ABSTRACT
Artificial Intelligence systems and their peripherals, the robots, are increasingly bringing flexibility, manual dexterity and cognitive ability to the automation process. The advantages of process automation are clear: it can make an operation faster, cheaper and more consistent, and it can raise quality. Supermarkets have often led the way in automation and prosumption because they are owned by massive organisations with the budgets and the sophistication to invest in the systems needed. Mechanisation and automation has displaced workers on a huge scale since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The essence of the Industrial Revolution was the shift from manufacturing goods by hand to manufacturing them by machine, and the harnessing of better power sources than animal muscle. The distinguishing feature of the information revolution is that information and knowledge became increasingly important factors of production, alongside capital, labour and raw materials.
