#BigIdeas2023 - HyperAutomation Era

• The office is unnecessarily manual, nobody likes domestic chores, and the factory/plant is unnecessarily manual too
• A new era of HyperAutomation is beginning as we automate many of these tedious tasks albeit in very different ways
• The recommendation is to deploy the automation now available and to course correct your career
• The result is more time for creativity and improvement

Imagine not handling receipts or shipping documents in the office, leaving more time for new business innovation. Imagine no cleaning or laundry at home, leaving more time for creativity. Imagine no manual data collection or grab sampling, leaving more time for innovative problem solving. This is the promise of HyperAutomation for the office, home, and plant. Like previous years, for the annual prediction I’m going broader than process plants. So what are the recommendations for offices, plants, and you personally? Here are my personal thoughts:

Office Automation: Semantic Interoperability

Business admin automation today revolves mostly around the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system which automatically generates various reports on demand such as for accounts, bookings, sales, and inventory etc. However, much of the data used to generate the reports is manually entered. Computers are used mostly for manual data entry, edit, and display. Very few functions are automatic, triggered periodically or on event.

Today people in the office still need to read receipts, invoices, and other documents to type the information into the ERP system in the right place in the right format. What is so crazy about this is the fact that all the information already exists in a digital (“electronic”) format in the originating system such as another ERP at the manufacturer, service provider, or Point of Sale (POS) in the shop but has been printed on paper or as a ‘flat’ (unstructured) file so it cannot be read automatically by software. Hence a human must manually transfer data by reading, understanding, and typing it in again. This is true even within the same company because for historical reasons various business units, entities, and locations use different ERP brands, versions, and systems implementations due to mergers and acquisitions. These ERP systems don’t talk to each other because there are no standard Application Programming Interface (API) or structured file formats for this information exchange.

We need automation beyond the regular office automation. Gartner, a consulting firm, coined a good term for this extended automation: HyperAutomation. Gartner’s definition of HyperAutomation is very much office automation business administration focused:

That is, HyperAutomation in the office is about automating business processes (order acceptance, expense claims, receiving goods, accounts payable etc.) by extending the office business systems. Now, to achieve “the orchestrated use of multiple technologies, tools or platforms, including: artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, event-driven software architecture, robotic process automation (RPA), business process management (BPM) and intelligent business process management suites (iBPMS), and other types of decision, process and task automation tools” will require all kinds of software from different vendors to exchange information to work together. This software runs internally within the company and externally in the suppliers’ offices and the customers’ offices as well as at the service providers like shipping, banking, payment processing, insurance, and reservations etc.

Sure, there are examples of digital data exchange today, but it is based on costly and time-consuming custom programming to proprietary APIs and file formats where every ERP system and deployment is different. There are many issues with such integration. Due to the lack of software interface and business document standards, broad office automation is still impractical, so it doesn’t get implemented. Manual work continues.

What is necessary is standard business software interfaces and business file formats with semantic interoperability, where the meaning of every bit of information is defined. This will enable information to transfer automatically without human beings having to enter the same information again and again. Standards are critical to enable new paradigms like ‘no-code’ or ‘low-code’, meaning integration of software and performing analytics etc. without having to write any code, or at the very most minimal programming. No-code is happening right now so we could see business software interface and file format standards development follow soon. The most interesting fact is that this is how such integration problems have already been solved in the world of I&C (OT) with standards like IEC62541 (OPC-UA). As IT and I&C (OT) folks collaborate closer on projects, the IT folks responsible for the ERP get to see the art of the possible in DCS and other automation systems integrated using OPC-UA and OPC Classic before it. It makes sense to emulate this in the IT world of ERP. With standard interfaces, third parties would also be able to develop apps and modules that tap into the data. This could also lead to new more powerful and easier to use apps.

The recommendation to ERP users is to get together with other users to create the business software interface data interchange standards and file formats to meet their needs to transact purchase orders, invoices, and receipts etc. For some, like invoices, standard formats already exist. The second user recommendation is to get their ERP and other business system vendors to adopt this standards in their off-the-shelf product offering.

This way information will be able to flow automatically between business systems within the company among business units as well as external vendors and customers without manual data reading and retyping. A piece of information is entered once, then carried digitally all the way, so it need not be entered again. And all this integration without undue programming burden and cost.

Home Automation: Mobile Autonomous Robots

Most modern homes have an automatic washing machine and maybe an automatic dryer too. Some may have an automatic dishwasher. These are incredibly helpful, but they are manually loaded and emptied, and it is only a portion of the chores at home.

Most of us struggle with domestic chores like to tidy and clean (e.g. vacuum and mop), laundry (including ironing), managing groceries and consumables (inventory), cooking and baking, pet care (feeding), eldercare (monitor falls), scullery (dishes and garbage), plants (water), chamber (make beds), and general upkeep (change lightbulbs and batteries). Sure, for some, cooking and tending plants is a joy. We need automation beyond the regular home automation. HyperAutomation at home should be about automating as many of these time consuming and mundane chores as possible by extending beyond normal appliances. Dimming lights or switching on the aircon before you arrive home are not big problems so the interest in such solutions is lukewarm at best.

As you study the steps involved in the tasks for domestic chores you will find they are mindbogglingly complex. Automating this is a moonshot. Simple robotic vacuum cleaners and lawn movers are available and are a step in the right direction showing some tasks can be automated, but they are purpose built for a single task and have limitations. An additional challenge is that a home must be pleasant for humans. Installing permanent automation such as actuators and conveyor belts as in plants and factories is not an option for homes as they would become unpleasant. Home automation is in this respect more challenging than plant automation. The best options would likely be mobile robots able to move about in a home, without having to make changes that make the home unpleasant. Mobile robots will be key to automating chores in a home environment. Humanoid robots on two legs have been demonstrated but is technologically quite challenging. Humanoid form is not necessary but could work better in a home environment designed for people. Mobile dog-like robots on four legs (quadrupeds) are simpler and have taken great strides (pun intended) lately and are now available. The way they can autonomously move around obstacles and up and down stairs is amazing. This is viable technology for homes. It is sufficient to enable many chores to be completed and gives me hope that homebots for simple chores like picking up clothes and toys can become a reality. The tasks mobile robots perform today is mostly taking photos and video which is very limited. A quadruped can already be fitted with one arm (neck) with claw (jaw) enabling it to carry items like a bottle, open the cap, and open a tap etc. so they are becoming more capable. Two arms with claws are required to work effectively in a home designed for humans. Claws make all the difference, otherwise the robot is just a moving tripod for a camera. Many of the required technologies are coming together such as image and voice recognition as well as simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). Advanced sensor technology such as LIDAR already used in smart phones is crucial. Interface with appliances to set the washing machine or oven etc. is becoming easier with standard communication protocols for home appliances. And it need not be a single universal robot for all these tasks. Some robots can visit periodically to provide a service much like service technicians periodically visit your home today. Moreover, these robots need not work fast because you don’t have to supervise them. AI is not at the level of human intelligence, and it is not necessary for simple chores. These robots are machines. Most homes are relatively small so limiting chores to within the home makes it more achievable. Once released homebots will evolve over decades much like cars.

As in the Gartner HyperAutomation definition, the goal for homes is to automate as many manual chores as possible and it will be achieved by orchestrated use of multiple technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, low-code/no-code tools, and packaged software. We are not there yet but the underlying technologies look promising for rudimentary mobile robots capable of a few tasks. The recommendation for now is to watch this space. Design, manufacturing, and maintenance of homebots with associated tools and bot friendly appliances will be big business so it can become a great career just like all other automation.

As a result there will be more time to do what you love or what matters to you.

Plant Automation: Wireless Sensors and Readymade Apps

Plants have DCS and factories have PLC to automate the core manufacturing. However, there are still a phenomenal number of manual tasks being carried out.

Personnel in plants struggle to keep up with duties like reliability (inspection and interpretation tasks), integrity (inspection and interpretation), sustainability (survey and interpretation), HS&E (test and validation), production (surveillance), and quality (checks and verification) etc. because they are manual. We need automation beyond the regular plant automation. Industrial HyperAutomation, in a factory or processing plant, is about automating the balance of manual tasks around the plant by extending the automation beyond the P&ID a ’la NAMUR Open Architecture (NOA).

Plants are easier to automate than homes because there is no consideration to esthetics. When you need a sensor or actuator you can install it permanently because nobody cares about how it looks. So, manual data collection in plants is easily automated by replacing mechanical gauges and portable testers with permanent wireless sensors. There is no need for mobile robots to photograph gauges which are usually in a bad angle anyway, and no need to manually interpret these photos. New advanced sensors for vibration, corrosion, acoustic noise, and many other measurements provide direct numerical data continuously in real-time straight into analytics, dashboards, and other industrial software using the IEC62541 (OPC-UA) standard without manual intervention. The sensors have no moving parts, so they are low maintenance. The second part is new rule-based AI analytics built on known cause & effect and first principles (1P). Such analytics together with the right sensors makes earlier and more robust predictions than other forms of analytics. This is ideal for preventing failure of equipment like pumps, fouling of heat exchangers, steam loss in steam traps, and rupture of corroded pipes etc. There is readymade software for this so no programming required: no-code.

The goal is to automate as many tasks as possible as in the Gartner HyperAutomation definition, and it is indeed achieved by orchestrated use of multiple industrial technologies including mostly rule-based AI, some machine learning, as well as low-code/no-code packaged industrial software. The recommendation for plants is to deploy a WirelessHART industrial wireless sensor network which is already being deployed in many plants, change mechanical instrumentation and portable testers to wireless industrial sensors which are also being deployed in many plants. The second recommendation is to deploy no-code industrial analytics software which is happening right now.

The result is plants and factories with greater availability, lower maintenance cost, reduced loss-of-containment, ?sustainability (reduced emissions and energy consumption and cost), safer, lower cost of operations, and reduced off-spec product. That is, HyperAutomation is critical to tackle the dual challenge of a growing population demanding greater affluence on the one hand, while at the same time doing it sustainably.

Lead the Way

Developing standards for ERP and having them incorporated into off-the-rack ERP software will be hard but must be done. Mobile robots performing the chores that cannot be achieved by other means is still a vision but it is on its way. Lots of additional software apps and sensors are required in plants and requires more I&C engineers to do it. Investments and a career in automation looks more promising than ever.

Share this essay with your colleagues and friends now. And remember, always ask for product data sheet to make sure the software is proven, and pay close attention to software screen captures in it to see if it does what is promised without expensive customization. Well, that’s my personal opinion. If you are interested in digital transformation in the process industries click “Follow” by my photo to not miss future updates. Click “Like” if you found this useful to you and to make sure you keep receiving updates in your feed and “Share” it with others if you think it would be useful to them. Save the link in case you need to refer in the future.