Industry Statistics

(a subtopic of Reference Shelf & Resources)

AI generally Career/Employment E-Commerce, Marketing & Customer Relations Robotics Notices & Disclaimers (Just because we mention something on this page, you should not infer that....)

AI generally

The Coming Wave of Gadgets That Listen and Obey. By Michael Fitzgerald. The New York Times (January 27, 2008). "Over all, speech recognition was a $1.6 billion market in 2007, according to Opus Research, which predicts an annual growth rate of 14.5 percent over the next three years."

Gaming industry sales grow by 43% in 2007. By Mike Snider. USA Today (January 17, 2008). "The Wii's success helped drive the video game industry to a record-setting $17.9 billion in sales, about 43% higher than 2006's $12.5 billion, which was also a record. ... Not surprisingly, Halo 3 emerged as the year's best-selling game, selling 4.8 million units. 'This performance certainly puts it among the elite in gaming history with performance similar to that of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in 2002, and GTA: San Andreas and Halo 2 in 2004,' [Anita] Frazier said."

Not Exactly the Jetsons, but Getting Closer. By Dylan McClain. The New York Times (January 3, 2008). "Robots are still far from being the chatty companions seen in science-fiction movies. But some toy robots are becoming more than just conversation pieces. According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, sales of robotic and interactive playmates in the United States were $284 million in the 12 months ended in October, up from $213 million in the previous 12 months."

Personal robot market expected to balloon to $15B by 2015 - People will spend as much on a multitasking robot as on a new car, researcher predicts. By Sharon Gaudin. Computerworld (December 31, 2007). "The personal robot may not just be for vacuuming much longer. A report from ABI Research is predicting that by the year 2015, people will probably be willing to spend as much for a multitasking humanoid robot as they would for a new car. Within seven years, the personal robot market will likely balloon to $15 billion, said Philip Solis, an analyst at the New York-based research firm. As the price of robots increases, so will consumers' expectations, Solis said. ... Meanwhile, the South Korean government hopes to build two robot theme parks as part of an effort to boost that country's robotics industry. The parks, estimated to cost 1.48 trillion won ($1.6 billion U.S.), will be developed as meccas for the country's robot industry. Each is slated to include amusement park areas, exhibition halls and stadiums where robots can compete in various events."

Gaming's Year of the Boom. By Scott Colbourne. The Globe and Mail (December 28, 2007). "If you were going to choose a year to camp out in a cabin and survey the video-game scene, it would be hard to beat 2007. ... Through November, according to the industry-tracking firm NPD Group, Canadians spent more than $1.1-billion on game software, hardware and accessories, with sales up 65 per cent compared to 2006 and the December rush still to be tallied. ... Another change hit the interactive development scene in Canada in 2007: This country has been making a lot of games for a while now, but this year, with its Montreal and Vancouver hot spots adding more studios and projects, Canada firmly established itself in the top tier of game producers."

Video-game developer follows his passions. By Derek Abma. CanWest News Service | Edmonton Journal (December 28, 2007). "Meet Scott McGillivray, a 30-year-old software developer in the red-hot video-game industry. ... The video-game industry generates about $1.4 billion in revenue annually in British Columbia. [Electronic Arts Inc.] is the biggest player, accounting for $1.1 billion of this revenue and employing 1,900 people in the Vancouver area."

Software firm moves into breast-cancer screening market. Byy Greg Avery. Denver Business Journal / available from East Bay Business Times (December 7, 2007). " A company built on making artificial intelligence software to improve postal mail sorting and check processing for banks is branching out to save lives and create a new market for its technology. Boulder-based Parascript LLC has unveiled its new software, called AccuDetect, that's designed to improve computer-aided breast-cancer screening and reduce rampant, costly false-positive results. At first blush, breast-cancer screening technology seems like a far cry from Parascript's other products, built to rapidly find and read address labels on packages or verify a person's signature. But the image- and pattern-recognition algorithms the software is based on are common to all three areas, said Yuri Prizemin, director of product marketing at Parascript. ... Parascript estimates there's at least a $160 million domestic market for breast-cancer detection software. ... Parascript's roots stretch to post-Soviet era Moscow, when artificial intelligence and programming experts from Russian science academies began developing software."

Imagining a bionic future - Research has yielded thought-controlled arms and hands that grasp. By Rebecca Ruiz. msnbc.com (November 26, 2007). "When Paul Selmer lost his right leg below the knee in a hunting accident, a doctor fitted him with a standard prosthesis that required a waist belt to swing the wooden foot with each step. Selmer remembers it feeling like a 'sandbag.' That was 28 years ago. The gallery owner and small-aircraft pilot is now a devotee of a high-tech device called a PROPRIO foot, which utilizes sensors, artificial intelligence and microprocessors. ... According to the Amputee Coalition of America, Selmer is one of 1.9 million people living with limb loss in the country, many of whom have benefited from breakthrough technological advancements in the past few years. ... The American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association estimates that businesses provide $3.5 billion worth of services to orthotic and prosthetic patients annually. Increased government spending and research, triggered by the number of amputee soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, has played a significant role in helping to allocate resources for bold new projects."

Robotic aids for the disabled and elderly - Pitt, CMU researchers are seeking innovative ways to help people remain independent. By Gary Rotstein. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (November 14, 2007). "Jim Osborn, executive director of the Quality of Life Technology Center, recently told a gathering of long-term care providers that if such advances could delay all nursing home admissions by a month, societal savings could be $1 billion monthly. Artificial assistance is necessary because a shortage of both paid personal attendants and available family caregivers is anticipated as the elderly population doubles over the next 30 years."

Where combat is really mortal - Midway Games chief finds real-life competition as dangerous as screen game. By Ted Pincus. Chicago Sun-Times (July 10, 2007). "[G]ame software almost tripled in the last 10 years to $10 billion (almost $20 billion worldwide), the average player age crept up to an amazing 33 years. Whether hypnotized by computer or console, players age 8 to 34 spend more time at this today than watching TV, according to Nielsen. [David] Zucker points out that 69 percent of American heads of household now are players."

Web sites help toys come to life - From Pleo the robotic dinosaur, right, to stuffed animals, companies are trying to revive the industry by infusing traditional toys with the latest technologies and linking them to the Internet. By Mary Ellen Podmolik. Chicago Tribune (July 5, 2007). "Can playthings along the lines of Rosie the Robot be far behind? Not at all, say companies that are trying to breathe new life into the industry by taking traditional toys -- stuffed animals, dolls and action figures -- and infusing them with the latest robotic and Internet technologies. ... Toy sales totaled $22.3 billion last year, but the only industry segment to record a gain of more than 5 percent was youth electronics, where sales rose 22 percent, according to research by the Toy Industry Association Inc...."

Trinity to introduce MA in video games. RTÉ News (July 4, 2007). "The first Masters degree in video games to be offered by an Irish university will begin at Trinity College in October. ... The global video game software industry is estimated to be worth about €15 billion a year and is growing by 25% annually."

In Web 3.0, no humans required - Nova Spivack is racing to bring meaning and order to the chaos of the Internet. And he's not alone. By Michael V. Copeland. Business 2.0 Magazine via CNN Money (July 1, 2007). "For Spivack, however, the semantic Web begins now with the data engine and user applications he and his team are prepping for launch -- and ends somewhere in the future with artificially intelligent software agents handling all the online drudgery of your business and professional life. ... One estimate pegs the market for products and services stemming from semantic Web technologies at $50 billion by 2010, up from about $7 billion today."

Algorithmic trading - Ahead of the tape. The best newsreaders may soon be computers. The Economist (June 21, 2007). "Algorithmic trading accounts for a third of all share trades in America and the Aite Group, a consultancy, reckons it will make up more than half the share volumes and a fifth of options trades by 2010. ... According to TowerGroup, a research firm, $480m is likely to be spent in America this year on developing technology for algorithmic trading."

Are you talking to me? Speech recognition: Technology that understands human speech could be about to enter the mainstream. The Economist Technology Quarterly (June 7, 2007). "The market for speech recognition is dominated by server-based systems used in call centres, directory-assistance services and voice portals (speech-driven data services that supply news, weather forecasts, share prices, travel information and so on). Companies spent $1.2 billion on such systems in 2005, and this is forecast to grow by 22% a year to reach $3.2 billion by 2010, according to Datamonitor, a consultancy. The market for embedded speech-recognition technology, which goes into mobile phones, car-navigation systems and so on, will grow from $46m in 2006 to $239m in 2011, says Dan Miller of Opus Research, a consultancy based in San Francisco."

HAL 9000-Style Machines, Kubrick's Fantasy, Outwit Traders. By Jason Kelly. Bloomberg.com (May 3, 2007). "A third of all U.S. stock trades in 2006 were driven by automatic programs, or algorithms, according to Boston-based consulting firm Aite Group LLC. By 2010, that figure will reach 50 percent, according to Aite. AI proponents say their time is at hand."

IBM, Intel, And Microsoft Tout Technology Future - Though each company is working on something different, together they paint a picture of life with faster and more ubiquitous computing technology. By Thomas Claburn. InformationWeek (April 25, 2007). "Microsoft's Eric Horvitz predicted "the rise of the intention machine," which describes computers enlisted to predict user intentions and deliver useful information. Think of it as just-in-time manufacturing for your brain. Microsoft, Horvitz said, was spending about 25% of its research budget on artificial intelligence-related projects."

Virtual tutor adapts to student's limitations - Integrates artificial intelligence and advanced learning techniques. By Andy Blatchford. The Gazette (April 23, 2007). "[Orly] Benchetrit predicts that by 2011, American companies will have spent $38 billion on eLearning, a growth rate of 82 per cent a year."

The Subprime Loan Machine. By Lynnley Browning. The New York Times (March 23, 2007). "Automated underwriting is now used to generate as much as 40 percent of all subprime loans, according to Pat McCoy, a law professor at the University of Connecticut who has written on real estate lending. ... A 2001 Fannie Mae survey found that automated underwriting reduced the average cost to lenders of closing a loan by $916."

Feds test new data mining program. By John Yaukey. Gannett News Service & USATODAY.com (March 7, 2007). "Data mining is a powerful technology used across the government and in business. Credit card companies routinely use it to look for suspicious patterns in customer spending. The GAO used data mining technology to uncover an estimated $1 billion in improper federal relief payments after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. At least 52 different federal agencies use data mining technology, and there are at least 199 different data mining programs in use, according to the GAO."

Digital world isn't so infinite - About 161 exabytes of data was created in 2006 and storage space is running low. By Brian Bergstein. The Associated Press / available from IndyStar.com (March 6, 2007). "A new study that estimates how much digital information the world is generating (hint: a lot) finds that for the first time, there's not enough storage space to hold it all. ... Add it all up and the world generated 161 billion gigabytes -- 161 exabytes -- of digital information last year, IDC [a technology research firm] estimates. That's like 12 stacks of books that each reach from the Earth to the sun. Or you might think of it as 3 million times the information in all the books ever written, according to IDC.

With Acquisition, Microsoft Pushes Further Into Online Health Care. By Antone Gonsalves. InformationWeek (February 26, 2007). " Microsoft has agreed to acquire Medstory Inc., a move that provides the software maker with an online search engine for delivering health information on the Web. ... Medstory differentiates itself from competitors by using artificial intelligence techniques in searching government documents, medical journals, and the Web. A search on 'lowering cholesterol,' for example, would return related information on drugs, nutrition, and clinical research. Fully, 8 million people every day last year in the United States went online to find health information, according to the non-profit Pew Internet and American Life Project."

• Also see: Microsoft to Buy Health Information Search Engine. By Steve Lohr. The New York Times (February 27, 2007).

You are wasting time. Find out why. The cost of ineffective search. By Jon Brodkin. Network World (January 23, 2007). "A company that employs 1,000 information workers can expect more than $5 million in annual salary costs to go down the drain because of the time wasted looking for information and not finding it, IDC research found last year. Think that’s bad? A survey this month of 1,000 middle managers found that more than half of the information they find during searches is useless. There seem to be no shortage of enterprise search applications that help companies find information hidden within their networks. So why are searches so ineffective? It turns out, analysts say, that most enterprises are not using the most up-to-date search applications. Not only that, enterprises aren’t using the applications they have as effectively as they should."

Factories of the Future - Machines that "see" parts on assembly lines, 3-D printers that prototype products in hours -- let's take a look at adaptive manufacturing. Editorial by Fred Hapgood. CIO (January 1, 2007). "[M]achine vision is a real industry. The consultancy Vision Systems International pegs the total value of the North American market at around $1.5 billion."

U.S. turns to tech for translators - Government seeks to bolster thin ranks of language specialists. By Richard Willing. USA Today (December 20, 2006). "Intelligence agencies and the military are turning to technology developed for call centers, sporting events and television shopping channels to compensate for an ongoing shortage of qualified translators, interviews and public documents show. In Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, the Defense Department's research arm is testing portable translation devices that allow English-speaking soldiers to hold conversations with Iraqis. ... Much of the spending is classified, but available public contracting and budget documents show that the Pentagon has at least $22 million to spend this year on research. In November 2005, the Pentagon announced $26 million worth of contracts for translation software."

Artificial intelligence applied heavily to picking stocks. By Charles Duhigg. The New York Times / available from The International Herald Tribune (November 23, 2006); appeared in The New York Times on November 24, 2006 (A Smarter Computer to Pick Stock). "Studies estimate that a third of all stock trades in the United States were driven by automatic algorithms last year, contributing to an explosion in stock market activity. Between 1995 and 2005, the average daily volume of shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange increased to 1.6 billion from 346 million. ... [I]nvestment firms have increasingly begun exploring mathematics' furthest edges and turning to people like [Ray] Kurzweil, who became an expert in pattern recognition while he was building a reading machine for the blind. ... Wall Street has rushed to mimic the techniques. Because arbitrage opportunities disappear so quickly now, neural networks have emerged that can consider thousands of scenarios at once."

Computer programs help flag insurance fraud before payment. By Julie Appleby. USA Today (November 7, 2006). "Computer sleuths trying to stop health care fraud say they have a new weapon: computer programs that can flag potential fraud even before medical claims are paid. ... Insurer Aetna says its new computer software helped it stop $89 million in payments before they reached medical providers last year. That compares with the $15 million in fraud repayments it was able to collect after the fact. ... While the software systems may differ, their main effort is to spot medical providers who vary from the norm. 'Pattern recognition is a growing field in health fraud detection,' says Malcolm Sparrow, a professor at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and author of License to Steal: How Fraud Bleeds America's Health Care System."

Best-kept secret agent revealed - No longer just the province of specialist sectors, agent-based computing is changing the way systems interact and how they are managed. By Boris Sedacca. ComputerWeekly.com (October 12, 2006). "Agent-based computing has already transformed processes such as automated financial markets trading, logistics, and industrial robotics. Now it is moving into the mainstream commercial sector as more complex systems with many different components are used by a wider range of businesses. Organisations that have successfully implemented agent technologies include DaimlerChrysler, IBM and the Ministry of Defence. ... The notion of agent-based computing has been adopted enthusiastically in the financial trading community, where autonomous market trading agents are said to outperform human commodity traders by 7%. ... In the manufacturing sector, Daimler­Chrysler implemented an agent-based system on one factory floor to allow individual work pieces to be directed dynamically around the production area. The intention was to implement flexible manufacturing to meet rapidly changing operations targets. The result was claimed to be a 20% increase in productivity."

