ABSTRACT
The overarching theme of the digital technologies is the ability to outsource surveillance, physical actions or activities, and manufacturing to smart machines. The capabilities of drones, robots, and 3D printers represent significant product innovation, cost saving, productivity improvement, operational effectiveness, risk mitigation, customer experience enhancement, staff engagement optimization, and organization agility opportunities. Robotics is the field of study concerned with how to best design, build, operate, and use robots. Robots can differ greatly in their design, capabilities, and uses. The different types of robots are commonly classified by the environment in which they operate or by their application field. The business value of robotics includes cost savings, enhanced productivity, reduced risk, overcoming skill shortages, improved staff engagement, new or enhanced products, operational effectiveness, and more. Like robots, drones can differ greatly in their design, capabilities, and uses, but they all share some common high-level building blocks.
