With the repeated Covid lock downs many of us have unfortunately experienced the new concept of working from home as our permanent base. The reality of remote working and communicating virtually, across a screen, has become the norm as we try to perform and produce the same outputs as we would if we were physically in the office.
This concept of a virtual world has been taken a step further with online industry events and networking being created to take place of the usual face to face interactions. This has worked for some people but the distance for others has been too much, resulting in loneliness, isolation and impacting on motivation. Until something is taken away you never really appreciate the value of it.
Whilst this has all been going on there has been a huge adoption in AI. In engineering there has been the design and development of autonomous vehicles, machines capable of learning and improving without human intervention. Many CAD systems have been developed to incorporate a virtual reality interface, meaning designers can immerse themselves in their own 3D designs. AI can be used to ask questions based on a design and provide engineers with design and development options. In manufacturing, more and more sophisticated automation on the production lines are being installed and used to perform complicated tasks at a fraction of the time a human can operate.
All this talk of artificial intelligence and a virtual world reminds me of The Matrix film franchise and wonder if we really are all virtually here?