Chinese Academy of Sciences to aid game development. By Sumner Lemon. Computerworld Hong Kong (September 8, 2006). "The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a government-backed research institute, has teamed up with private industry to set up a lab that will develop technologies for online games. ... Online gaming has exploded in popularity in China during recent years, initially led by offerings from Shanda. ... Online gaming is expected to generate 9.7 billion renminbi (US$1.2 billion) in revenue next year, market analyst iResearch Inc. said last month. ... The Digital Interactive Entertainment Lab will focus on the development of several technologies, including video-based interactive game engines, artificial intelligence, and motion detection and tracking."

Data miners dig a little deeper - Companies may know a lot more about you than you think - or want. By Michelle Kessler and Byron Acohido. USA Today (July 12, 2006; also available here). "The flood of new information is helping spawn a sister industry: data-mining software. These powerful programs sort through massive databases, looking for patterns that would take a human years to spot. Sales of data-crunching software have jumped more than 30% since 2000 and are expected to keep growing, says tech analyst Dan Vesset with researcher IDC. 'Most large companies are doing it in one area or another,' says tech analyst Gareth Herschel with researcher Gartner."

Keeping players in the game - Re-energizing the gaming industry: E3 trade show takes on added significance with the introduction of next generation of video game consoles and a looming DVD format battle. By Ryan Kim. San Francisco Chronicle & SFGate.com (May 8, 2006). "For an industry built upon carefree, escapist fun, the video game sector faces a number of crucial real-world concerns. To be sure, the $25.5 billion worldwide interactive entertainment industry has grown by leaps and bounds since the early days of video games. But domestic sales growth has slowed to a trickle in the last four years. There are growing concerns about spiraling game development costs, few new revenue streams, a lack of creativity in video games and a user market limited to young boys and men. ... Developers are struggling with rising development costs. The cost of developing current-generation games has increased from about $4 million to $8 million, and for next-generation titles, from $10 million to $20 million. ... The industry is looking at streamlining development costs using new animation technology that can handle some of the work through artificial intelligence. ... While new ideas will be necessary to expand the market, many developers say they are confident many of the technological breakthroughs made possible through the marriage of next-generation hardware and software will also be a powerful draw for customers. Not only are the graphics and sound in next-generation games extremely realistic, they also sport advanced game play and in some cases artificial intelligence that creates truly unique experiences for gamers."

Big Brother's Big Business - In a world of fear, American cities and corporations are spending billions on high-tech surveillance equipment. A look at the economic engine and privacy concerns surrounding 'smart cameras' and other devices. By Jessica Bennett. Newsweek Web Exclusive (March 15, 2006). "Video surveillance has become the fastest-growing industry within the major categories of electronic security -- with nearly one in four major cities in America investing in new technology, analysts say. It has more than doubled in the last five years, becoming an estimated $9.2 billion business in 2005 and expected to grow to $21 billion by 2010, says Joe Freeman, a columnist for Security Technology & Design Magazine and founder and president of J.P. Freeman, a market research and consulting firm. ... The future of video surveillance, using so-called 'intelligent cameras' and software, is designed to function far beyond what is humanly possible."

All human life is indexed on the web - Search engines are changing the face of business forever. By Tony Glover. The Business Online (October 9, 2005). "According to Battelle, search is the fastest growing business in the history of media. From its inception in the late 1990s to 2004, it grew as an industry from a base in the low millions to $4bn (£2.28bn, E3.32bn) in revenues. According to researcher Piper Jaffray, it is estimated to hit $23bn by 2010."

Devices help the blind cross tech divide. By Michael Singer. CNET News.com (October 5, 2005). "... is part of a $5.4 billion assistive technology industry, according to the Smithsonian Institution. That's nearly double market estimates six years ago. The market itself is broad. Some of the devices that are becoming increasingly common include Braille-based handheld devices with text-to-speech technology, tactile keyboards with oversize characters, and pointing devices that control PCs with a movement of an eyebrow. An aging population in industrialized countries combined with a government effort to satisfy more special needs groups is lighting a fire under this industry, which adds 10 to 20 new companies every year, Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) executive director David Dikter said."

Microsoft, Japanese universities bolster ties. Reuters / available from ZDNet (June 28, 2005). "Microsoft is bolstering its joint research with Japanese universities, targeting such areas as security and natural language processing, the world's largest software maker said Tuesday. The company will set up a collaboration network on July 1, hoping to promote exchange with researchers at top schools including the University of Tokyo, which is often called the Harvard of Japan. ... Gates, in Japan this week to meet academics and business partners, said he hoped the joint research will yield results in the areas of security, natural language understanding, speech recognition and user interface software. ... Microsoft expects to spend $6.7 billion globally on research and development this year."

New Computer Language Taps into AI Technology. By Jennifer LeClaire. TechNewsWorld (June 20, 2005). "The developers said the ISO 18629 language is especially suited for the exchange of process planning, validation, production scheduling and control information for guiding manufacturing processes. Researchers have incorporated approximately 300 concepts, such as 'duration' and 'sequence,' into its software structure. ... Analysts said this Artificial Intelligence technology looks promising for both manufacturers and business management processes. ISO 18629 becomes part of what Business Communication Company (BCC) predicts will be at least a US$21 billion market by 2007."

Video-game industry mulls over the future beyond shoot-'em-ups. By Gloria Goodale. The Christian Science Monitor (June 3, 2005). "Video games are no longer the geeky stepchild of popular entertainment. Last year, US sales of what is now called 'interactive entertainment' topped $7 billion, closing in on the $9 billion film industry."

Gains in Translation - Software Aims to Cut Through the Babble Better. By David Colke. Los Angeles Times (May 15, 2005). "IDC, a research firm that specializes in technology matters, estimates that computer language-translation sales will be $187 million this year."

Will machines ever understand us? By Justin Mullins. New Scientist (April 9, 2005, Issue 2494; subscription req'd.). "According to the New York-based business information company Datamonitor, the North American market for speech-recognition software will grow by more than 25 per cent each year between 2005 and 2008."

New face of mining. By Kristy Dorsey. The Herald (March 16, 2005). "ITI Life Sciences is backing the launch of a £5.3m research and development programme that will spend the next three years creating a software system that specialises in digging out relevant information from the large and growing body of scientific data available from journals, online systems, databases and so forth. This process, known as text mining, is expected to lead to quicker and less expensive discovery and development of new drugs. ... The market for text mining in life sciences is currently worth between £5m and £10m annually, but is expected to grow to more than £200m by 2014.&quot

Fraud Fighters - Fair Isaac Corp. products protect consumers, companies. By Kathryn Balint. Union-Tribune & SignOnSanDiego.com (February 18, 2005). "[Ted] Crooks, the vice president of fraud solutions for Fair Isaac, credits Falcon with cutting credit card fraud by two-thirds since its adoption by the financial services industry 13 years ago. Now, with Falcon protecting so many of the world's Visa, MasterCard and retail charge cards, about one-tenth of 1 percent of credit card charges are fraudulent, representing between $1 billion and $2 billion worth of fraud annually, said Michael Chiappetta, Fair Isaac's vice president of product development in San Diego."

Fingerprinting Plays Key Role in Biometrics Boom. By Paul Korzeniowski. TechNewsWorld (January 18, 2005). "In 2004, fingerprinting accounted for US$367 million of the $1.2 billion biometric companies generated in worldwide revenue, according to market research firm International Biometric Group."

In the shadow of Google. By Robert Weisman. The Boston Globe (January 17, 2005). "While [Bob Alperin, EasyAsk's president and chief executive] estimates the market for e-commerce search software at less than $100 million a year, Alperin thinks the market for enterprise search tools is closer to $1 billion annually, and growing. [International Data Corp.] estimates knowledge workers spend 15 to 30 percent of their office hours seeking information."

Ernestine, Meet Julie - Natural language speech recognition is markedly improving voice-activated self-service. By Karen Bannan. CFO Magazine (January 1, 2005). "A new technology, called natural language speech recognition, is markedly improving voice-activated self-service. Powered by artificial intelligence, these speech-recognition systems are altering consumer perceptions about phone self-service, as calls for help no longer elicit calls for help. That, in turn, is spurring renewed corporate interest in the concept of phone self-service. In 2004, sales of voice self-service systems topped $1.2 billion. 'We've seen voice systems move from emerging technology to applied technology over the last few years,' says Steve Cramoysan, principal analyst at Stamford, Connecticut-based research firm Gartner. 'It's still fairly immature. But it's proven and moving toward the mainstream.'"

Nanotechnology: Small wonders. By Mike Toner. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (December 5, 2004). "The National Science Foundation predicts that within a decade nanotechnology will be a $1 trillion market --- and provide as many as 2 million new jobs. An estimated 15.4 million people currently work in all U.S. industries that perform some research and development. To spur things along, the National Nanotechnology Initiative, with roots in 18 federal agencies, is providing one of the largest infusions of research money, $3.7 billion over four years, since the heyday of the space program. More than 30 states have spending initiatives to spur nanotech development."

High-tech tools help with FCAT - Students can access online tutors and test aids that monitor individual progress. By Beth Kormanik. The Times-Union & Jacksonville.com (September 20, 2004)." Effective personal tutors can raise student scores by two grade levels, [Ken Koedinger, professor of human-computer interaction and psychology at Carnegie Mellon University] said, but the average human tutor helps raise grade level only by one-half. His computer-based system falls in between, raising students' scores by one grade level."

Mimicking fraudsters - If your card use has been queried, it's probably because more banks are now using artificial intelligence software to try to detect fraud. By Ken Young. The Guardian (September 9, 2004). "Credit card fraud losses in the UK fell for the first time in nearly a decade last year, by more than 5% to £402.4m, according to research by the Association of Payment Clearing Services (Apacs). The fall has put a spotlight on the increasing use of neural networks that have the ability to detect fraudulent behaviour by analysing transactions and alerting staff to suspicious activity."

Smart systems will erase jobs, report warns. CNET News (June 25, 2004). "So-called smart applications will soon cause more job losses than outsourcing, and policymakers will need to tread cautiously to minimize the effect of this new trend, a new report warns. In the coming years, a large number of first-level jobs in service industries related to customer service, help desk and directory assistance will be lost due to the advent of intelligent systems, research firm Strategy Analytics said in the report. ... In the United States alone, there was an erosion of 50 percent blue-collar jobs due to automation, robotics and information technology between 1969 and 1999."

The Futurist - The Intelligent Internet. The Promise of Smart Computers and E-Commerce. By William E. Halal. Government Computer News Daily News (June 23, 2004). "BCC Corporation estimates total AI sales to grow from $12 billion in 2002 to $21 billion in 2007."

Speech impediment. By Tyler Chin. American Medical News (June 14, 2004). "In 2003, the speech-recognition software market for dictation was about $300 million worldwide, including about $100 million for just the software and $200 million for value-added services such as training and integration, [Bill] DeStefanis estimated. Health care, which makes up about 60% of that market, has been growing about 12% annually for the past three years, he estimated."

A golden vein - Computing: Analysis of customer information, better known as “data mining”, is finally delivering on its promises—and expanding into some promising new areas. The Economist Technology Quarterly (June 10, 2004). "Forrester predicts that sales of BI [business intelligence] software, currently around $2 billion a year, will grow by 8.5% a year over the next three years. If new tricks like predictive analytics and unstructured-data analysis catch on, that could prove to be a conservative figure."

A PhD in Mortal Kombat - A pioneering USC group tries to get into the heads of players to learn if the pastime harms or can help. By Mary McNamara. The Los Angeles Times (June 6, 2004; no fee reg. req'd.). "Here is what is known about computer games: They are the fastest-growing area of the entertainment market; last year, when games sales reached $11.4 billion, which surpassed U.S. box office figures, studios all over town began opening or gearing up their interactive divisions. The median age of gamers has risen to 27, and almost half are women. Men prefer violent, combat-heavy games, women are more into role-playing. The Sims, in which players create virtual families and homes and lives, is the most popular computer game of all time with 6.3 million units sold."

UK game makers look to thrill. By Darren Waters. BBC News (June 2, 2004). "The video games industry is one of the fastest-growing businesses in the UK, with the export value of UK developed games for 2003 likely to exceed £200m ($357m). ... Mr [Mike] Rawlinson said: "In terms of development there is going to be a transition, but UK developers will find their strength. "It will be like Hollywood where companies will come to the UK for certain core skills. 'UK development will end up providing those core skills such as games engines, or artificial intelligence, as well as creativity.'"

Women are players, too. By Misha Davenport. Chicago Sun-Times (June 2, 2004). "According to a study recently released by the Entertainment Software Association, computer and video game sales topped $7 billion in the United States alone last year and 39 percent of all gamers are women

Technology Strains to Find Menace in the Crowd. By Barnaby J. Feder. The New York Times (May 31, 2004; no fee reg. req'd.). "Analysts and many industry officials say that too much is being expected from the technology, which is still one of the newest methods in biometrics, a field that includes analysis of fingerprints, voices, hand shapes, gait and patterns of the iris. The total biometrics market this year will reach about $1.2 billion, with face-recognition systems accounting for $144 million, according to projections by the International Biometric Group, a research company in New York. ace-recognition revenues should double next year and climb to more than $800 million by 2008, according to International Biometric."

Seniors Need Robots And New Technology To Help At Home. By Ellen Beck. United Press International / available from SpaceDaily (April 27, 2004). "Elder advocates from academia and industry urged Congress on Tuesday to fund research and nudge reluctant companies to re-imagine existing technologies to help seniors live high-quality, independent lives. ... [Joseph] Coughlin said assistive technology is crucial for baby boomers who are searching for solutions to help them care for aging parents. There is a $29-billion-a-year loss in productivity to business and industry because of time away from the job needed by workers to care for aging parents, he said."

Search For Tomorrow - We Wanted Answers, And Google Really Clicked. What's Next? By Joel Achenbach. Washington Post (February 15, 2004: page D01; no fee reg. req'd). "The transition into the Google Era has not occurred without some anguish. The stacks of a university library can be a rather lonely place these days. Library circulation dropped about 20 percent at major universities in the first five years after Internet search engines became popular."

Making High-Tech Play Less Work. By Michel Marriott. The New York Times (February 12, 2004; no fee reg. req'd.). "This year, toymakers are increasingly seizing on a strategy embraced already by their consumer electronics counterparts: use smarter technology to make products as simple and easy to enjoy as marbles and jump ropes. This shift in the $31.9 billion toy industry (including the $11.2 billion video-game sector) will be evident at the 101st Annual American International Toy Fair, which opens on Sunday in New York."

Technology can make computers speak; humans have to decide if that's a good thing. Tech column by Stanley Miller II. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (February 9, 2004). " In the fall, the research firm Gartner Inc. released a report predicting that the global market for speech-recognition products would reach $130 million in 2003, up from $128 million in 2002, after two previous years of declines."

