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The Robot and Automation Almanac - 2021: The Futurist Institute
Edited by Jason Schenker, Chairman of The Futurist Institute
The Future Isn't Coming—It's Already Here.
The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t just disrupt supply chains, workforces, and economies—it accelerated the future. In this critically acclaimed fourth volume of The Robot and Automation Almanac, over 20 futurists, technologists, economists, engineers, and thought leaders forecast the trends, technologies, and transformations reshaping our world in real time.
From the warehouses and hospitals of today to the digitally driven workplaces of tomorrow, this almanac explores how robotics, AI, automation, and remote technologies are being deployed to drive resilience, efficiency, and growth across every sector of the economy.
🔍 Inside, you'll Post-COVID Automation Strategy: How robots are solving supply chain and labor challenges
AI in Real Life: From predictive logistics to intelligent healthcare and education
The Rise of Collaborative Robots: Human-robot teams in manufacturing and logistics
Work From Home 2.0: Remote work, project management, and the war for talent
Hospitality + Hygiene: Cleaning bots and autonomous tech reimagining guest experiences
3D Construction Printing: The future of building, one layer at a time
The Case for Safety and Standards: How to deploy tech without increasing risk
With contributions from experts at Microsoft, the U.S. Air Force, MIT, Hyster, MHI, Murata Machinery, and other innovation leaders, this almanac is your go-to guide for navigating the ongoing shift from the information age to the automation age.
📘 A must-read for executives, innovators, investors, engineers, and futurists—this is where the future unfolds.
Aside from Jason Schenker, contributors to the 2021 almanac include Michael Walton, Kevin Paramore, Brandon Coats, Chris Lingamfelter, Djamila Amimer, Kyle Palko, Ragu Athinarayanan, Xiumin Diao, Balamurugan Balakreshnan, Matthew Frazier, Patrick Davison, Cecilia Boström, Garrett Place, Kaleb Steinhauer, Micah Green, Steven LaFevers, Nawfal Patel, Jacob Sotiriadis, Robert Handfield, and Daniel Stanton.
The Robot and Automation Almanac is produced by The Futurist Institute - www.FuturistInstitute.org
The Future Isn't Coming—It's Already Here.
The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t just disrupt supply chains, workforces, and economies—it accelerated the future. In this critically acclaimed fourth volume of The Robot and Automation Almanac, over 20 futurists, technologists, economists, engineers, and thought leaders forecast the trends, technologies, and transformations reshaping our world in real time.
From the warehouses and hospitals of today to the digitally driven workplaces of tomorrow, this almanac explores how robotics, AI, automation, and remote technologies are being deployed to drive resilience, efficiency, and growth across every sector of the economy.
🔍 Inside, you'll Post-COVID Automation Strategy: How robots are solving supply chain and labor challenges
AI in Real Life: From predictive logistics to intelligent healthcare and education
The Rise of Collaborative Robots: Human-robot teams in manufacturing and logistics
Work From Home 2.0: Remote work, project management, and the war for talent
Hospitality + Hygiene: Cleaning bots and autonomous tech reimagining guest experiences
3D Construction Printing: The future of building, one layer at a time
The Case for Safety and Standards: How to deploy tech without increasing risk
With contributions from experts at Microsoft, the U.S. Air Force, MIT, Hyster, MHI, Murata Machinery, and other innovation leaders, this almanac is your go-to guide for navigating the ongoing shift from the information age to the automation age.
📘 A must-read for executives, innovators, investors, engineers, and futurists—this is where the future unfolds.
Aside from Jason Schenker, contributors to the 2021 almanac include Michael Walton, Kevin Paramore, Brandon Coats, Chris Lingamfelter, Djamila Amimer, Kyle Palko, Ragu Athinarayanan, Xiumin Diao, Balamurugan Balakreshnan, Matthew Frazier, Patrick Davison, Cecilia Boström, Garrett Place, Kaleb Steinhauer, Micah Green, Steven LaFevers, Nawfal Patel, Jacob Sotiriadis, Robert Handfield, and Daniel Stanton.
The Robot and Automation Almanac is produced by The Futurist Institute - www.FuturistInstitute.org
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Published March 4, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 27, 2021
Keeping the future in mind...
