Quest for Robotic Grace

Quest for Robotic Grace Quest for Robotic Grace Quest for Robotic GraceThe robots used for manufacturing and assembly are far from balletic. They dont turn on a dime and they dont manipulate parts with grace. In fact, their manufacturing capabilities are hindered by their lack of agility.The National Institute of Standards and Technology has plans to change that, however, through the Agile Robotics for Industrial Automation Competition, which is now in the planning stages and will officially kick off in August. The competitions goal is to develop agile industrial robots that will be more productive, more autonomous, and to require less time from shop floor workers than do todays manufacturing robots.Those who enter the competition will take advantage of advances in artificial intelligence and robotic planning to create their specialized robots. The robots must be able to sense their environments and to identify and recover from failures on the manufacturing floor, says Craig Schlenof f group leader of the NIST Cognition and Collaboration Systems Group in the niveauvoll Systems Division. He and William Harrison, also a part of the division, are leading competition and planning.Identifying and recovering from failure means that when a part a robot needs isnt in its predetermined location, the robot can find that part and then continue on with its job.If you look out at how robots are being used in industry, theyre highly repeatable and accurate, but theyre not agile, Schlenoff says. If a part is in a slightly different location then where a robot expects it to be, it fails at its job.This robot is challenged to demonstrate its dexterity on NIST test artifacts. Image NISTThe competition is a joint effort between the IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering and NISTs Intelligent Systems Division. All competitors are welcome, Schlenoff says. Theyll demonstrate their solutions by simulated via computer model their robots real-world manufacturing operation .To gear up for competition planning, he and Harrison spent time following robots for four hours intervals at many manufacturing facilities. They found that robots failed and had to be reset about 15 or 16 times within those four-hour chunks, Schlenoff says.If the parts got thrown off by only a few millimeters robots cant deal with it. They also cant what went wrong and try to fix it, he adds.Though robots are repeatablemeaning they can do the same job in exactly the same manner over and over againthey cant perform varied tasks, Harrison says. This is a problem for the many small to mid-sized manufacturers take advantage of rapid replanning methods, by which they regularly change up assembly lines and work with various assembly configurations. Robots cant keep up with those changes, Harrison says.For large companies they set up a robot to do a million times over the course of a year, but when you start introducing robots into smaller shops that create ten or 50 products, its a large task to reprogram the robots, Harrison says. Itd be easier for a person to come the job than to reprogram the robots.So competitors will be tasked with building robots that are easy to quickly reprogram.Another part of the challenge will be ensuring robots can plug and play that is, can operate with robots from various vendors.When a company purchases a brand of robots theyre usually tied to that brand because theres so much infrastructure tailored to that robot, Harrison says. We want smaller manufacturers to be able to make the best use of the different types of robots that are out there.The simulation-based competition will be held in the cloud, which means competitors from all over the world will simulate robot behavior on an open-source robotics infrastructure that exists on a cloud platform. Challenges might include asking the simulated robot to recognize that a part has dropped off the line, to pick it up, and to put it back into the assembly, Schlenoff says.The competition will officially be kicked off at the IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering held in Fort Work Texas in August.All the competition challenges will relate to whats called kitting, in which a robot compiles the kit of parts needed to assemble a product or part of a product. Though kitting is commonly used by manufacturers, development of the kit is a highly manual process mostly done by employees, Schlenoff says.Should this first-year robots agility challenge go well, NIST and IEEE will likely carry it forward to future years, he adds.If kitting is a solved problem then we may go to, for example, full assembly, which is a much more challenging thing for robots to do, Schlenoff says.Jean Thilmany is an independent writer.Explore IoT hardware from the component to the system level at ASMEs IoT Connect For Further DiscussionIf the parts got thrown off by only a few millimeters robots cant deal with it. They also cant tell what went wrong and try to fix it.Craig Schlenoff, N IST

The Top Finance Resume Keywords (Examples)

The Top Finance Resume Keywords (Examples) The Top Finance Resume Keywords (Examples) By reading through resume examples, job seekers can get an accurate sense of how they compare with others in the field. Do they have sought-after credentials? Do they know the latest tools? Do they have enough accomplishmentsto climb aleidher step up the ladder? While its common to search through resume examples to answer these questions and more, job seekers should not forget that targeted resumes are the name of the game. Resume keywords are a big factor in standing out from a sea of applicants. For help tailoring your resume, its best to turn not to resume examples, but to job listingsthey are the ultimate source of resume keywords.The word cloud above was generated using the text from a dozen finance industry job postings. The larger the word, the more often it appeared.Finance industry jobs are highly sought after by many in large part because of the prestige and the paychecks. If youre looking for a job in finance, youll be facing a lot of competition. Having the right resume keywords is one way to differentiate yourself.Finance resume keywordsIf you want a job in finance, include these resume keywords wherever applicableAnalysisAssetCFAClientComplianceEquityExcelFinancialInsuranceInvestmentLicensesManagementModelsPerformancePortfolioRecommendationsReportsResearchReviewValuationResume skillsAs you can see from this list, finance jobs require talent and experience with data and analysis. Many finance jobs also require candidates to pass specific exams and possess certain credentials. In order to sit for some of these exams, you must have an industry sponsor. If you are interested in working in the finance industry, youll have to thoroughly research whats considered necessary for the roles that interest you.Math and Microsoft Excel skills are also, obviously, at the top of the priorities list. And dont forget the people skills necessary to work with clients and make persua sive presentations. (While youre studying for your exams, you might also want to join Toastmasters.)JobscanUsing resume keywords properly requires finesse. Stuffing your resume text full of words you think might be applicable wont work, and neither will copying and pasting sections from the job listing itself. The key is to tailor your resume for each individual job listing. This isnt a time-consuming process once youre familiar with resume keywords, and provided youre working from something like a career management document. Creating a new resume from scratch each time isnt necessary, and isnt even advisable.To quickly find out whether your resume is targeted well, try Jobscan. All you have to do is paste in the text of your resume and the job description, and Jobscan will provide instant feedback about things youve done well and things you can do better. Resume examples can be a great source of inspiration, but they are no match for individualized feedback.?

This is the huge networking mistake you dont know youre making

This is the huge networking mistake you dont know youre makingThis is the huge networking mistake you dont know youre makingThere are a host of ways you can go wrong when writing business and networking emails, from horrible subject lines to forgetting to include attachments.But you could also be making another huge mistake - not making a request about the next steps.As the sender, its up to you to be clear about what you want the recipient to do, as Quartz at Work notes.Heres why you should include a requestHeather Piedmont, CEO and Founder of Heather Piedmont Media, illustrates how to include an action item in a networking email in a Levo post.Dont let it end at just an email that can be passed by give them something to do in response, Piedmont writes. Suggest a time and date to meet up again and do a face-to-face follow-up, or ask a simple question for them to answer. This will make aya your message isnt ignored, and shows you want to connect further. Sometimes (and even I have t his moment)you hand over a business cardand wonder if it will even be worth the paper its made of. With an action item, you show that youre a profitable and positive connection with initiative.Heres what else you shouldnt do in networking emailsHere are some other mistakes youll want to avoidDont rambleOversharing by waxing poetic about everything thats happened in your careeris a surefire way to make the recipients eyes glaze over.So keep it brief and to the point. Make it clear that their time is valuable.Dont copy unnecessary recipients at the companyLooping everyone in isnt always a good thing.Anisa Purbasari Horton, ofFast Companys Leadership section, features advice from Peggy Duncan, productivity expert, author of Conquer Email Overload with Better Habits, Etiquette and Outlook, and founder of The Digital Breakthroughs Institute, in an article for the publication about the follow-up email.Duncan said, When sending an email, ask yourself who needs to receive the information yo ure sending, and only send it to those individuals. If this isnt clear, ask yourself the question, Would I pick this person to call about what Im about to email them? If the answer is no, Duncan said, Why are you emailing them about it?Dont fail to turn on the charmIts possible to kill two birds with one stone here.Heather R. Huhman, founder president of Come Recommended, writes on LinkedIn that you should feed their ego in a networking email.A great way to capture someones attention is to flatter them with your email,Huhman writes. For example, you can highlight one of their accomplishments that impressed you or something you admire about them. This is a great way to show youve done some research and that youre genuinely interested in building a relationship with the person.