A "New Buzz" Infects Health Care Management - Health care managers now use sophisticated software to predict who is most likely to become ill. By Cyril Tuohy. Risk & Insurance (January 2004). "[Stan] Hochberg, a former vice president with McKesson Corp., where he developed artificial intelligence systems for predictive models, estimates that predictive modeling techniques have saved his clients about 1.5 percent in medical costs. The number is small in percentage terms but the dollar amount saved is in the millions."

AI in the news column. AI Magazine (Winter 2003). It's all about $$$.

Ministry vows to nurture embedded-software market. By Yang Sung-jin. The Korea Herald (November 10, 2003). "Embedded software is widely used for mobile phones, robots and other high-tech digital appliances. The key function of embedded software is to provide multimedia, Internet, games and artificial intelligence to digital gadgets. ... The global embedded-software market, estimated at $99 billion, is expected to reach $138.4 billion in 2007, registering on average 9.25 percent annualized growth, according to research firm Gartner."

Money laundering to fuel $4.8bn bank IT bonanza. By Andy McCue. silicon.com (October 2, 2003) . "A big chunk of IT investment will go on the Basel capital accord, known as Basel II, which will require banks to implement a range of new processes for managing credit and operational risk by 2006. ... Anti-money laundering guidelines from regulators such as the UK's Financial Services Authority will also push financial institutions to spend on automated artificial intelligence and analytics mechanisms to detect and prevent fraud, with investment in this area alone predicted to reach $420m by 2006."

Speech Industry Making Minor, Steady Gains. By Matt Hicks. eWeek News (September 30, 2003). "This year's SpeechTEK comes as analysts predict a rebound in the speech recognition market. Gartner Dataquest predicts that after declining in 2002, the market will grow worldwide from about $130 million in revenue this year to $258 million in 2007. Use in call centers and in business portals will account for 76 percent of all speech recognition product shipments, according to Gartner."

Microsoft to develop self-updating protection against viruses - In the wake of cyber-attack havoc, Gates aims to take onus of safeguarding software off end-users. Business Day (South Africa / September 25, 2003). "Giving 1500 customers a technology briefing, [Bill] Gates said the company was committed to easier computing and to developing software that was easier to manage. 'We are very optimistic about the years ahead and we are growing our research and development budget faster than ever because there are some very important advances that need to be made.' This year Microsoft will spend 6,9bn on research and development, which is more than the research budget of the 10 next largest software companies put together. Some of the cash will be pumped into technology that may prove beneficial for businesses, including speech recognition, artificial intelligence and biometric identification to eliminate insecure passwords."

Compliance laws vex IT - The USA Patriot Act is keeping financial firms busy. By Lucas Mearian. Computerworld (September 8, 2003). "TowerGroup in Needham, Mass., estimates that by 2007, the global financial services industry will have spent $523 billion on operational resiliency -- technology upgrades for disaster recovery, business continuity and security. U.S. retail banks alone will spend $1.1 billion, or 4.4% of their IT budgets, in response to 9/11 between 2003 and 2007, TowerGroup predicts. Artificial intelligence systems for tracking customer activity will carry the highest price tags."

Computer fear factor in Hollywood. By Julie Moran Alterio. The Journal News (July 4, 2003). "Here's a quick quiz: As technology advances and computers get smarter, is it possible machines could one day take over the world? Pick an answer: • I think it is likely. • It could happen. • No way. If you're like 46 percent of the people who were asked this question at Blockbuster's Web site, you'll respond, 'It could happen.'" Also see: Blockbuster's news release - 61 Percent of Survey Respondents Say Machines Could Take Over the World, According to Survey by Blockbuster (May 15, 2003).

Computers That Speak Your Language - Voice recognition that finally holds up its end of a conversation is revolutionizing customer service. Now the goal is to make natural language the way to find any type of information, anywhere. By Wade Roush. Technology Review (June 2003). "Such improvements have set up natural-language systems for explosive growth: 43 percent of North American companies have either purchased interactive voice response software for their call centers or are conducting pilot studies, according to Forrester Research, a technology analysis firm. As more companies replace their old touch-tone phone menus, today’s $500 million market for telephone-based speech applications will grow -- reaching $3.5 billion by 2007, according to Steve McClure, a vice president in the software research group at market analysis firm IDC."

New breed of robots, gizmos take war to next level. By Jon Swartz. USA Today (May 12, 2003). "Encouraged by the success of satellite-guided bombs and unmanned spy planes in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military plans to spend $10 billion between now and 2010 on unmanned vehicles such as the X-45. In all, the Pentagon spends more than $100 billion a year developing and buying weapons."

Let's Talk - The software is capable, but dictating to your PC is harder than it looks. By Janet Rae-Dupree. U.S. News & World Report(May 12, 2003). "Sales of speech recognition software and hardware--from natural-voice dictation systems for PCs to commercial telephone systems--are expected to rise from $680 million last year to $2.2 billion in 2006."

Brokers Will Spend Big on Anti-Money Laundering. By Jessica Pallay. Wall Street & Technology (May 1, 2003). "The brokerage industry will spend almost $700 million in the next three years on anti-money-laundering technologies, according to a recent report by Massachusetts-based consultants, TowerGroup. The 2001 USA Patriot Act requires financial institutions to establish anti-money laundering programs. ... Complex solutions include technology systems that offer artificial intelligence, [Robert Iati] says, using rules-based analysis, such as Mantas or Searchspace. For example, if an investor suddenly changes investing behavior, and that investor uses a bank that has been known to transact terrorist funds, the technology would post an alert for the situation to be investigated."

Worldwide Artificial Intelligence Market to Cross $21 Billion by 2007. Press release (2/20/03) from Business Communications Company about a report to be published in April 2003. "The field of artificial intelligence (AI) has undergone a series of direction changes in its relatively young history, from an initial promise of computers that could think and converse like human beings, to a bust and general devaluation of the field in the mid to late 1990's, to a now re-emerging focus on practical applications that can benefit a wide range of industrial and commercial applications. The focus of the AI market is on how specific technologies can be used to enhance existing applications. These applications are analyzed and discussed in relation to specific sectors of industry and commerce, including financial, manufacturing automation, transportation guidance systems, defense and domestic security, medical/biotech, entertainment and education. According to a soon-to-be-released report from Business Communications Company, Inc. RG-275 Artificial Intelligence: Burgeoning Applications in Industry, the total worldwide AI market was estimated at $11.9 billion in 2002. Expected to grow at an AAGR (average annual growth rate) of 12.2%, this market will reach $21.2 billion by 2007."

Artificial intelligence: past and future. By Hugh McKellar. KMWorld (April 2003 / Volume 12, Issue 4). "Nearly 10 years ago, the Department of Commerce issued a technology assessment of the U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) market. ... The report estimated the 1993 global AI market -- including technologies such as expert systems, neural networks fuzzy logic, robotics, speech recognition, search, etc. -- at about $900 million -- and the United States was clearly ahead of the rest of the world in the development of those systems. ... What a difference a decade makes, as we point out in our Industry Snapshot on p. 1. In April, Business Communication Company (BCC) will release a thorough new study of the worldwide artificial intelligence market, which it predicts will reach more than $21 billion by 2007 with an average annual growth rate from 2002 to 2007 of 12.2%. In 2002 alone, BCC calculates the worldwide market was $11.9 billion, with the growth strongest in the United States, although the European and Asia Pacific regions will see a greater AAGR due to growth in the financial services and transportation sectors, say the BCC researchers. The report ... targets five AI technologies: expert systems, belief networks, decision support systems, neural networks and agents."

Smart Tools - Companies in health care, finance, and retailing are using artificial-intelligence systems to filter huge amounts of data and identify suspicious transactions. By Otis Port, with Michael Arndt and John Carey. Business Week's 2003 edition of The BusinessWeek50 (Spring/March 2003). "Banks, brokerages, and insurance companies have been relying on various AI tools for two decades. One variety, called a neural network, has become the standard for detecting credit-card fraud. Since 1992, neural nets have slashed such incidents by 70% or more...."

Check that phone bill before you pay - Telkom says frauds are losing the company millions of rand as more consumers dispute inflated bills. By Lesley Stones. Business Day (South Africa; March 20, 2003). "Globally, telecommunication fraud is a bigger business than international drug trafficking, with operators losing $55bn a year. It is the single biggest cause of revenue loss for operators, costing them between 3% and 5% of their annual revenue. In financial 2002, Telkom said its network fraud had 'successfully been reduced' to R174m from a massive R274m in 2001, as a result of enhanced systems and proactive management. ... One way the operators can fight back is by installing fraud prevention software to quickly detect usage anomalies. Such a system has helped Telkom cut the fraud inflicted on its network to below the international average. But the crime has become so rife that Telkom has a team of investigators proactively monitoring network abuse, says [Andrew] Weldrick. They rely on a computerised fraud management system which uses artificial intelligence to create a profile of each customer's ordinary usage patterns. 'If there is a sudden deviation, like a series of international calls, it generates an alarm which our investigators will pick up. Chances are we will phone you before you get your bill,' he says. The system also has a self-learning capability so it can adapt to new methods of fraud."

Educators go high-tech to check essay exams. By Rhea R. Borja. USA Today (January 15, 2003). "[T]he essays were graded by a high-tech artificial-intelligence system -- a computer that notes misspellings, assesses sentence structure and reviews writing style. Mr. Chips, meet 'Hal.' ... Compared with humans, computers grade essays faster, more efficiently and more accurately, say some education officials and testing companies such as Vantage Learning, which created the IntelliMetric essay-scoring technology, and Educational Testing Service, which developed the E-Rater, another scoring system. ... Educators like the relatively low cost and speed of essay-scoring technology: Prices vary, but it costs about $1 per computer-scored essay compared with about $5 for a human-graded essay. Also, essays are scored in five to 10 minutes by humans, in less than two seconds by computer, says [Scott] Elliot."

Playing to Win - Computer and video games are a bigger business than the movies, and the biggest force in games is Electronic Arts...." By Chuck Salter. FastCompany (December 2002: Issue 65, page 80). "Welcome to the entertainment industry of the 21st century, where video games are serious business. Last year, U.S. computer- and video-game revenue surpassed domestic box-office receipts, and this year, the game industry is expected to widen that gap with more than $10 billion in sales."

Terror fears boost new security gadgets. By Kevin Anderson. BBC (November 20, 2002). "It is a nascent industry, worth between $240m to $400m, according to Brian Ruttenbur, senior vice president and equity research analyst with Morgan Keegan & Company. But stocks in biometric companies have risen 130% after the 11 September attacks, he said."

Intel, Microsoft Dip into Speech with SALT. By Thor Olavsrud. siliconvalley.internet.com. (October 14, 2002)."The partners believe the value proposition of such technology is clear: it stands to reduce costs associated with call center agents. A typical customer service call costs $5 to $10 to support, while an automated voice recognition system can lower that to 10 cents to 30 cents per call. Additionally, voice recognition technology can be used to give employees access to critical information while on the move. Earlier this year, market research firm the Kelsey Group projected worldwide spending on voice recognition will reach $41 billion by 2005. But Intel and Microsoft are by no means alone in the space."

Balancing the risk against the risque. By Douglas Hayward. Financial Times (October 2, 2002). "Web filtering software is a young but fast-growing market, worth just under $202m in 2001 and expected to grow at an annual compound rate of around 29 per cent until 2006, according to IDC, the IT industry researcher. E-mail scanning is growing even faster, at about 37 per cent a year, IDC reckons."

Consumers gain voice power. BBC (September 18, 2002). "Voice-enabled software will be worth $452m by 2004 according to research firm Datamonitor."

Survey finds upstate pessimistic on economy. Barbara Pinckney The Business Review (September 18, 2002). "The first Sawchuk Brown Associates Upstate Report indicates that residents of upstate New York are still a bit pessimistic about the economy, but see possible solutions in high technology and the health/medical fields. ... When asked what industries the state should concentrate on attracting to upstate, 26 percent of respondents said biotechnology or medical research, 12 percent said health care/medical and 12 percent said computers/artificial intelligence/robotics."

Banks step up war on e-fraud. By Andy McCue. Vnunet (July 25, 2002). "AI technology to root out criminals and terrorists Barclays and the Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBoS) are to use artificial intelligence technology as part of an industry-wide crackdown on financial fraud and terrorist funding. ... The National Criminal Intelligence Service received 18,571 reports from banks of money laundering between January and May this year, double last year's total and expected to reach 60,000 by the end of the year."

Signs of Fraud Go Beyond Signature - Credit Card Companies Use Artificial Intelligence to Thwart Thieves. By Margaret Webb Pressler. The Washington Post (July 21, 2002; Page H05). "With billions of dollars at stake, and ever more clever crooks, the credit card companies have become very, very smart about protecting themselves by using astonishingly sophisticated network computers and software programs. 'We're at a level whereby we can understand with artificial intelligence . . . the potentially fraudulent transactions,' said Raf Sorrentino, vice president of risk management for First Data Corp., one of the country's biggest providers of credit card processing and payment services. Credit card fraud costs the industry about a billion dollars a year, or 7 cents out of every $100 dollars spent on plastic. But that is down significantly from its peak about a decade ago, Sorrentino says, in large part because of the powerful technology that can recognize unusual spending patterns."

Where Lech Does Tech. By Desa Philadelphia. Time (July 1, 2002 issue). "AMR Research, a technology research company based in Boston, estimates that 40% of all new manufacturing-related software already incorporates some form of AI."

Computers reach one billion mark. BBC (July 1, 2002). "One billion personal computers have been sold across the world, according to hi-tech consultancy Gartner Dataquest."

AI Software Puts Tutors in Computers. By Jay Wrolstad. NewsFactor (May 10, 2002). "Quantum Simulations founder Benny Johnson told NewsFactor he is confident that there is substantial demand for artificial-intelligence tutor programs. He cited reports compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau that indicate educational software represents a $21.5 billion market."

AI helps in fraud fight. By Eric Doyle. Computer Weekly CW360 (May 9, 2002). "Alliance & Leicester says it has saved millions of pounds of potential losses from credit card frauds with the introduction of an artificial intelligence-based detection system."

Silicon super-agents. By Barbara Gengler. Australian IT (April 30, 2002). "Autonomous software agents are rapidly moving from the development stage to providing industrial-strength help in everyday environments. Gartner forecasts that enterprise automation, which includes autonomous software agents and artificial intelligence software, will account for almost 50 per cent of total IT spending in 10 years. By 2010, it will be worth $US250 billion ($463 billion)."

CTO Forum - Will artificial intelligence surpass the human variety? By Paul Krill. InfoWorld (April 11, 2002). "Panelist Henry McDonald, director of the NASA Ames Research Center, cited artificial intelligence, which he said is in the same long-term development process as the Internet. McDonald stressed that funding issues are critical to the development of new technologies. The government used to fund two-thirds of development and one-third came from private industry, he said. 'Today, only one-third comes from government and two-thirds comes from industry, and industry is a short-term commitment,' McDonald said."

