not only that, when the mobile phone is first introduced, the functions is only to make calls and sending messages, but now, mobile phones can do more than that. It has cameras, games, movies, music, map, GPS, Microsoft Office, video call and many more. As for now, Apple has introduced the Air Touch technology where we can write a message just by waving our hand at the air.   

Computer technology is something that has also made a big impact on the world. The internet allows us to communicate from a distance, and it also allows us to do a lot of things from the comfort of our own home. Internet technology changes each and every day. It allows us to find abundance of information about virtually any topic at any time. In the future, it is sure to advance even further.

  Source From:http://internetretailing.net/2012/09/77-of-smartphone-owners-still-use-catalogues-to-  
  browse-proving-that-integration-of-all-channels-is-key-for-success/people-using-their-smartphones/

 Source From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/feb/07/mobile-internet-outnumber-people

There are online chat rooms, databases, and social networks that allow us to stay connected. People communicate via instant messaging, video chat, email, and many other ways that would not have been possible without the technological advancements that have been introduced over the years.

Although there are many benefits that we received by having technological advancement from time to time but there are other issues that arise because as a result of this phenomenon. Since people are now getting connected through electrical device, they become less committed to meet others face to face and even a group of people is being together physically, but they are actually being with other people of individual through the devices.

In addition, people become too dependent on the technology which not good. It is because, when there are too easy to make and to get things done, people may become lazy and less thinkable. What if suddenly they face any difficulties and they do not have the technological devices at that time? It must be very painful as they are not used to it.

 Source From: http://macgyverisms.wonderhowto.com/how-to/5-cool-diy-projects-for-reusing-your-old-computer-keyboards-0138038/

 Source From: http://blogcutierose.blogspot.com/2011_10_01_archive.html

Lastly, rapid advancement in technology has made people become too focus in updating the latest devices so that they won’t be left behind compared to other people. This situation brings two major consequences; first, people wasting their money for unnecessary thing as the device that they are using might be still working well. Second, there will a problem on how to dispose all the unused and obsolete devices. This second problem is actually a very big problem because the cost of disposal is high, some of it cannot be recycled and worse is our earth has limited place.

As you can see, there are both positive and negative aspects that come along with the advancement of technology. It actually depends on us on how to use the technology. If we let it be helpful, then it will be good for us, but if we did not use it well and keep on updating gadget without any need, it can bring harm to the world too. 

The Power of Database in Customer Relation Management

The Power of Database

Source From: http://www.123rf.com/photo_14916095_target-clients-database-business-technology.html

It is such a waste if we just let our customer go away without any intention and effort to retain our customer.  Customer is very important because they are the one who support the business. As a business owner, we need to bear in mind that there are many other competitors who offers the same product and services like we do. The only thing that makes our business and their business is different is how we treat our customer and how we retain them. But, if there is no existing competitor, one day there will be competitors for us. We cannot always be in a comfort zone.

To be good to customers, we need good customer relation management (CRM) for our business. Do you know what is CRM? In a simple word, CRM refers to a system that deal with maintaining relationships our with customers, clients and sales prospects, and ensuring their loyalty to our products and services. This is done by organizing and synchronizing processes through analysis and segregation of data. Data collected from various sources and sorted in categories for straightforward application for purposes varying from targeting prospective customers to keeping current customers happy. In the case of marketing, CRM systems helps to differentiate out potential clients and generating leads for sales, this process really needs a rich database.

For the purpose of marketing, we should really emphasize on providing the information that our customer needs (i.e: tips to choose product that suits the customer), or information to let the customer know our latest products and service or the information that can be use to make the customer happy (i.e: give birthday wish to the customer and let the customer know that there is discount given just for him or her). All of this information are acquired from the database created by CRM system. This information is analyzed and categorized to ensure easiness of access, so that when we want to know anything about our customer or prospect we can just search in our database according to the category.

A database is really important in CRM because nobody can remember each data about the customers, so by setting up a database can help us to keep the data in an organized way and so that whenever we need to know about a specific group of customers we can just screen it. To create database it can be as simple as creating using Excel database. Databases can be expanded and up-dated as our company grows or as the number and needs of the customers changes. We need to ensure that our databases are clean and accurate in order to make effective marketing activities and help us in conducting surveys.

The database is the feature most taken advantage of in a CRM system; as mentioned above, it can be used to record the details of customers, added to which the purchasing history and preferences can also be stored. The information contained in a database is customizable according to the needs of the business, thus making the utilization of databases unlimited. Those bits of information that are needed for a particular business can be deduced and reports on these are an easy step.

A business’ marketing plan may also make use of a CRM database: since the database stores details on the customers and their spending history, we can analyze this data as a powerful marketing tool. Buying trends can be found out and the entire marketing plan can revolve around a database.

                            Source From: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIOODahlH_A

Databases, therefore, can be used for any number of things, and are not limited to any one business; they are a vital part of marketing too, with reports on buying patterns easily obtainable from the information contained on a database. The management of a database is imperative, though, because if all that priceless information is lying there and it cannot be easily or smoothly accessed, the purpose may be defeated.