The Robot and Automation Almanac - 2021: The Futurist Institute by Jason Schenker and contributing authors is ‘a collection of essays from leading robot and automation experts, executives, and investors. Each of the essays focuses on the "one big thing" that each author sees in the year ahead: an opportunity, a risk, a challenge, investment themes, an overlooked trend, a perception shift, a step change, or a trend change.’
Since so much has changed in the past year with the disruption of COVID-19, it has created a greater need for all of us to think more strategically about the future than ever before. This book will help the reader to consider the future in this way.
Our minds are set up to plan for the future, perhaps this is why the human species has made it this far. Unfortunately, if we do not plan in advance and throw caution to the wind too often we make rather poor decisions and the law of unintended consequences prevails.
We are all futurists in reality, and to what degree of a futurist we are, really depends on how far into the future we are willing to think. For some people it’s scary, for others it’s entertaining and for a few it’s a very serious business.
Jason Schenker has written and compiled a fascinating collection of essays from a wide and diverse group of people that will prove to be an invaluable resource. Highly recommended.
The Robot and Automation Almanac - 2021: The Futurist Institute by Jason Schenker and contributing authors is ‘a collection of essays from leading robot and automation experts, executives, and investors. Each of the essays focuses on the "one big thing" that each author sees in the year ahead: an opportunity, a risk, a challenge, investment themes, an overlooked trend, a perception shift, a step change, or a trend change.’
Since so much has changed in the past year with the disruption of COVID-19, it has created a greater need for all of us to think more strategically about the future than ever before. This book will help the reader to consider the future in this way.
Our minds are set up to plan for the future, perhaps this is why the human species has made it this far. Unfortunately, if we do not plan in advance and throw caution to the wind too often we make rather poor decisions and the law of unintended consequences prevails.
We are all futurists in reality, and to what degree of a futurist we are, really depends on how far into the future we are willing to think. For some people it’s scary, for others it’s entertaining and for a few it’s a very serious business.
Jason Schenker has written and compiled a fascinating collection of essays from a wide and diverse group of people that will prove to be an invaluable resource. Highly recommended.
February 2, 2021
The Business of Tomorrow
The Robot and Automation Almanac – 2021: The Futurist Institute by Jason Schenker is a deep dive into the continuing and broadening implementation of automation into the workplace. The arguments and benefits to the workplace and employers are also presented utilizing the recent backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and the response of employers having their staffing complements working from home.
The book is a compilation of several writers. Each writer appears to be masterful in the area of automation and most certainly validates their writing in pointing towards the increasing trend of artificial intelligence and associated factors in the workplace.
It appears that the focus or "assignment" of each of the contributors was to expound on one particular looming futuristic trend. The scope of the trending future addressed in these writings includes opportunities, challenges, risks, etc. The identifying of this trend is then offered to the business leader to assist in their being on the tip of the spear in aiding their company to anticipate and prepare.
It also seems that the book is not meant nor does it address the day-to-day or "nitty-gritty" involvement of an increasing AI presence in the workplace. The book does effectively, however, present the broader and higher perspective of an increasing trend, value, and importance of considering an increasing utilization of automation in the workplace and associated aspects.
Without a doubt and in the light of what has been experienced lately, the workplace has been adapted and transformed. Perhaps this transformation is permanent. Consequently, for businesses to compete effectively, the workplace needs to build on this transformative change. Possibly there needs to be a consideration of implementing new business strategies that incorporate futuristic automated trends associated with the shrinking business world and those factors that adversely affect business as usual.
Certainly, The Robot and Automation Almanac – 2021: The Futurist Institute by Jason Schenker is a good read and starting point for forward-looking and thinking business leaders to explore and stimulate future business thinking.
The Robot and Automation Almanac – 2021: The Futurist Institute by Jason Schenker is a deep dive into the continuing and broadening implementation of automation into the workplace. The arguments and benefits to the workplace and employers are also presented utilizing the recent backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and the response of employers having their staffing complements working from home.
The book is a compilation of several writers. Each writer appears to be masterful in the area of automation and most certainly validates their writing in pointing towards the increasing trend of artificial intelligence and associated factors in the workplace.