Game-Design Courses Gain Favor. By Claudia H. Deutsch. The New York Times (April 1, 2002; no-fee reg. req'd). "'Games are interactive.' They are also a hot growth area. The Rochester Institute, whose department of information technology just started the first master's program in computer game design, estimates that the $20 billion computer game industry will grow to a $100 billion-a-year business within a decade."

The next step in human evolution. The Independent - London (March 26, 2002) ."More than 10 per cent of trades in the City of London are performed on the orders of intelligent machines. The military's Echelon system intelligently analyses every e-mail, fax and telephone call in Europe. Tea bag manufacturers use AI to fill the bags with the perfect amount of tea after taking into account moisture content, leaf size and air turbulence around the packaging machines."

Voice Recognition Leaps Into Appliances. By Neil McManus. The New York Times (March 21, 2002; no fee reg. req'd). "It is a feature that could find its way into many more living rooms and kitchens. Todd Mozer, chief executive of Sensory, a company based in Santa Clara, Calif., that makes specialized speech recognition chips for appliances, said that more than 15 million such devices had been sold worldwide. If you include cellphones with voice-dialing, the estimate rises to 100 million. ... Other voice-activated appliances were sold in the 1980's and 90's, but until recently the digital signal processors remained expensive, about $20 a unit. Today a general-purpose chip like the RSC-364 from Sensory costs as little as $1."

'Text mining' software business grows. By Emery P. Dalesio. The Associated Press / available from the Sun-Sentinel (March 4, 2002). "The products are part of a growing inventory of so-called 'text mining' software that seeks patterns hidden in vast data collections. Revenue from sales of all types of data mining software -- of which text mining is a subgenre -- will grow from about $540 million this year to about $1.5 billion in 2005, according to market research firm IDC."

A Summary of the 2001 North American Machine Vision Market Study. By Nello Zuech. AIA's Machine Vision Online, March 2002. " "Examining the sales of 320 companies selling machine vision products into the North American market, the North American machine vision market only declined 6.8% in terms of revenues and 17.5% in terms of units in 2001 in spite of the terrible economy."

Robotrading 101 - Sophisticated computer programs take the human element out of picking winners on Wall Street. By James M. Pethokoukis. U.S. News & World Report (January 28, 2002). Wall Street's AI can't yet match Hollywood's version of thinking, self-aware computers,as much as $250 billion is currently being managed using sophisticated computer tools. These include neural nets, expert systems (investment acumen distilled into rules of thumb), and genetic algorithms (stock strategies digitally converted into cyberspace creatures that mutate and evolve like human DNA)."

5 Technologies You Need to Know. By Dan Miller. The Industry Standard Magazine. (May 21, 2001 issue date) Also available from CNN.com. "Today's business intelligence systems improve on these predecessors by presenting their findings in more useful formats - using advanced data visualization tools - and by deploying artificial intelligence to look for patterns human users might not look for. ... Business-intelligence technology has already spawned some fierce competition. Established software companies ... along with younger competitors ... are vying for their share of a market that's expected to grow from $3.5 billion this year to $8.8 billion in 2004."

Smart Highway Idea Advances, but at Only a Rush-Hour Pace. By Ralph Vartabedian. The Los Angeles Times (May 30, 2001). "In congressional testimony on May 10, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the Bush administration proposes to increase funding for intelligent highway systems by 32% to $253 million for fiscal year 2002."

Phone Friend. Software agents can use your pattern of mobile phone use to foil thieves. By Duncan Graham-Rowe. New Scientist Magazine (January 31, 2001). ""More than 15,000 mobile phones are stolen each month in Britain alone. According to Swedish cellphone maker Ericsson, the fraudulent use of stolen mobiles means a loss of between two and five per cent of revenue for the network operators."

High-Tech Answers to Customers Queries. Web Technology Helps Consumers Find Own Solutions to Save Firms Time, Money. By Neil Irwin. The Washington Post (June 20, 2001). "According to Forrester Research, a technology research group in Cambridge, Mass., when an existing or potential customer calls a company and a person answers a question, it costs the firm $33 in labor, rent, equipment and other expenses. Even an e-mail question answered by someone costs $10, Forrester found. But if a customer or constituent can get the information through the Web without one-on-one help, as with the Ask George feature, it costs only $1.17 per question."

In the Face of Terror Recognition Technology Spreads Quickly. By Robert O'Harrow Jr.. Washington Post (November 1, 2001). "The biometrics industry is expected to grow from about $200 million in revenue this year to about $2 billion in 2004, said Brian Ruttenbur, an equity analyst at Morgan Keegan & Co. Face-recognition systems could sell for as much as $2 million each at scores of airports, said Richard Ryan, an analyst at Dougherty & Co.."

Fraud Levels Reach All-Time Low. From Visa U.S.A.(2/22/00): Visa U.S.A., the nation's leading payment card system, today announced that overall card fraud losses have dropped to an all-time low of 0.06% of total transaction volume - or just 6 cents for every $100 in transactions. That's down from 0.07% in 1998 and 0.18% in 1992. ... Pascarella [president and chief executive officer of Visa U.S.A] cited several reasons for the steady drop in card fraud, including Visa's implementation of neural networks, which use artificial intelligence to recognize potential fraudulent transactions. These networks are capable of alerting member banks to potential fraudulent activity as often as every 10 minutes."

The Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence Conference . By Bruce Buchanan and Sam Uthurusamy. (1999). AI Magazine 20(1): 11-12. "One measure of the growth of practical applications is the number of U.S. patents mentioning the term artificial intelligence and related terms (knowledge based, fuzzy logic, expert system, genetic algorithm). According to the primary examiner for AI in the U.S. Patent Office, Robert Downs, a decade ago only about 100 patents mentioned AI specifically; last year, about 1700 mentioned artificial intelligence, with another 3900 or so mentioning related terms. About 2200 patents are specifically classified in the Patent Office's class for artificial intelligence, which means that the invention or technique is specifically directed to something new in knowledge-based systems, machine learning, fuzzy logic, or neural networks. Other patents using AI techniques might be classified in an area of application such as medicine. These numbers confirm another important trend, which was noted by Reid Smith and others in the context of earlier IAAI conferences: AI technology is more likely to be embedded in some larger system than embodied in a stand-alone system. The difference between the 5600 patents mentioning AI and the 2200 specifically classified as AI is about 3400 patents in which AI contributes something in a larger context. ... Successful applications of AI are part of, and buried in, larger systems that probably do not carry the label AI inside." [Emphasis added.] Also available from Find Articles.

• For more about the "AI effect", click here!

Career/Employment

Occupational Outlook Handbook (2006-2007), from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Information about jobs in the computer industry, the employment outlook, salary ranges, related careers, and much more. Video-game developer follows his passions. By Derek Abma. CanWest News Service | Edmonton Journal (December 28, 2007). "Meet Scott McGillivray, a 30-year-old software developer in the red-hot video-game industry. ... The video-game industry generates about $1.4 billion in revenue annually in British Columbia. [Electronic Arts Inc.] is the biggest player, accounting for $1.1 billion of this revenue and employing 1,900 people in the Vancouver area."

Parents blamed for low IT enrolment levels. By Charles Mandel, CanWest News | Edmonton Journal (October 25, 2007). "Enrolment in information technology (IT) programs is declining at universities across Canada and parents are to blame, says one of Canada's leading computer scientists. 'I fundamentally blame the parents, because the parents are the ones who survived the dot-com bust with the perception that there are no jobs in IT,' said Jonathan Schaeffer, a Canada Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Alberta. ... He is one of about 100 computer scientists, academics, industry leaders and government officials gathered at a Toronto conference aimed at understanding why interest in computer science and computer engineering programs is dropping across Canada. Research shows 89,000 new IT jobs will be required in Canada in the next three to five years...."

Wooing interns to Silicon Valley. By Stefanie Olsen. CNET News.com (July 3, 2007). "Recent statistics indicate the number of computer science majors in colleges may be shrinking. ... However, the number of students graduating with a doctorate was up more than 25 percent, to 1,499 in June 2006. CRA also reported that, as was true during the dot-com heyday, a high percentage--nearly 50 percent--of doctoral students in computer science went to work in industry, rather than academia, from 2005 to 2006."

Girls learn to love high tech. By Melanie Carroll. MediaNews / available from San Jose Mercury News (June 29, 2007). "At NASA/Ames' aeronautics institute, 16 percent of the employees are women. According to the National Science Foundation, women represent 46 percent of the total workforce; however, women represent only 25 percent of the technology workforce and hold only 10 percent of the nation's top technological jobs."

A sunny hiring season for job seekers. By Miriam Olsson. CNET News.com (June 25, 2007). "It's recruiting season and the forecast looks sunny for job seekers, so long as they're talented and willing to work at landing employment. That's the consensus among analysts, students and big company recruiters who are struggling to find enough qualified applicants to fill their posts. The overall unemployment rate for the computer industry at the end of last quarter was 2.1 percent, which is even lower than the 2.3 percent rate during the same quarter in 2000, the peak of the dot-com boom. Things are particularly bright for software engineers, whose unemployment rate was down to 0.9 percent last quarter, compared to 1.9 percent during the same period in 2000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor."

Colleges pushing computing profession - S.C. enrollment falling, although field is lucrative, high in demand. By James T. Hammond. The State (May 15, 2007). "Nationwide, newly declared computer science majors plummeted to 8,000 in the fall of 2006, from 16,000 in 2000, according to the Computing Research Association. Meanwhile, demand for computer science graduates has been soaring nationwide. The American Electronics Association says the U.S. technology industry added 150,000 jobs in 2006, in a field where a new college graduate with a degree in computing can earn $52,000 a year."

Computer Science Takes Steps to Bring Women to the Fold. By Cornelia Dean. The New York Times (April 17, 2007). "For decades, undergraduate women have been moving in ever greater numbers into science and engineering departments at American universities. Yet even as they approach or exceed enrollment parity in mathematics, biology and other fields, there is one area in which their presence relative to men is static or even shrinking: computer science. Women received about 38 percent of the computer science bachelor’s degrees awarded in the United States in 1985, the peak year, but in 2003, the figure was only about 28 percent, according to the National Science Foundation. At universities that also offer graduate degrees in computer science, only 17 percent of the field’s bachelor’s degrees in the 2003-4 academic year went to women, according to the Taulbee Survey, conducted annually by an organization for computer science research.... These experts play down the two explanations most often offered for flagging enrollment: the dot-com bust and the movement of high-tech jobs offshore. ... According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, demand for computer scientists in the United States will only increase in coming years, Dr. [Jan] Cuny said."

Women in I.T. - Where the Girls Aren't. The number of women going into technology careers is slipping -- and no one is quite sure why. By Edward Cone. CIO Insight (April 3, 2007).

Computer majors down to bits - Cornell sees decline after dot-com bust. By Topher Sanders. The Ithaca Journal (February 24, 2007). "The number of students pursuing computer science careers has greatly diminished since the dot-com implosion. Professors at Cornell University hope a crop of new classes will entice students and display the varied opportunities in computer science. Lingering attitudes about the dot-com meltdown and outsourcing are chiefly to blame for why students have been migrating to other disciplines, Cornell professors said. ... 'There is a tremendous hiring boom occurring,' said Ken Birman, computer science professor at Cornell. 'The problem is that the students haven't understood that yet. The growth and job opportunities are as strong as it was in the dot-com period. The students haven't yet figured out what is going to happen next.' While outsourcing is a very real fact, Birman said, the more exciting and creative positions are staying stateside. ... The U.S. Bureau of Labor estimates that there will be nearly 1 million computer science related positions in the U.S. between now and 2014."

The global war for talent. By Steve Schifferes. BBC News (January 30, 2007). "India's global leadership in the IT services industry, centred on Bangalore, is based on its rich human resources. The country's 400,000 graduates in science and engineering each year - more than any other country in the world - give India a competitive advantage. But with the global outsourcing industry still growing at breakneck speed, the Indian industry is worried about whether there will be enough skilled Indian software engineers in the future."

Computer Educators Get Their Game On. By Julie Vallone. Investor's Business Daily (October 20, 2006). "When thinking about the field of computer science, chances are the word 'fun' doesn't come to mind, at least not for most people. Educators are trying to change that, and for good reason. Demand for information technology professionals will grow nearly 50% from now to 2012, a recent study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said. Other research indicates the U.S. work force probably won't have the skills to meet this demand. ... From 1975 to 1999, U.S. students dropped from No. 3 to No. 14 in its study of 19 participating countries. Moreover, U.S. performance in math and science at the K-12 level lags. ... Help is on the way."

Girls have the geek gene, too. By Jen Gerson. TheStar.com (October 17, 2006). "On Thursday, women will take over Markham's Cascon 2006, one of the largest computer conferences in Canada to discuss the challenges of being wanted for your big, beautiful, techie-competent grey matter. I.D. chatted with one of the key speakers, Dr. Telle Whitney, president of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, about why young women are frightened by the prospect of joining a field dominated by intelligent men who have no idea how to please them. Q So, women and technology. Why do they need their own symposium? A At one point in computer science, women were almost 40 per cent of the bachelors degrees in the United States and right now and now they're closer to 27 per cent. I think many of the research institutions, it's less than 20 per cent in computer science and in engineering, it's probably closer to 11 per cent graduating. And so there's not that many women. ... Q Should we bring more women in? Aren't there few enough jobs in technology that we need to bring women too, into it? A These companies are hiring. There are not enough engineers to fill the jobs that they have. According to the department of labour, eight out of 10 of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S. have an I.T. component. ..."

The robot revolution - As a roboticist you could help build a team of C-3POs and change how we all live forever. By Kate Hilpern. Careers Adviser Magazine / The Independent Online (September 11, 2006). "Whether their business cards describe them as mechanical designers, robotics consultants or perhaps design, software or hardware engineers, today's roboticist can expect to earn a starting salary of £23,000, with employers as diverse as British Gas, Dyson and Microsoft. Projects may include working on anything from the development of underwater robots to help in oil exploration, the creation of 'intelligent' vacuum cleaners or speech-recognition computer software."

RIT training developers of video games - "By the numbers" sidebar. By Matthew Daneman. Democrat & Chronicle (September 11, 2006) "41,652: In dollars, the average annual salary for a video game designer with two years or less of experience, according to a 2003 salary survey. 64,248: The average video game designer salary for someone with six or more years of experience."

Program works to build diverse new generation of computer scientists. By Brian Mattmiller. UW-Madison News (August 16, 2006). "A novel freshman-level program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison called Wisconsin Emerging Scholars in Computer Science (WES-CS) is working to counter a remarkable absence of women and underrepresented groups in the field. ... The program is combining two core strategies -- direct recruitment of new freshman students from underrepresented groups, and parallel team-learning techniques -- to the department's introductory-level course. [Professor Susan] Horwitz says those two proven techniques had never been combined in a first-year computer sciences course, and the strategy is helping increase the pipeline of under-represented students and improve their quality of experience once enrolled. ... Diversity is a tough challenge for computer science. Although science and engineering fields across the board struggle to attract a true cross-section of students, the problem is most pronounced in computer science. At U.S. research universities, typically only about one in 10 computer science bachelor's degree graduates are women, and the number drops closer to 5 percent at the doctoral level. 'The numbers are terrible for computer science, and they have been trending downward so far this decade,' says Horwitz, noting that UW-Madison women computer science undergraduates have gone from 11 percent in 2000 to 9 percent in 2005. 'No one completely understands the trend,' she adds. 'Some of it may stem from the dot.com bust and a sense that outsourcing may be threatening future jobs. But we're actually looking at a huge pending shortage in the computing workforce.' Indeed, the U.S. Department of Labor projects that four of the five main computer science employment categories -- computer and database specialists, software engineers, support specialists and computer systems analysts -- will experience job growth 'much faster than the average' through 2014. Only computer programming is expected to be 'slower than average.' ... Horwitz says the freshman-level infusion of practical computer science ideas will help students 'gain a better understanding of the breadth of the field, the positive ways in which computer science can affect people's lives, and the range of interesting career opportunities."

Games degrees 'not a soft option.' By Aled Blake. Western Mail & icWales (April 20, 2006). "Computer games students at a Welsh university are hoping the launch of the latest adventure of Lara Croft ... will propel their future careers to more prominence. The Games Development and Artificial Intelligence degree at the University of Wales, Newport, is all about creating new characters and smarter computer opponents. Dr Mike Reddy, a senior lecturer on the course, is hoping to support and develop local involvement in this expanding market. He said, 'The release of the latest Tomb Raider game has focused attention on a multi-million-dollar industry, which is crying out for people with the skills and imagination to create the next generation of computer games. 'Computer games degrees can be a passport to big salaries and great career prospects. ... A degree in computer games is not the soft option that many might think, and certainly not a blind alley as far as career prospects are concerned. Dedicated, hardworking graduates can expect a starting salary of over £30,000 and the chance to be whisked away to the USA for even higher salaries."

A Phony Science Gap? Op-Ed piece by Robert J. Samuelson. The Washington Post & washingtonpost.com (February 22, 2006). "But it's emphatically not true, as much of the alarmist commentary on America's 'competitiveness' implies, that the United States now faces crippling shortages in its technological elites. Here are some facts: ... Computer science degrees have doubled since 1990, to 57,405. Other fields have stagnated. ... Computer science graduate students have increased 60 percent, to 56,678, since their low point in 1995, and engineering graduate students are up 27 percent, to 127,375, since their low in 1998. It's true that for these higher degrees, especially doctorates, foreign-born students have represented a growing share of the total. But that's also changing because -- after years of declines -- enrollment of native-born Americans and permanent residents for graduate work has increased 13 percent since 2000. ... [A] country's capacity for scientific and commercial innovation does not correlate directly with its number of scientists and engineers. Hard work, imagination and business practices also matter. ... [T]he main solution is obvious. 'If we want more [scientists and engineers], we have to pay them better and give them better careers,' argues Harvard economist Richard Freeman. The high-tech executives who wail about scarcities are part of the problem. They "would love to have more S&E workers at lower wages," he says. The good news is that they may not have the last word. From 1993 to 2003, the median salary of engineers with bachelor's degrees and one to five years' experience rose 34 percent (after inflation), to $58,000, the NSF's Regets says. Among math and computer science graduates, the increase was 28 percent, to $50,000."

In computer science, a growing gender gap - Women shunning a field once seen as welcoming. By Marcella Bombardieri. The Boston Globe (December 18, 2005). "The shortage of new computer scientists threatens American leadership in technological innovation just as countries such as China and India are gearing up for the kind of competition the United States has never before faced. The US economy is expected to add 1.5 million computer- and information-related jobs by 2012, while this country will have only half that many qualified graduates, according to one analysis of federal data. Meanwhile, the subject is becoming increasingly intertwined with fields ranging from homeland security to linguistics to biology and medicine. ... A Globe review shows that the proportion of women among bachelor's degree recipients in computer science peaked at 37 percent in 1985 and then went on the decline."

Women are 'put off' hi-tech jobs. BBC News (September 8, 2005). "The UK's technology industry must do more to keep women within its folds if it wants long-term success, according to a report by Intellect. The research, by the hi-tech trade group and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), said there was an 'old boys club' in parts of the industry. Action was needed to ensure that all was being done to recruit, motivate and retain women in hi-tech work. It concluded there should be more equality and support in the workplace. ... Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures show that the number of women employed in technology industries fell from 27% in 1997 to 21% in 2005. ... The British Computer Society (BCS) also reported that 28% of UK organisations do not employ women technologists."

Minorities make small gains in science jobs. By Alorie Gilbert. CNET News.com (June 16, 2005). "The proportion of minorities in science occupations has inched up over the past 10 years, but progress is slow-going, according to a new study released this week."

What Women Want - Equality remains an ideal in science and technology. Experience and the numbers suggest it is still a dream. Red Herring (June 6, 2005). "The female presence is stronger when you step down from the executive suite to the lab and the computer center. In 2003, women accounted for 10.4 percent of all computer hardware engineers and 7.1 percent of electrical and electronics engineers in the United States. They fared better as computer and information systems managers, making up 30 percent of the work force in this category. The best news about new technology talent is at the undergraduate level, where U.S. women now outnumber men in earning engineering and science degrees. If you look at the nearly 27,000 engineering graduates in the same year, 21.4 percent are women."

Grad shooting for stars. By Sally Mesarosh. The Gilbert Republic / azcentral.com (June 2, 2005). "A few decades ago, Steffanie Kuehn's career choice of electrical engineering might have been considered unusual. In today's workplace, stereotypes are no longer as likely to influence a student's career goals. Kuehn, 18, a recently graduated senior at Gilbert High School, will be pursuing a degree in electrical engineering at Brigham Young University with an eye toward a doctorate in astrophysics. 'I want to go into artificial intelligence,' said Kuehn, who scored a perfect 1600 on her SAT. 'I'm interested in helping build technology that goes into space, like probes that make decisions on their own.' ... Non-traditional career paths such as Kuehn's can offer both men and women broader opportunities and greater job satisfaction. The U.S. Department of Labor defines non-traditional careers as occupations where at least 75 percent of the workers are of one gender. For women, jobs traditionally held by men offer wages 50 to 75 percent higher than traditional female-dominated jobs. But Department of Labor statistics show that 15 percent of the 58 million women in the workforce are employed in non-traditional occupations such as auto mechanics, firefighting or engineering."

UCSC adds new track for computer science majors - Game design. By Jondi Gumz. Santa Cruz Sentinel (March 24, 2005). "If you thought computer games were just a hobby, think again. Next fall, UC Santa Cruz will offer a track in game design for computer science majors, preparing graduates for jobs in a $7-billion industry. 'By the end of their four years, they will create a computer game,' said Ira Pohl, UCSC’s chairman of computer science."

Microsoft aims for video game heights. Wanted: Programmer 'with severe god-complex.' By Dina Bass. Bloomberg News / available from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (March 5, 2005). "Microsoft Corp., already the biggest software company, is looking for a video-game programmer to help 'in our quest for world domination.' The ideal candidate: a 'megalomaniac genius with severe god-complex,' the company says on its Bungie Studios Web site. The artificial-intelligence engineer Microsoft seeks is one of about 60 people the Redmond company is hiring to create the next generation of 'Halo'.... Companies such as Microsoft, Electronic Arts Inc. and Sony Corp. are boosting payrolls to sharpen animation, music and story lines to capture a bigger share of the more than $20 billion a year spent on video games. ... The video-game industry now employs about 100,000 people in North America, according to the International Game Developers Association in San Francisco. Experienced programmers can make $86,000 a year; artists and animators can receive $64,000, and game designers get $64,000, according to a Game Developer magazine survey."

Better times for techies? By Ed Frauenheim. CNET News. August 19, 2004. "The unemployment rate for computer and mathematical occupations--a category that includes computer programmers, computer software engineers and computer scientists and systems analysts--fell from 5.7 percent in the first half of 2003 to 5 percent in the first half of this year, according to the Labor Department."

Help wanted, say Canada's booming game developers - Edmonton's Bioware plans 20 new hires in 2004. By Steve Makris. The Edmonton Journal (April 2, 2004). "'Game writers are different from other computer programmers,' said Ubisoft's spokesman Martin Carrier. 'They work with sound, artificial intelligence and need to have a very wide cultural scope.' An estimated 3,000 people are actively working in about 90 gaming studios across Canada. EA is the top employer with 1,250; Ubisoft's next with 750."

Next Frontiers: Careers & Technology: A Solution to Flight Risk - The military gives a starring role to unmanned aircraft. By Kevin Peraino. Newsweek.MSNBC (September 23, 2002 issue). "It's hard to imagine that there are hot jobs in aerospace and aviation, considering the financial woes of the airlines. But research on all types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) - from reconnaissance drones that fly at 65,000 feet to low-flying, fully armed fighters - is one of the industry's bright spots. Consulting firm Frost &Sullivan estimates that the U.S. military market for UAVs will reach almost $1 billion by 2007, up 25 percent from today."

The Next Hot Jobs. By Chris Taylor. SmartMoney.com (posted May 14, 2002: from the June 2002 issue of SmartMoney Magazine). "This being our 10th anniversary year, we thought it was a good time to look ahead to the next decade and figure out which fields are destined for growth. ... A.I. Programmer - Artificial intelligence used to be the stuff of sci-fi novels. Now it has spread from androids into all sorts of everyday fields, each of which is booming. ... Salaries start at $50,000 and climb to $70,000 to $80,000 after a few years."

Game-Design Courses Gain Favor. By Claudia H. Deutsch. The New York Times (April 1, 2002; no-fee reg. req'd). "Mr. Hinrichs said Microsoft would pay a designer with a degree $70,000 to start, but Microsoft may be an anomaly. Students, recruiters and other game executives say that entry-level game designers rarely get more than $45,000, and experienced designers rarely earn more than $120,000."

The name of this game is resumes -- and fun. New UW program on thinking inside the Xbox and GameCube fills fast. By Ruth Schubert. Seattle Post-Intelligencer (December 31, 2001). "Many expect the introduction of the GameCube and Xbox to create more jobs in an industry that last year employed nearly 125,000 people, according to the Interactive Digital Software Association. And wages in the field average $61,403, according to an industry survey."

ALSO SEE > Careers in AI

Robotics:

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), The International Federation of Robotics and The Robotic Industries Association offer an assortment of very helpful resources including Robotics Industry Statistics.

Japan experiments with robots as part of daily life. AP Digital via The Sydney Morning Herald (February 29, 2008). "In the past several years, the government has funded a plethora of robotics-related efforts, including some 4.6 billion yen (US$42.7 million;euro28.7 million) for the first phase of a humanoid robotics project, and 1.1 billion yen (US$10.2 million;euro6.8 million) a year between 2006 and 2010 to develop key robot technologies. The government estimates the industry could surge from about 558 billion yen (US$5.2 billion;euro3.5 billion) in 2006 to 3 trillion yen (US$26 billion;euro17.5 billion) in 2010 and nearly 7.5 trillion yen (US$70 billion;euro47 billion) by 2025."

Sales of components for personal robots may hit $12B by 2015 - Market will be driven by people looking to make their lives easier and find new companions. By Sharon Gaudin. Computerworld (February 6, 2008). "They're becoming such a reality, actually, that by the year 2015, the market for personal robotics components will reach $12 billion, according to ABI Research. The demand for components such as processors, microcontrollers and sensors will grow dramatically, creating 'significant revenue opportunities,' the Oyster Bay, N.Y.-based research firm said. What's driving this seemingly futuristic market? Consumers looking to spend less time and effort doing routine chores. Philip Solis, an ABI analyst, also noted that people looking for new entertainment venues, as well as companionship, are expected to spend heavily in the market. ... The ABI report noted that about 48% of component revenue will be linked to task robotics, and 51% will come from the entertainment robotics segment. The other 1% to 2% is attributed to security and educational segments."

Head over heels for tomorrow's personal robots - Our future appears to be full of empathetic, human-like, companion robots at relatively low prices. By Daniel Terdiman. CNET News.com (January 11, 2008). "'Pretty soon, they're not going to be called "toys" anymore, or they'll redefine what "toys" mean,' said David Hanson, the founder and chief scientist of Hanson Robotics. His Richardson, Texas-based company specializes in what it calls 'conversation character robots,' and its Zeno robot-boy can recognize, understand, and respond to human facial features. 'These devices are changing toys into a much more flexible information-processing medium…a revolutionary character medium (that is) becoming increasingly aware of humans,' Hanson said. Personal robotics is a wide-open field, and one that ABI Research analyst Philip Solis recently estimated will be worth $15 billion annually by 2015."

Not Exactly the Jetsons, but Getting Closer. By Dylan McClain. The New York Times (January 3, 2008). "Robots are still far from being the chatty companions seen in science-fiction movies. But some toy robots are becoming more than just conversation pieces. According to the NPD Group, a market research firm, sales of robotic and interactive playmates in the United States were $284 million in the 12 months ended in October, up from $213 million in the previous 12 months."

Personal robot market expected to balloon to $15B by 2015 - People will spend as much on a multitasking robot as on a new car, researcher predicts. By Sharon Gaudin. Computerworld (December 31, 2007). "The personal robot may not just be for vacuuming much longer. A report from ABI Research is predicting that by the year 2015, people will probably be willing to spend as much for a multitasking humanoid robot as they would for a new car. Within seven years, the personal robot market will likely balloon to $15 billion, said Philip Solis, an analyst at the New York-based research firm. As the price of robots increases, so will consumers' expectations, Solis said. ... Meanwhile, the South Korean government hopes to build two robot theme parks as part of an effort to boost that country's robotics industry. The parks, estimated to cost 1.48 trillion won ($1.6 billion U.S.), will be developed as meccas for the country's robot industry. Each is slated to include amusement park areas, exhibition halls and stadiums where robots can compete in various events."

Automated Killers and the Computing Profession. By Noel Sharkey. Computer Magazine November 2007). "When will we realize that our artificial-intelligence and autonomous-robotics research projects have been harnessed to manufacture killing machines? This is not terminator-style science fiction but grim reality: South Korea and Israel have both deployed armed robot border guards, while other nations -- including China, India, Russia, Singapore, and the UK -- increasingly use military robots. Currently, the biggest player, the US, has robots playing an integral part in its Future Combat Systems project, with spending estimated to exceed $230 billion. The US military has massive and realistic plans to develop unmanned vehicles that can strike from the air, under the sea, and on land. The US Congress set a goal in 2001 for one-third of US operational ground combat vehicles to be unmanned by 2015. More than 4,000 robots presently serve in Iraq, with others deployed in Afghanistan. The US military will spend $1.7 billion on more ground-based robots over the next five years, several of which will be armed and dangerous."

Robotics - Indian schools look at fun way of teaching. The Economic Times (October 29, 2007). "Though there is no available official figures the robotic industry is the country is estimated to be around Rs 500 crore."

Robot Warriors In Iraq - The Pentagon Is Looking Towards High-Tech Solutions In Effort To Reduce U.S. Casualties. CBS Evening News (October 21, 2007). "Five thousand robots are working alongside U.S. forces, finding booby traps or searching for the enemy. ... The Pentagon plans to spend nearly $2 billion over the next five years on robots...."

