Autonomous Systems and AI

Automation always adds new elements of risk in application.   So IT groups have to start thinking differently when autonomous systems are  built and implemented. 

How Autonomous Systems are Impacting IT in Informationweek

Automation isn't new to IT, but autonomous systems are, which is why IT leaders and professionals have to think about the value they're delivering, again.

More tasks in organizations are being automated these days, including in IT. Automation and autonomous systems aren't synonymous, though. Autonomous systems are a subset of automation, but people tend to confuse the terms. Understanding the impact of autonomous systems on the IT group first requires a clear understanding of what those systems are.

For example, the Oracle Autonomous Database is just one product that could disrupt at least part of IT's status quo because it does three things autonomously: self-management, self-security, and self-repair. Collectively, those things reduce the need for IT to apply patches, managing databases and infrastructure so DBAs and others who used to perform such tasks have more time to improve data models, work with developers to improve database access, drive more value from data, etc. (For the purposes of full disclosure, this author does some work with Oracle).

For example, the big selling point for any type of automation is eliminating or minimizing human error. A lot of IT automation is happening in the cloud today, so the general cloud benefits apply: manual management is minimal, cloud provides higher reliability than in-house data centers, operational efficiency improves and, usually, total cost of ownership (TCO) is lower. Cloud can also provide better security than on-premises equivalents, albeit not inherently as part of a basic service.

What differentiates autonomous systems from more traditional forms of automation is machine learning. However, PwC New Services and Emerging Technology Leader for China, Japan and the U.S. Scott Likens said in an interview that most people still think of autonomous systems as business-rule programmable.

Understanding the spectrum of automation is wise because marketers will use the terms "automation" and "autonomous systems" interchangeably either intentionally or by mistake. It's therefore important to validate and verify vendors' claims to truly understand the potential impact of their products on IT. Responsible consultants do that, and it's one reason why enterprises hire them to help with automation initiatives or other initiatives involving automation. .....  "

Robo-Ants from Switzerland

Yet more smaller robotics, with claim of some ability to work together.   Note in particular the integration of sensor and autonomous capabilities..

Robot Ants Robot-Ants Can Jump, Communicate, and Work Together
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
By Laure-Anne Pessina

Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have developed robots inspired by ants that can communicate with each other, assign roles among themselves, and complete complex tasks together. The robots can jump and crawl to explore uneven surfaces, and can quickly detect and overcome obstacles much larger and heavier than themselves. The Tribots are completely autonomous and untethered, and are equipped with infrared and proximity sensors for detection and communications purposes. Said EPFL researcher Jamie Paik, "With their unique collective intelligence, our tiny robots can demonstrate better adaptability to unknown environments; therefore, for certain missions, they would outperform larger, more powerful robots." ... ' 

Autonomous Trucks in Logistics Centers

Makes lots of sense to experiment with this kind of approach where you have the most control.

Autonomous Trucks for Logistics Centers
By Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft 

The Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems IVI (Fraunhofer IVI) in Germany is collaborating with industry to develop autonomous truck technologies for logistics centers.

The core of the AutoTruck project is the HelyOS "highly efficient online yard operating system," which can be operated via Internet browser. The system displays trucks on a digital map, enabling operators to not only view where individual vehicles are, but also to track them and acquire status information, and transmit missions and work orders to them using the TruckTrix live maneuver planning system.

TruckTrix calculates the trajectory along which the truck is to travel, accounting for vehicle geometry, fixed obstacles, and routes of other driverless vehicles. The calculated paths are sent to the trucks, which are guided by algorithms controlling each vehicle's speed and direction. ... " 

Automating Big Data Analysis

Automating big-data analysis

With new algorithms, data scientists could accomplish in days what has traditionally taken months.
Larry Hardesty | MIT News Office

Last year, MIT researchers presented a system that automated a crucial step in big-data analysis: the selection of a “feature set,” or aspects of the data that are useful for making predictions. The researchers entered the system in several data science contests, where it outperformed most of the human competitors and took only hours instead of months to perform its analyses.

This week, in a pair of papers at the IEEE International Conference on Data Science and Advanced Analytics, the team described an approach to automating most of the rest of the process of big-data analysis — the preparation of the data for analysis and even the specification of problems that the analysis might be able to solve.

The researchers believe that, again, their systems could perform in days tasks that used to take data scientists months.

“The goal of all this is to present the interesting stuff to the data scientists so that they can more quickly address all these new data sets that are coming in,” says Max Kanter MEng ’15, who is first author on last year’s paper and one of this year’s papers. “[Data scientists want to know], ‘Why don’t you show me the top 10 things that I can do the best, and then I’ll dig down into those?’ So [these methods are] shrinking the time between getting a data set and actually producing value out of it.” ...  '

Autonomic Platforms Evolving

I had not used this precise tag 'Autonomic'  before, but it is understandable:  How do you fully or partially automate systems that support business process?  The definition is broad.  And to be clear has been around for a long time.  Notably in process control.

Need to now link these systems to current architectures and systems, and to people who are still making decisions.  Cognitive systems, AI, Machine learning, Predictive Algorithms ... have all evolved to the point this will lead to more autonomy.  Topic often mentioned in this blog.

Good Overview from Deloitte-WSJ:

Autonomics Shake Up IT Systems Management
IT organizations are increasingly pursuing self-managing autonomic platforms, which can detect and fix their own problems without human intervention.

Autonomic computing platforms, which are IT systems capable of configuring, optimizing, and even healing themselves, could free up IT staffers to focus on more valuable activities and help relieve strain on IT budgets. Many traditional IT operations are candidates for autonomics, including those that are workflow-driven, repetitive, or require reconciliation between systems. CIOs overseeing large, complex IT operations stand to benefit enormously from these burgeoning systems, says George Collins, CTO at Deloitte Digital.

“Autonomic platforms have arisen from a confluence of advancements in technology, from virtualization to containerization, more intelligent configuration management, and a more agile manner of delivering technology environments,” Collins says. “Autonomic platforms allow us to shift attention away from building the scaffolding of IT to creating a more repeatable way of packaging, delivering, and managing IT.”  .... "