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Robot Revolution: How to Stay Calm and Make Money
Ever since the heyday of science fiction films in the 1950s, humans have kept watch on the evolution of robots. One analyst told CNBC that 2013 could be the year robots become a force to be reckoned with. But instead of fearing a rise of the machines, humans should look at how they can invest in them.
James Ross, senior portfolio manager at Alliance Bernstein, told CNBC that 2013 will see the sector reaching a "critical mass" and is primed for growth with recent advancements in technology.
"We forecast a step change in the automation market over the next few years. Currently worth around $100 billion, we expect it to quadruple by 2020, putting it on a par with the market for e-commerce," he said in a research note.
There's a number of different stock plays out there according to Ross. The growth of 3-D printing - creating three-dimensional solid objects from digital models - means companies like Proto Labs and Stratasys are attracting interest, he said.
"This is a huge technology, it's definitely going to be very big indeed. It will disrupt traditional manufacturing big time," he told CNBC Monday. "You don't need nearly as many factories in China, or Africa if that's next."
(Read More: How 3D Printers Are Reshaping Medicine)
But it's not only 3-D printing that is turning heads, according to Ross. Self-driving cars and home-cleaning robots are already emerging as well.
"I know this stuff sounds like science fiction, but it is actually becoming science fact," he said.
FANUC, the world's largest maker of industrial robots, produces factory robots used in China's giant manufacturing sector and is a good investment option, according to Ross. Intuitive Surgical, which is making hospitals more efficient by performing surgical operations, is another attractive option, he said.
(Read More: Will Obamacare Spark the Next Tech Boom?)
Ross also singled out iRobot as attractive despite its exposure to the production of military automation - budgets in the sector are beginning to be reduced. Ross says that a medical solution made by the firm, which is effectively a monitor on a "stick" that allows doctors to remotely visit hospital patients, offers potential.
Alliance Bernstein predicts there will be two clear phases in this "automation revolution". It will begin with the manufacturing sector pushing the growth rate in the world market for automated products from around 6.5 percent a year to well over 20 percent after 2015. Then by 2020, it expects a second phase to kick in, with automation spreading to the services sector.
"There's enough spare processing capacity in a chip to allow interactions with the real world to be controlled and that's why automation is taking off right now, that's the core driver out there," he said.
(Read More: This Advance Will Be Bigger Than PC Revolution: Top Analyst)
3D Printing Worth Backing: ExpertJames Ross, senior portfolio manager, Alliance Bernstein, talks to CNBC about technology investments and how 3D printing will change traditional manufacturing "big time".
Hans Redeker, global head of foreign exchange at Morgan Stanley, told CNBC that this next tech revolution could be realized if we saw more demand for it, and that demand could be addressed by some help on the supply side.
"If we see the combination of this technology revolution, some new stuff coming in, plus governments changing the way of doing their fiscal policies then I guess we can be hopeful," he told CNBC Monday.
Contrasting this latest surge in automated machines to the tech boom and eventual bust in the early 2000s, Redeker explains that the valuation is very different now than it was in 1998-99 as the hype is now a lot less than it was.
—By CNBC.com's Matt Clinch
Disclosures: James Ross does not have any personal holdings of the stocks mentioned above. All the stocks mentioned are held by Alliance Bernstein, although the firm has no business relationships with any of the firms.
Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100541729
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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