Japan's robot industry forecasts strong growth. AFP / available from The Sydney Morning Herald (October 12, 2007). "Japan's robotics industry is expected to show robust growth and remain the world leader thanks to growing exports to emerging economies, an industry group said Thursday. While Japan has become famous for its cutting-edge humanoid robots, the industry's sales are almost all for industrial robots, particularly those that help manufacture cars, electronics and other products. Japan in the calendar year 2007 is set to produce a record 760 billion yen (6.5 billion US dollars) worth of robotics, a rise of 4.1 percent from the previous year, the Japan Robot Association said."

A Robot Buying Spree - New orders received by North American-based robot companies rose 39% in the first half of 2007. By John Teresko. Industry Week (October 2007). "Industry is buying. The evidence: New orders received by North American-based robot companies rose 39% in the first half of 2007, says the Robotic Industry Association (RIA). North American-based robot suppliers sold nearly 10,000 robots through June, valued at $563.2 million.

• Also from the EYE ON ROBOTS issue of Industry Week (October 2007):
  • Meet The New Robots - The latest generation of robots offers performance advances, growing integration of vision and an enlarging capability to transform manufacturing. By John Teresko. "RIA estimates that more than 171,000 robots are now at work in U.S. factories, placing the U.S. second only to Japan in overall robot use. Worldwide, there are more than a million industrial robots in operation, Burnstein notes. To properly appreciate the value contribution of that installed base, consider that those mechanical workers are for the most part succeeding despite being blind, deaf and without a sense of touch. But that's changing. For example, robotic vision and other intelligence features were strong trends at the recent RIA 2007 International Robots & Vision Show. ... Motoman Inc. demonstrated a new vision-guided robot solution at the robotics show that could pick randomly located automotive components out of a bin and place them on a table. The robot then individually placed the parts into another bin. ... 'Vision has never been more affordable [than now],' says Fanuc Robotics' Dick Johnson, general manager, material handling. ... Vision hardware is becoming much more reliable, notes Johnson. ... Vision capability and accompanying accuracy improvements are helping to spur more diverse robotic applications. ..."

U.S. will spend $1.7B on military robots. United Press International Industry Briefing (August 28, 2007). "The U.S. military will spend about $1.7 billion on ground-based robots in the next five years, according to figures reported by a defense analyst."

Robotics firms building coders who build bots. By Brendan Lynch. Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology (August 3, 2007). "Massachusetts is home to more than 150 companies, institutions and research labs in the robotics sector, and employs more than 1,500 people in robotics-related markets. With more than $250 million in annual sales of robots and components and more than $150 million in government contracts, the robotics industry is becoming a significant economic engine in the region, according to the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's John Adams Innovation Institute."

Robots, Incorporated - Microsoft's best and brightest are quietly trying to bring robotics into the mainstream. By Steven Cherry. IEEE Spectrum Online (August 2007). "Today's $11 billion robot sector -- mostly industrial robots -- will double by 2010, according to estimates by the Japan Robot Association, and it should exceed $66 billion by 2025. Most of the growth will be in nonindustrial applications -- especially, analysts say, in areas such as toys, transportation, and health and senior care. ... The International Federation of Robotics predicts that 5.6 million robots for domestic, entertainment, and leisure applications will be sold from 2006 to 2009...."

Martin Hägele - The European Robotics Market (podcast). Talking Robots (July 18, 2007). "In this episode we talk to Martin Hägele, who is the head of the Robot Systems Department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart, Germany. He presents the current landscape and trends in the European robotics market."

Massachusetts' robot invasion - Trade show highlights advances in building intelligent machines. By Hiawatha Bray. The Boston Globe (May 14, 2007). "'I think this marketplace could be anywhere from $5 billion to $8 billion in five years,' said Dan Kara , president of Robotics Trends, the Upton company that has sponsored RoboBusiness for the past four years. ... Massachusetts will have to fight for its share of the bounty. There's plenty of robotics activity in California, of course. But perhaps the toughest rivals will be found in an unexpected place -- Pittsburgh."

20 Things You Didn't Know About... Robots - Modern robots can respond to emotion and the smell of fine wines. By Sean Markey and Corey S. Powell. Discover Magazine (April 2, 2007). " More than a million industrial robots are now in use, nearly half of them in Japan. ... PackBot’s manufacturer, iRobot, has also sold more than 2 million Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners, with the same environment-sensing technology."

Factories of the Future - Machines that "see" parts on assembly lines, 3-D printers that prototype products in hours -- let's take a look at adaptive manufacturing. Editorial by Fred Hapgood. CIO (January 1, 2007). "[M]achine vision is a real industry. The consultancy Vision Systems International pegs the total value of the North American market at around $1.5 billion."

A Robot in Every Home - The leader of the PC revolution predicts that the next hot field will be robotics. By Bill Gates. Scientific American (January 2007). "How soon will robots become part of our day-to-day lives? According to the International Federation of Robotics, about two million personal robots were in use around the world in 2004, and another seven million will be installed by 2008. In South Korea the Ministry of Information and Communication hopes to put a robot in every home there by 2013. The Japanese Robot Association predicts that by 2025, the personal robot industry will be worth more than $50 billion a year worldwide, compared with about $5 billion today."

Robots take over science contests - More than 30,000 students from five nations competed this year. By Steve Tarter. PJStar.com (December 26, 2006). "Robots aren't just toys found under the tree. They are also at the heart of the fastest-growing science competition in the world. The battle for the best 'bot began in 1992 with 28 teams duking it out in a New Hampshire high school gym. This year, 1,700 teams with more than 30,000 students representing the five countries and for the first time, Peoria, competed. The FIRST Robotic Competition was the brainchild of Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway human transport.

Robots able to walk the walk, but now can they talk the talk? By Wu Jiao. China Daily (October 13, 2006). "Tong Tong is no ordinary baby: 'He' was built by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2005, becoming the country's first humanoid robot. ... The little bundle of technological joy is just one of many objects on show at the ongoing China Robot Expo in Beijing. According to organizers, the country's potential market for robotic application is tipped to reach 9.3 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) in 2010, meaning companies and institutes from home and abroad are rushing to snap up business opportunities."

The Robots Are Coming! By Elizabeth Corcoran. Forbes.com (August 18, 2006). "The market is still small: $6 billion a year for industrial robots, according to the International Federation of Robots.(That doesn't include the software, peripherals and systems needed to support robots. Add those elements in, and the value of the market jumps to $18 billion.) Data on the size of the nascent business of service robots--robots that clean or protect or entertain--are sketchier, but the growth predictions are dizzying: the IFR, in cooperation with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, expects to see 7 million service robots sold by 2008."

Govt to back intelligence robot development. Jiji Press / available from MSN - Mainichi Daily News (August 17, 2006). "Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry plans to begin assisting the development of next-generation intelligence robots in fiscal 2007 with the aim of commercializing them in 2015, Jiji Press learned Thursday. ... In Japan, the market for industrial robots is expected to expand to around 3 trillion yen over the next decade. Against this backdrop, the government acknowledges that intelligence robots constitute one of its core strategies for economic growth."

U.S. Robot Industry Reaches Half Century Mark - Fifty years ago, the United States became the first country to produce industrial robots. Today, these mechanical marvels have marched into many other areas of our lives.By Zlatica Hoke. VOA News (August 4, 2006). "Don Vincent, Executive Vice President of the Robotic Industries Association... says half the robots in the United States are still used in manufacturing, especially in the car industry. They do many of the onerous tasks that humans once had to do, from heavy lifting to painting or welding jobs, often in hot and dusty areas harmful to people. But Joseph Engelberger, the first U.S. industrial robot manufacturer, sees a different future for the electro-mechanical automatons. 'The big opportunity is in service, not in manufacturing,' Says Engelberger. 'In the United States, only 18 percent of the work force is manufacturing. Most people are in service. And what kind of service can you do that makes sense? I believe that personal service is most effective if you help the elderly and infirm.' Engelberger, known as the Father of Robotics, says the United States uses and produces fewer robots than Japan or Europe because it relies on less expensive immigrant labor. According to the latest industry figures, Japan has 329 robots per 10,000 persons in manufacturing, compared to 68 per 10,000 in the United States."

Domestication seen as key to higher earnings. Asahi Shimbun & asahi.com (June 7, 2006). " The government is looking to robotics as a promising market. The current market is estimated at 500 billion yen, primarily industrial robots. ... [T]he government expects the robot market to grow to 1.8 trillion yen in 2010 and 6.2 trillion yen in 2025 as next-generation robots evolve to assist in daily life and in such areas as medicine and welfare."

Robot taught lesson of patience. BBC News (January 10, 2006). "Professor Max Bramer, Chairman of the British Computer Society's Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence (SGAI) said they wanted to use the award, sponsored by Electrolux, to showcase and reward achievement in the field. 'As a group we are committed to fostering achievement, capability and awareness of applied artificial intelligence,' he said. Sales of domestic appliance robots reached 39,000 units in 2003 and are forecast to hit 20 million by 2008."

Study lists top five tech trends. BBC News (October 19, 2005). "Specialised robots, devices for DIY content creation and new TV displays are among the trends to watch in 2006. That is according to the American-based Consumer Electronic Association which has published its view of technologies set to influence in next 12 months. ... A robotic future has long been talked about but so far has failed to deliver anything to match a human's flexibility, mobility and dexterity. But specialised robots are finding their way into homes, with robotic vacuums already doing the cleaning duties in half a million US homes. This trend is set to continue, according to the CEA."

Robotic Rollouts. By Jon Burke. alarm:clock / available from Technology Review (October 12, 2005). "After years of caution, venture capitalists are warming up to robotics companies such as iRobot, Zoom Systems, and InTouch Technologies. Venture capitalists tend to be fairly conservative people -- despite their reputation for risk taking. Consequently, few robot-makers have received venture funding. In fact, it's possible that many VCs put robot business models on a par with time travel and jet-pack transportation. With the announcement of a $115 million IPO by Burlington, MA-based iRobot, though, companies commercializing robot technology are beginning to attract VC attention. ... Zoom Systems, raised $12 million in September.... In health care, venture-backed robotics startup InTouch Technology recently raised $12.1 million...."

EU Commission Urges More Robotics Spending. By Helen Spongenberg. The Associated Press / available from the Casper Star Tribune (October 10, 2005). "Each year, the commission and EU nations combined spend $100 million on robotics research. Japan and Korea spend about the same, while the United States spends up to $500 million per year, according to EU officials."

Europe needs bigger robots push. BBC News (October 7, 2005). "The EU spends about 50 million euros (£34.4 million) a year on research projects which produce prototypes. ... Japan has long had a lead in the robotics industry, but the EU's 25 member states have a 35% share in the global manufacturing of robots. ... Last year, a United Nations annual World Robotics report said that 4.1 million robots would be doing jobs in homes by the end of 2007. ... "

Bot Builders Scramble for Cash. By Michael Grebb. Wired News (September 21, 2005). "With the exception of military and space applications, the United States is falling behind Europe and Asia in robotics research, according to an international study by the World Technology Evaluation Center. ... [George] Bekey said that robotics research funding has been dropping in the United States for at least the last decade, with NSF's funding now at less than $10 million per year. In contrast, he said Japan's government will spend nearly $100 million in 2005." Also see these related articles.

Government vows to build robot industry. JoongAng Daily (June 18, 2005). "The Information and the Commerce ministries said yesterday that they will nurture the nation's robot industry because it has the potential to grow into a 30 trillion won ($29.7 billion) business by 2013. At a workshop in Seoul on artificial intelligence, the ministries predicted that by 2013, Korea will emerge among the top three nations in robot technology, securing 15 percent of the world robot market, with $20 billion in exports."

Robots Dance, Play at World Robot Expo. By Yuri Kageyama. Associated Press / available from The Washington Post (June 9, 2005). "The Japan Robot Association, a trade group, expects the Japanese market for next-generation robots - those being developed now as opposed to industrial robots currently in use - to reach $14 billion by 2010 and more than $37 billion by 2025."

A tiny robot swarm - fiction no longer. By Robert C. Cowen. The Christian Science Monitor (April 7, 2005). "The cartoon superheroes were frustrated. They confronted a menacing robot that quickly repaired any damage they inflicted. It was made up of a swarm of microscopic robots - so-called nanobots - that could change its function and shape at will. Suddenly the swarm became fluid and flowed away. That cartoon scenario may seem entertaining. But the reality is startling. Engineers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration want to pull off a similar trick. They are testing a robot that they hope to shrink to nanobot size and eventually form what NASA calls 'autonomous nanotechnology swarms' (ANTS). The researchers aim to give ANTS enough artificial intelligence to make smart decisions as well as know intuitively when and how to walk and swarm. ... [E]ven though its major payoffs are decades away, nanotechnology already is a big deal. Worldwide government funding of nanotech research reached $3.6 billion last year with some 40 nations joining in, according to National Science Foundation (NSF) figures."

Robots Take Center Stage at World's Fair. By Audrey McAvoy. Associated Press / available from NYNewsday.com (March 25, 2005). "NEDO, which stands for New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, estimates Japan's market for service oriented robots like these will mushroom from to $17 billion in five years from nothing now, Yamamoto said."

Engineering intelligence. The Times of India (December 6, 2004). "It's, however, a known fact that robots are not widely used by Indian companies. Out of about 600 to 700 robots widely in use in our country, most are used in engineering colleges and research-related institutes."

Gidday mate, need a hand? By Anna Saunders. The Dominion Post / Stuff (November 8, 2004). "More than two-thirds of New Zealanders would welcome robots to do chores around the house, according to a study of 750 people, commissioned by Honda. Most people wanted robots to help with housework, many wanted an extra mechanical hand with the washing up and some wanted a robot to mow the lawns."

U.N. Predicts Boom In Robot Labor. By Jonathan Fowler. Associated Press / available from CBS News (October 20, 2004). "The use of robots around the home to mow lawns, vacuum floors and manage other chores is set to surge sevenfold by 2007 as more consumers snap up smart machines, the United Nations said. That boom coincides with record orders for industrial robots, said the U.N.'s annual World Robotics Survey, released Wednesday. ... The report, issued by the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe and the International Federation of Robotics, said that 607,000 automated domestic helpers were in use at the end of 2003, two-thirds of them purchased that year. ... UNECE said household robots could soon edge their industrial counterparts, which have dominated the figures since the U.N. body first began counting in 1990. ... Japan still remains the most robotized economy, home to around half the current 800,000 industrial robots. ... Taking the global average, a robot sold in 2003 cost a quarter of what a robot with the same performance cost in 1990, the study found. ... The term 'robot' covers any machine that operates automatically to perform tasks in a human-like way, often replacing the human workers who did the job previously. In most cases, robots move under their own propulsion and do not need to be controlled by a human operator after they have been programmed. ... By the end of the decade, the study said, robots will 'not only clean our floors, mow our lawns and guard our homes but also assist old and handicapped people with sophisticated interactive equipment, carry out surgery, inspect pipes and sites that are hazardous to people, fight fire and bombs.'"