It appears that the focus or "assignment" of each of the contributors was to expound on one particular looming futuristic trend. The scope of the trending future addressed in these writings includes opportunities, challenges, risks, etc. The identifying of this trend is then offered to the business leader to assist in their being on the tip of the spear in aiding their company to anticipate and prepare.
It also seems that the book is not meant nor does it address the day-to-day or "nitty-gritty" involvement of an increasing AI presence in the workplace. The book does effectively, however, present the broader and higher perspective of an increasing trend, value, and importance of considering an increasing utilization of automation in the workplace and associated aspects.
Without a doubt and in the light of what has been experienced lately, the workplace has been adapted and transformed. Perhaps this transformation is permanent. Consequently, for businesses to compete effectively, the workplace needs to build on this transformative change. Possibly there needs to be a consideration of implementing new business strategies that incorporate futuristic automated trends associated with the shrinking business world and those factors that adversely affect business as usual.
Certainly, The Robot and Automation Almanac – 2021: The Futurist Institute by Jason Schenker is a good read and starting point for forward-looking and thinking business leaders to explore and stimulate future business thinking.
February 1, 2021
This is a selection of short essays written by senior members of a futurist institute. Unfortunately, it appears there was no guidance about structure for the book, so the net result is they all seemed to have covered more or less the same ground, with a few examples. Even with the examples, the emphasis is on warehouses. I am not saying this is not important, but do we need to hear the same generalizations about the same topic over and over again? Further, they are often not very ambitious in future predictions. The biggest prediction seems to be there will be changes after we get over SARS-CoV-2. Well yes, assuming we do get over it and it doesn't mutate out of vaccination range. Further, the generalizations are not that useful. Yes, good management practices will be needed, but we know that. There are warnings that we need to get different robots to be able to talk to each other. Agreed, but that is not futurism. Missing are clear constraints to robotics. Another interesting point from my perspective is the statement that robots can better handle dangerous equipment and they can do it continually. Sounds good, but what happens when a sensor breaks down? (I have had two examples happen to my equipment in the last month, so it happens.) No, I am not a Luddite, but I would like to see issues like this discussed. Anyone recall a certain AI on aircraft that recently seems to have demanded to overpower the pilots and keep the nose down to prevent stalling, and end up diving into the sea? There are undoubtedly a lot of opportunities and a lot of problems that I would have found interesting, but none of them were here. To write about the future, while it may be too much to expect the correct solutions, we could at least learn what has to be done, and how likely it is that it will be. The book is too platitudinal. By and large, it is reasonably well written and edited so it is easy to read and it does remind you how to manage. But it could have been so much better.
February 3, 2021
“The Robot and Automation Almanac” is a collection of essays about robots, robotics, automation, and AI. The Chairman of The Futurist Institute, Jason Schenker and other contributors are the writers of this book. Each essay focuses on an opportunity, risk, challenge, investment theme, overlooked trend, perception shift, step change, or other critical dynamic for the year ahead.
I really liked and enjoyed this reading a lot. The bit I found most interesting was the one about “Artificial Intelligence in a post-covid world”. I think this essay is extremely interesting because we get to see how AI will have an effect in healthcare. I highly recommend this collection of essays very much.
I really liked and enjoyed this reading a lot. The bit I found most interesting was the one about “Artificial Intelligence in a post-covid world”. I think this essay is extremely interesting because we get to see how AI will have an effect in healthcare. I highly recommend this collection of essays very much.
February 5, 2021
In “The Robot and Automation Almanac - 2021” I find A kind of a summary of the future trends involving robots and their changes taking into account the Covid Pandemic we’re still facing. I think it is an interesting read if you’re into these topics; surrounding the years ahead of robotics, their newest features, interaction with humans and more.
Artificial Intelligence is such a complex theme to read about. That being said, I think this book is a great intro into that world. Not because all the simple questions about AI are answered in this book, it is solely because it is an enjoyable one to have as a first.
Artificial Intelligence is such a complex theme to read about. That being said, I think this book is a great intro into that world. Not because all the simple questions about AI are answered in this book, it is solely because it is an enjoyable one to have as a first.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews