★Edited by highly ranked futurist –Jason Schenker, provides great insight into what we can expect in the near future as a society!
★Experts from Microsoft, the US Air Force, MIT, Hyster, Yale, MHI, and others written the essays in an effort to help business leaders understand the evolving AI opportunities.

The Robot and Automation Almanac is a collection of essays from leading robot and automation experts, executives, and investors. Each of the essays focuses on the "one big thing" that each author sees in the year ahead: an opportunity, a risk, a challenge, investment themes, an overlooked trend, a perception shift, a step change, or a trend change.

Jason Schenker

is one of the leading financial market forecasters and futurists in the world. Bloomberg News has ranked Jason the #1 forecaster in the world in 26 categories, including for his forecasts of industrial metals prices, oil prices, the euro, the pound, the Russian ruble, the Chinese Yuan, and US jobs.

Jason speaks frequently, and he has given speeches for Accenture, Disney, Hitachi, the London Metals Exchange, the Singapore Exchange, and the Federal Reserve. Jason also attends OPEC meetings and Fed events. He he is frequently quoted in the press, including The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and The New York Times. He writes occasional columns for Bloomberg Opinion, and he has written over 30 books. Jason has also been a frequent guest on CNBC as well as a guest and guest host of Bloomberg Television.

Jason advises executives, industry groups, institutional investors, and central banks as the President of Prestige Economics, a firm that also produces forecasts for the material handling industry. He also founded The Futurist Institute to help analysts, economists, and strategists incorporate new and emerging technology risks into their forecasting and scenario planning by becoming Certified Futurists.

Jason is one of only 100 CEOs on the Texas Business Leadership Council, a non-partisan group that advises Texas elected leadership at the state and federal level. He also sits on multiple boards and is a Governance Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors. Jason holds Master's Degrees in Applied Economics, German Literature, and Negotiation. He is a Certified Futurist and Long-Term Analyst (FLTA).

THE ROBOT AND AUTOMATION ALMANAC - 2021 5

PREFACE 9
INTRODUCTION
THE YEAR AHEAD AND BEYOND 13
THE FUTURE IS FOR FUTURISTS 17
ONE UNIVERSE FOR ALL ROBOTS 25
Michael Walton
A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO ROBOTICS IMPLEMENTATION 29
Kevin Paramore
WHAT CAN AI DO IN THE WAREHOUSE? 35
Brandon Coats
THE 2021 MOMENT OF TRUTH FOR DISTRIBUTION CENTERS 43
Chris Lingamfelter
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN A POST-COVID WORLD:
2021 AND BEYOND 51
Djamila Amimer
UPSKILLING ORGANIZATIONS TO ADOPT AI 57
Kyle Palko
6 THE ROBOT AND AUTOMATION ALMANAC - 2021
THE FUTURE OF ROBOTS:
HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 65
Ragu Athinarayanan, Michael Walton, Xiumin Diao, Balamurugan Balakreshnan
THE NEW, NEW NORMAL 73
Jason Schenker
AUTOMATION WILL OVERCOME
SUPPLY CHAIN WEAKNESSES EXPOSED BY COVID-19 81
Matthew Frazier
...BUT IS IT SAFE? 91
Patrick Davison
DISRUPT AUTOMATION WITH USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN 99
Cecilia Bostro m
(ROBOT) EYES WIDE OPEN 107
Garrett Place
CONSTRUCTION EMBRACES TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE 115
Kaleb Steinhauer
COVID-19 PUSHES HOSPITALITY
TOWARD MORE AUTOMATION 121
Micah Green
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MOBILE ROBOTICS AND SAFETY 127
Steven LaFevers
MANAGING PROJECTS IN A TECHNOLOGY-CENTERED WORLD 137
Nawfal Patel
INVESTING IN NATIONAL SECURITY HUMAN CAPITAL 143
Jacob Sotiriadis
THE HINGE FACTOR IN DIGITAL DEXTERITY 149
Robert Handfield
RETURNING TO THE ROAD MAP 157
Daniel Stanton, Jason Schenker
ABOUT THE FUTURIST INSTITUTE 163
ABOUT THE EDITOR 165
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER 169
DISCLAIMERS