• Also see: Robots set to get homely by 2007. BBC News (October 22, 2004).

The Human Element - Robots, Robots Everywhere. One-task robots are already here, and the race is on to come up with "substitute humans." Eric Butterfield, PC World (August 3, 2004). "The demand for helpful household robots is booming. Dan Kara, president of Robotics Trends, estimates that 4 million personal robots will be sold in 2006. ... The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe predicts that more than 2.1 million robots for personal use will be sold from 2003 to 2006. So far, people have bought more than 500,000 Roomba robotic vacuum cleaners from IRobot.... Sales of robots that provide entertainment are expected to grow dramatically, from 545,000 in 2002 to 1.5 million in 2006, according to the U.N. study."

Face of the future? Some scientists think robots will do domestic tasks and be as common as TVs. By Robin McKie and David Smith. The Observer (July 18, 2004). "Among those who enthusiastically endorse the imminence of the robot age is the industry analyst, Future Horizons, which has noted that applications currently under discussion include the development of baby robots for mother training, robots for house cleaning, support for the old, disaster rescue, fast-food serving staff, nursing, opponents in board games, security, and window cleaning. The report predicts that total robot revenue will grow from $4.4 billion (£2.3bn) in 2003 to $59.3bn in 2010. ... Household chores are the domain of domestic appliance robots such as self-navigating lawnmowers or vacuum cleaners. Sales reached 39,000 units in 2003 and are forecast to hit 20 million by 2008."

Attack of the killer vacuum cleaners. By Charles Arthur. The Belfast Telegraph Digital (July 14, 2004). "Things are about to happen with robots, because the element they need to make them truly useful - the software, which needs to be able to adapt to a wide range of situations - is getting cheaper all the time. Future Horizons, a semiconductor analyst based in Kent, forecasts that by 2010 there will be 55.5 million robots, in a world market worth £30bn - up from £2.4bn last year. 'The electronics industry is on the cusp of a robotics wave, a period in which applications are aimed at labour-saving and extending human skills,' it reports. Of those, it says that 39 million will be domestic robots, and 10.5 million 'domestic intelligent service' robots. That is because there's a growing need for robots to help the elderly and handicapped."

Courier robots get traction in hospitals after fits and starts. By Mike Crissey. Associated Press / available from USA Today (July 6, 2004)."[H]ospitals could soon turn to self-guided robots to counteract financial and staffing shortages. According to a May report from the American Hospital Association, 110,000 nursing jobs went unfilled as of January and a third of the nation's hospitals lost money. A 2000 study by Manuel Rosetti, an assistant professor of engineering at the University of Arkansas, found that the University of Virginia Hospital could save as much as $218,000 a year if it replaced 15 human couriers with six HelpMate robots, which would pay for themselves in little over three years."

Smart systems will erase jobs, report warns. CNET News (June 25, 2004). "This wave of job losses will follow the elimination of as many as 10 million jobs involving physical labor and repetitive activities that were wiped out in the last 10 years as machines began to replace humans, the [Strategy Analytics] report noted. During the same period, there was a cumulative investment of $100 billion in robotics and supporting systems. Today, nearly 1 million robots are in operation in manufacturing and service sectors globally. In the United States alone, there was an erosion of 50 percent blue-collar jobs due to automation, robotics and information technology between 1969 and 1999."

S Korean robots narrow gap with competition. Asia Times Online (June 3, 2004). "Keenly aware of the enormous economic potential of robotics, the South Korean government has recently designated robotics as one of the nation's most promising next-generation industrial fields. Indeed, it has announced a plan to spend 1.8 trillion won (US$1.55 billion) from the state coffers and will induce the private sector to invest another 1.7 trillion won on research and development in intelligent robotics and nine other strategic growth products over the next five years."

Golden age gadgets - We're still a long way from Isaac Asimov's sci-fi worlds peopled by robots of every description, but numerous robotic devices are now being marketed to serve our aging human population. By Sarah Staples. CanWest News Service / available from The Montreal Gazette (May 26, 2004). "But elder care is another important niche, according to Paul Johnston, chairperson of the International Federation of Robotics and a vice-president of the Ottawa-based industry association Precarn Inc. 'People don't want to move out of their own home and into a care facility, so they're going to consider relying on robots to help manage all the little tasks of keeping a home,' he says. Personal robots are becoming robust, efficient and relatively cheap, fueling projections of a tenfold leap in sales by 2007, to at least 638,000 units, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe."

When it comes to robots, Japan has leg up on rivals. The Asahi Shimbun (May 25, 2004). "According to the Patent Office, the number of applications worldwide for robot technologies between 1990 and 1999 by Japanese firms, including those for industrial use, totaled 14,500. That far exceeds the 1,900 of Europe and the 1,000 of the United States. Still, an official at the Japan Robot Association acknowledges that software programs used in robots are led by U.S. players. The software gives the robots communication ability and artificial intelligence."

North American Robot Orders Jump 17% in First Quarter of 2004 - Fastest Start Since 1999. Robotics Online (May 4, 2004). "A total of 4,101 robots valued at $226.5 million were ordered by North American manufacturing companies in the opening quarter. The revenue figure is three percent higher than in the first quarter of 2003. When sales to companies outside North America are added in, the totals are 4,372 robots valued at $245.8 million, for gains of 20% in units and six percent in revenue. ... RIA estimates that some 137,000 robots are now at work in U.S. factories, placing the United States second to Japan in robot use."

Doing it with robots. By Christopher Sell. The Engineer / e4engineering.com (April 29, 2004). "Advances in robotics technology - such as machine vision, control systems and greater flexibility - means that robots are becoming more effective at improving a diverse range of manufacturing processes. They are also getting cheaper. ... According to BARA (the British Automation and Robot Association) approximately 850 robots were installed in the UK in 2003, up from 700 in 2002. While the automotive industry has traditionally represented the largest chunk of the market, cheaper, more powerful, flexible and more controllable robots from companies such as ABB, Comau, SIG and Staubli have enabled manufacturers who are not normally associated with robotics and automation, to take advantage of what the technology offers."

Seniors Need Robots And New Technology To Help At Home. By Ellen Beck. United Press International / available from SpaceDaily (April 27, 2004). "Elder advocates from academia and industry urged Congress on Tuesday to fund research and nudge reluctant companies to re-imagine existing technologies to help seniors live high-quality, independent lives. ... [Joseph] Coughlin said assistive technology is crucial for baby boomers who are searching for solutions to help them care for aging parents. There is a $29-billion-a-year loss in productivity to business and industry because of time away from the job needed by workers to care for aging parents, he said."

Robotics gains in prestige, in part due to military conflicts. By Charles Sheehan. Associated Press / available from USA Today (April 8, 2004). "The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University has seen federal funding jump 48% since 2000, and by 117% since 1994. ... Other universities, such as the California, Virginia and Georgia institutes of technology, say funding for robotics is up at least 50% or more in recent years. ... The Pentagon, which spent $3 billion on unmanned aerial vehicles between 1991 and 1999, is expected to spend upward of $10 billion through 2010."

The gentle rise of the machines. Robotics - The science-fiction dream that robots would one day become a part of everyday life was absurd. Or was it? The Economist Technology Quarterly (March 11, 2004). "There are now about 800,000 industrial robots around the world, and orders for new robots in the first half of 2003 were up a record 26% from the same period in 2002, according to the UNECE. ... Industrial robotics is a $5.6 billion industry, growing by around 7% a year. But the UNECE report predicts that the biggest growth over the next three years will be in domestic rather than industrial robots."

Invasion of the Robots - From medicine to military, machines finally arrive. By Michael Kanellos. CNET News.com (March 10, 2004). In all, North American robotics manufacturers ship about $1 billion worth of products a year, according to Robotic Industries Association spokesman Jeff Burnstein. Other statistics show that the international market approaches $5 billion. ... The market for personal and mobile robots could grow to $5.4 billion this year and become larger than the industrial, nonmobile robot market, according to Dan Kara, president of Robotics Trends, which holds conferences and promotes the industry. By 2010, that figure will approach $17 billion, Kara said."

Japan Seeks Robotic Help in Caring for the Aged. By James Brooke. The New York Times (March 5, 2004; no fee reg. req'd.). "Then there is the Wakamaru, a mobile, three-foot-high speaking robot equipped with two camera eyes. It is used largely by working people to keep an eye on their elderly parents at home. These devices and others in the works will push Japanese sales of domestic robots to $14 billion in 2010 and $40 billion in 2025 from nearly $4 billion currently, according to the Japan Robot Association."

Looking technology in the eye - Researchers are designing robots with more human characteristics, like skin and moving eyes. By Lori Valigra. The Christian Science Monitor (February 5, 2004). "In a decade or so, people may not have to tidy their house, clean up after the dog, or even nag their spouse to do chores. A friendly, human-like robot will take care of routine tasks, and it won't whine or fight back. If technologists' predictions bear out, this second coming of robots could be more pervasive than the first in the '60s, when industrial robots revolutionized manufacturing. ... Advances in robotics will be driven by potential applications, researchers say. To date, most applications have been in industry, with about 770,000 robots working worldwide now, almost half of them in Japan, according to the World Robotics 2003 report by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). But sales of service robots for personal and private use are expected to almost quadruple over the next few years. By the end of 2002, sales of automated assistants, which include those for autonomous lawn-mowing and vacuum-cleaning devices like iRobot Corp.'s Roomba, topped 600,000, according to UNECE. The UN group predicts that 2.1 million service robots will be sold from 2003 through 2006 and that they will increasingly become everyday tools for mankind." Also see the two related articles.

Home invasion fuels robot explosion. By Matthew Clark. ElectricNews.net (October 21, 2003). "According to a new report from the UN Economic Commission for Europe and the International Federation of Robotics, 80,000 robots were sold globally between January and June. 'These figures indicate that a strong recovery is in sight,' the report said, noting that the global robot market contracted by 12 percent last year. ...In 2002, sales of 'domestic robots,' which mainly include automated lawnmowers and vacuum cleaners, jumped to 33,000 from 20,000 the year before. By 2006, there will be as many as 400,000 vacuum-cleaning robots in service globally and 125,000 smart lawnmowers. In terms of entertainment, sales of robotic toys, like Sony's AIBO dog, should reach 1.5 million by 2006, or almost three times the current 550,000 level."

Household robots are starting to take off. UNECE issues its 2003 World Robotics survey. Press release released by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe on October 21, 2003.

Farewell lawnmower... hello robot. BBC (October 21, 2003). "More and more people are turning to robots to do their household chores, such as mowing lawns and vacuuming carpets, according to a survey. Demand for robots jumped by a unprecedented 26% in the first half of 2003 from a year ago, said the annual World Robotics Survey released on Tuesday. While industrial robots continue to dominate the market, sales in domestic robots saw the biggest rises."

Fledgling robot industry aims to fly high. By Kim Hyun-chul. The Korea Herald (September 29, 2003). "Will the day really come when 'intelligent' robots take over mundane household chores and give people more leisure time? ... There is no definition yet of the intelligent service robot. But according to the preliminary definition by the International Federation of Robotics, an industry group concerned with commercial robots, it is 'a robot which operates semi or fully autonomously to perform services useful to the well-being of humans and equipment, excluding manufacturing operations.' ... According to the International Federation of Robotics the global market for intelligent service robots is expected to grow to $2.2 billion in 2005 from $400 million this year. By 2010, the market is forecast to reach $24.3 billion worldwide, according to the organization. The Japan Machinery Federation predicts the market will expand to $20 billion in 2010, while Korea's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy estimates it at $70 billion."

At your robotic service. By Vincent Blake. Australian IT (September 2, 2003). "Robots are pervasive in industry. The International Federation of Robotics website says there were at least 757,000 industrial robots on the go at the end of 2001. That figure assumes the robots have a working life of 12 years. ... IFR predicts the world market for industrial robots will rise from 78,000 units installed in 2001 to just over 104,000 in 2005 -- an annual growth of 7.5 per cent. It predicts a total of at least 965,000 by the end of 2005, with a lot of the growth coming from Europe."

Weedkilling robots slash herbicide use. By Duncan Graham-Rowe. New Scientist Magazine (June 7, 2003; page 16). "Robots make unlikely green warriors, but they could soon be doing their bit for the environment. Trials of a Danish robot that maps the position of weeds growing among crops suggest that herbicide use could be slashed by 70 per cent if farmers used it to adopt more selective spraying techniques."

Convention envisions a more robotic future. By John Keilman. Chicago Tribune (June 5, 2003; no fee reg. req'd.). "[Colin] Angle added that in his experience, people are not reluctant to bond with a robot. More than 60 percent of the people who have bought his company's automated vacuum cleaners have given them names, he said."

Dairy robotics could be popular in U.S. By Mark Fode. Pipestone County Star (March 26, 2003). "Dairy farmers who have traditionally been tied to the farm where their cows are located will apparently have help on the way in the form of robotics. ... Since development of the product, about 1,200 robotic dairies exist worldwide, many in Canada."

Hearts and minds. The Nation (January 29, 2003). "According to the Japan Robot Association, the market for industrial robots was worth 400 billion yen (Bt155 billion) in 2001. If its predictions are sound and robots are bought by more households, then the domestic market will expand to three trillion yen in 2010 and eight trillion yen in 2025. 'Just as almost every household has a computer, we’re assuming every household will have a robot,' an official of the association says. This year will be 'the year of the robot', says Kenji Kimura, president of the Business Design Laboratory in Nagoya, which is planning to launch the world’s first robot 'that can communicate with people by recognising their feelings'."

Robots on drugs. By Bill Lewis. The Tennessean (November 12, 2002). "Called Robot-RX, the computerized system fills prescriptions with a minimum of human involvement. And, while one study of hospitals and skilled nursing facilities found that one in five doses of medicines was given in error, the robot is said to be 99.97% accurate. ... Preparing a dose of a medicine by hand costs 15 cents, on average. Robot-RX's cost is 5 cents. ... That frees pharmacists to do more of the things they went to graduate school for, such as interacting with nurses and doctors and becoming more involved in patient care, [Alfred A. Del Gandio Jr.] said."

World Robotics Survey - some of the articles from October 2002 about the latest survey. Statistics galore!

A Solution to Flight Risk - The military gives a starring role to unmanned aircraft. By Kevin Peraino. Newsweek.MSNBC (September 23, 2002 issue date). "[R]esearch on all types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) - from reconnaissance drones that fly at 65,000 feet to low-flying, fully armed fighters - is one of the industry's bright spots. Consulting firm Frost &Sullivan estimates that the U.S. military market for UAVs will reach almost $1 billion by 2007, up 25 percent from today."

Robotics industry will walk the talk. By Hiroaki Kitano. EE Times (September 12, 2002). "The potential for a robotics industry is very big. But I'd like to stress that it is the 'robot technology' industry, or RT, industry. Just as the IT industry is not limited to PCs, the RT industry would encompass all robotics related technologies. For example, a surveillance camera that can automatically track suspicious persons will incorporate perception and mobile components. On that basis, the robotic industry will be a major industry - comparable, perhaps, to the automobile industry."

Robots Revolution: The arrival of robots at General Motors Corp. in 1961 brought the promise of flexible automation. Today's advances in research offer robots the chance to reach their full industrial potential. By John Teresko. Industry Week (September 1, 2002). "About 800,000 robots populate global manufacturing with almost half working in Japan. About 121,000 industrial robots work in the U.S., says Donald A. Vincent, executive vice president, Robotic Industries Association, Ann Arbor, Mich. ...

The robots are coming - Within five years, the boundary between humans and artificial creatures will begin to blur. By David Stonehouse. Vancouver Sun June 29, 2002) ."The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe is predicting something close to an invasion of domestic robots. In statistics released last year, it forecasted that there will be as many as 290,000 household 'bots purchased around the world by 2003 -- nearly 10 times the number found in homes in 1999."

Robots bring dubious cheer to the lonely elderly. By Graeme Kerr. Asahi Shimbun (April 23, 2002). " While sales of pet robots are still small, the Japan Robot Association predicts that the market will grow to 1.5 trillion yen in 2010 and 4 trillion yen in 2025. And with the number of people aged 65 or over in Japan set to rise from 22 million to 30 million by 2005, or a quarter of the population, firms like Matsushita, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Secom Co. are feverishly working on robotic aids to care for the graying population. "

Japanese researchers labour to spawn robot industry. By Masayuki Kitano. Reuters / available from Yahoo India Technology (April 2, 2002). "That is one goal of the Japanese government's five billion yen ($37.7 million) Humanoid Robotics Project (HRP), which aims to market within a few years robots that can operate power shovels, assist construction workers and care for the elderly. ... The Japan Robot Association, an industry body, estimates that the robot industry could grow to 3.0 trillion yen ($22.61 billion) by 2010. The figure has hovered around 500 billion yen for the past few years."

Robots gain virtual sight via software - Carmakers could save down time. By Jeff Bennett. Detroit Free Press (March 6, 2002). "The Automated Imaging Association predicts that machines sold with vision capabilities will become a $5-billion industry by the end of this year. In 1999 it was a $1.68-billion industry."

Surgery In The 21st Century. By Vivian Woo. Forbes.com (February 1, 2002). "While still not the norm, minimally invasive surgical (MIS) techniques combining robotics, artificial intelligence and other technologies are beginning to replace traditional surgery. 'Right now, the penetration of robotics used in MIS is 2%. In three to five years, it could be 10%,' says Jan David Wald, vice president of securities research at AG Edwards & Sons."

Wireless Robots Work Under a Microscope. By Lou Hirsh. Wireless NewsFactor (January 22, 2002). "[Sylvain] Martel noted that when most people think of factory robots, they probably have in mind the kind used on car-manufacturing assembly lines. But most robots employed today are performing minuscule tasks behind the scenes in other industries. 'Indeed, the largest consumer of robots is no longer the automobile industry, but rather the biotechnology industry and the pharmaceutical companies,' said Martel, who heads a team working on the NanoWalkers at MIT's BioInstrumentation Laboratory."

Robot Installations for the Year 2000</a> (w/chart). The Economist (Nov 29th 2001). "Investment in robots worldwide increased markedly last year, with almost 100,000 new units installed, raising the total stock of robots to 750,000 at the end of 2000.&quot

Japanese researchers focus on creating humanoid robots. By Byron Spice. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. (June 18, 2001) " Japanese industry and academia have embraced the concept of humanoid robots. Japan is now halfway through a five-year, $50 million plan launched by its Ministry of International Trade and Industry to develop general purpose humanoid robots."

Robots: Helpers or replacements? By Laura Lorek. Interactive Week/ZDNet. (May 1, 2001) "ActivMedia projects more than 3,500 percent growth in the number of robots produced and 2,500 percent growth in the dollars spent on robot development worldwide in the next five years. Mobile robot sales are expected to soar from $665 million in 2000 to more than $17 billion by 2005."

The Robot Population is Growing. One of the several sidebars offered with the article: Robots - They're beginning to walk, talk, and, yes, think like people. Is the age of the robo sapien just around the corner? By Irene M. Kunii and Otis Port. Business Week Online (March 19, 2001)

Robots Evolving, Population Booming. By Emil Venere. 2kJournal.com. "The population of robots nearly doubled over the last decade in North America alone, and they are becoming increasingly important in applications ranging from quality control to space exploration, surgery to the service industry. So says the most recent edition of the 'Handbook of Industrial Robotics,' complete with a forward by late science fiction writer Isaac Asimov and contributions from 120 experts, some of them giants in research and industry. The term 'industrial robots' refers to all robots manufactured by industry, not simply robots used in industry." When you access the article you'll also find additional facts as well as links to related resources.

E-Commerce, Marketing & Customer Relations:

Data miners dig a little deeper - Companies may know a lot more about you than you think - or want. By Michelle Kessler and Byron Acohido. USA Today (July 12, 2006; also available here). "The flood of new information is helping spawn a sister industry: data-mining software. These powerful programs sort through massive databases, looking for patterns that would take a human years to spot. Sales of data-crunching software have jumped more than 30% since 2000 and are expected to keep growing, says tech analyst Dan Vesset with researcher IDC. 'Most large companies are doing it in one area or another,' says tech analyst Gareth Herschel with researcher Gartner."

All human life is indexed on the web - Search engines are changing the face of business forever. By Tony Glover. The Business Online (October 9, 2005). "According to Battelle, search is the fastest growing business in the history of media. From its inception in the late 1990s to 2004, it grew as an industry from a base in the low millions to $4bn (£2.28bn, E3.32bn) in revenues. According to researcher Piper Jaffray, it is estimated to hit $23bn by 2010."

This week in search. By Steven Musil. CNET News.com (February 25, 2005). "Paid search is expected to grow faster than any other sector of online advertising, increasing from $2.6 billion in 2004 to $5.5 billion in 2009, according to a new study. In addition, the search market is expected to become more specialized, as search focuses more on specific categories, according to JupiterResearch. Specialized search in four categories--retail, financial services, media and entertainment, and travel--accounted for 79 percent of the paid search market in 2004, Jupiter said."

Ernestine, Meet Julie - Natural language speech recognition is markedly improving voice-activated self-service. By Karen Bannan. CFO Magazine (January 1, 2005). "A new technology, called natural language speech recognition, is markedly improving voice-activated self-service. Powered by artificial intelligence, these speech-recognition systems are altering consumer perceptions about phone self-service, as calls for help no longer elicit calls for help. That, in turn, is spurring renewed corporate interest in the concept of phone self-service. In 2004, sales of voice self-service systems topped $1.2 billion. 'We've seen voice systems move from emerging technology to applied technology over the last few years,' says Steve Cramoysan, principal analyst at Stamford, Connecticut-based research firm Gartner. 'It's still fairly immature. But it's proven and moving toward the mainstream.'"

Your Train Will Be Late, She Says Cheerily. By Ian Urbina. The New York Times (November 24, 2004; subscription req'd.). "Many riders say that she sounds and acts so lifelike that they did not immediately realize that she was just a computer program. In handling roughly five million calls, or about a quarter of Amtrak's annual call volume Julie has saved the perennially strained railroad more than $13 million that it would have cost for humans to handle calls. Amtrak officials would not say how much Julie cost."

The Lean, Green Service Machine. By Narayan Nallicheri, T. Curt Bailey, and J. Scott Cade. strategy+business Resilience Report (November 2004). "Many companies prefer not to talk about service. But Dell Inc. does, and it has been rewarded for doing so: In 1998, the leading PC maker began investing in a customer service initiative that uses artificial intelligence (AI) software to automatically provide its telephone-based service agents a series of increasingly 'educated' and specific responses to give to customers who are having problems with their computers. Gone is the frustrating interaction in which the first question the agent posed was the inscrutable 'Have you tried reloading Windows?' Instead, agents are ready to ask relevant troubleshooting questions that quickly address and resolve almost any problem. Dell’s returns from this AI system have been impressive: Today, 90 percent of customer issues can be handled in one phone call, and costly product returns from dissatisfied customers have declined. This service network contributed to a Dell cost-cutting campaign that reduced overall operating expenses by $1 billion between 1998 and 2003. Even though more complicated repairs are now being handled on the phone, average call times have been trimmed by 8 percent. ... Dell’s AI-based customer service system shows how a successful service strategy can similarly be built on speed and quality. The effectiveness of the system is predicated on Dell’s using the information culled from service calls to manufacture better products, which, in turn, should lead to fewer calls (lower service costs) and more satisfied customers (higher revenue)."

A Voice With Personality, Just Trying to Help. By Katie Hafner. The New York Times (September 9, 2004; no fee reg. req'd.). "She's adventurous and well educated, friendly but not cloying, and always there to take your call. Meet Emily, the automated agent that answers customer-service calls for Bell Canada. ... Belinda Banks, a senior associate director of customer care at Bell Canada, pointed to a rise in customer satisfaction since Emily's arrival, but acknowledged that it had more to do with relief at not having to enter touch-tone commands. 'We've noticed an increase in the number of customers willing to interact with the speech system versus the touch-tone system,' Ms. Banks said. Bell Canada says it has saved $3.3 million in labor costs in 2003 incurred simply from finding the right place to send a call, and another $1.9 million because of the increase in self-service. It is so encouraged that it is rolling out a more advanced version."

Coming soon - Robo-greeter. Automation has slashed factory jobs and is streamlining services and high-tech - but at what cost? By Gregory M. Lamb. The Christian Science Monitor (August 30, 2004). "'Smart systems,' computers that can do relatively routine tasks well, are beginning to gobble up jobs ranging from check-out clerks at Home Depot to airline ticket agents and hotel desk clerks - even to insurance underwriters and software customer support staff. ... So far, though, automation doesn't appear to have had a deep impact on job loss. For example, despite its airline kiosks and a tough travel economy, Continental says it has seen only a 4 percent decrease in ticket agents since 9/11. Kinetics is also running a pilot program at 55 McDonald's restaurants, where customers can order food at kiosks. Some restaurants have actually had to increase employment in the kitchen because of the faster customer turnover out front, says Jim Brown, a spokesman for Kinetics in Lake Mary, Fla."

Speech Industry Making Minor, Steady Gains. By Matt Hicks. eWeek News (September 30, 2003). "This year's SpeechTEK comes as analysts predict a rebound in the speech recognition market. Gartner Dataquest predicts that after declining in 2002, the market will grow worldwide from about $130 million in revenue this year to $258 million in 2007. Use in call centers and in business portals will account for 76 percent of all speech recognition product shipments, according to Gartner."

Computers That Speak Your Language - Voice recognition that finally holds up its end of a conversation is revolutionizing customer service. Now the goal is to make natural language the way to find any type of information, anywhere. By Wade Roush. Technology Review (June 2003). "Such improvements have set up natural-language systems for explosive growth: 43 percent of North American companies have either purchased interactive voice response software for their call centers or are conducting pilot studies, according to Forrester Research, a technology analysis firm. As more companies replace their old touch-tone phone menus, today’s $500 million market for telephone-based speech applications will grow -- reaching $3.5 billion by 2007, according to Steve McClure, a vice president in the software research group at market analysis firm IDC."

Voice of experience - The automated telephone 'personas' that listen and respond to callers have detailed life stories. By Joellen Perry. U.S. News & World Report (May 12, 2003). "The humanoid touch. Jenni and others like her lend a human voice to the computerized speech recognition systems that are taking the place of call-center attendants and touch-tone menus. Using these unflappable, efficient, and entirely fictional 'personas' to handle customer calls yields real savings for companies: It costs $5, on average, to have a human field a call. Personas can whittle that by at least half."

Web companies searching for dollars. By Stefanie Olsen. CNET News (March 5, 2003). "The momentum behind online search activities has a significant financial component. Overture's chief technology officer, Paul Ryan, in his own keynote address on Tuesday, estimated that in the next couple of years, sales from search engine marketing will hit about $6 billion--just shy of the total worth of the online advertising market in 2002."

PCs and Speech - A Rocky Marriage: Dictation efforts faltered, but other applications have fans. By Faith Keenan. BusinessWeek (September 9, 2002). "They're particularly excited about environments such as call centers, where consumers dangle on help lines and navigate maddening touch-tone menus. Already, in some locations, these have been replaced by friendly, human-sounding responders that seem to understand natural speech and can deliver on request everything from bank balances to weather forecasts and travel itineraries. ... Researcher Frost & Sullivan puts the call-center market for such voice programs at $114 million in 2001."

How to Get There? It Counts the Ways. By Sarah Milstein. The New York Times (April 21, 2002 / no-fee reg. req'd). Forrester Research estimates that consumers bought $9.1 billion of leisure air travel tickets online in 2001, or 10 percent of total passenger revenue for the year. The company projects $13.2 billion in online sales for 2002, growing to 14 percent of total passenger revenue, and $16.2 billion in sales for 2003, or 16.5 percent of the total."

Talking tech makes life easier. By Jane Wakefield. BBC (April 20, 2002). "When the Boston Medical Centre replaced its automated service with a voice-activated one, 90% of its customers said they preferred it. One man was so keen on the almost-human voice he wanted to take it out to dinner. ... According to analyst firm Datamonitor, speech recognition software will be worth $1 billion by 2006."

'Web bots' give brands human-like face online. By Greg Wright. Gannett News Service / available from USA Today (February 19, 2002). "Customer service software and systems that use artificial intelligence have been around just a few years but demand is growing, said Esteban Kolsky, a Gartner Group analyst in Stamford, Conn. Companies could spend $1 billion to buy virtual customer assistant software from companies such as Banter, NativeMinds and Kanisa in 2005, up from $100 million in 2001, Kolsky said. ... 'I've talked to a couple of customers' who have used virtual assistants, Kolsky said. 'Forty to 50% think they're talking to a live person.'"

Just talk to me. The Economist Technology Quarterly (December 6, 2001). "Speech recognition: At long last, speech is becoming an important interface between man and machine. In the process, it is helping to slash costs in business, create new services on the Internet, and make cars a lot safer and easier to drive. ... Charles Schwab, an American discount stockbroker, introduced the first speech system for retail broking in 1996. That year, the number of new accounts with the company increased by 41%, and its call-centres took 97m calls. The new system was installed by a leading speech-recognition supplier, Nuance of Menlo Park, California. At Schwab, the automated attendant can understand 15,000 names of individual equities and funds; takes up to 100,000 calls a day; and is 93% accurate in identifying queries the first time they are made. Customers get immediate access to quotes and trading, even during busy periods. Costs have been cut from $4-5 per call to $1."

Friendly Faces Await E-Shoppers. By Susan Karlin. Reuters. Available from Yahoo! News. (May 16, 2001) "With 80 percent of potential e-shoppers jumping ship at the check-out counter, dot-coms are desperate to find a way to get them to buy."

Speedier, Smarter, More Selective Searches - Improved technology promises to help e-consumers find what they're looking for -- even lead them to stuff they didn't know about. By Olga Kharif. Business Week Online. (May 14, 2001) "According to e-business consultancy ActivMedia, online shopping should double from $56 billion last year to $112 billion this year."