SHORT NOTE ON DIGITIZATION

  By Soumi Sengupta, Librarian, Ruby Park Public School, MLISC (JU), NET Qualified 

Digitization is the first step in the process of building digital libraries. Digitization is also used for achieving preservation and archiving, although it is not considered as good option for preservation and archiving. It is highly labour-intensive and cost-intensive process that involves several complexities including copyright and IPR issues. However, a digital object offers numerous benefits in terms of accessibility and search. The documents to be digitized may include text, line art, photographs, colour images, etc. The selection of document need to be reviewed very carefully considering all the factors of utility, quality, security and cost. Rare and much in demand documents and images are selected as first priority without considering the quality.

Digitization is the process of converting the content of physical media (e.g., periodical articles, books, manuscripts, cards, photographs, vinyl disks, etc.) into digital format. In most library applications, digitization normally results in a document that are accessible from the web site of a library, and thus are available on the Internet. Optical scanners and digital cameras are used to digitize images by translating them into bit maps. It is also possible to digitize sound, video, graphics, animations, etc.

WHY DIGITIZATION?

1.    To preserve the Documents: That is to allow people to read older or unique documents without damage to the originals.

2.    To make the documents more accessible: This is to serve the existing users better; e.g. to allow the users to search the full text of the documents or to serve more users than envisaged in remote locations, example, more than one person at a time.

3.    To reuse the documents. It means to convert documents into different formats; for example to use images in a slideshow and to adopt the content for a different purpose.

DIFFERENT STAGES IN DIGITIZING DOCUMENTS      

 Cornell University Library/Research Departments (2000), provides six stages in digitizing documents for a digital library:

1.    Registering

2.    Scanning  

3.    Optical Character Recognition

4.    Proofreading and formatting

5.    Reformatting

6.     The Final Version

 

The process of Digitization involves mainly four steps, namely scanning, indexing, storage and retrieval. A scanned document is nothing more than a picture of a printed page. It cannot be edited or manipulated or managed based on their contents. In other words, scanned documents have to be referred by their labels rather than characters in the documents. OCR (Optical Character Recognition) programs are software tools used to transform a scanned textual page images into word processing file. OCR or text recognition is the process of electronically identifying the text in a bit-mapped page image or set of images and generates a file containing text in ASCII code or in a specified word processing format leaving the image intact in the process.

TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE AND PERSONNEL:

The two major resources needed are technology infrastructure and personnel for digitization.

Infrastructure-

Ø  A digital library project would typically require the following equipment: Server computer, Desktop computers, Digitization equipment, Network connectivity and other equipment.

Ø  The Digital library software works with the web server in providing various digital library functionalities including creation, organization, maintenance, indexing, search and retrieval.

Ø  Examples of open source free digital library software include: Greenstone Digital Library software by New Zealand Digital Library; Academic Research in the Netherlands On-line (ARND); Tilburg University, The Netherlands; CDSware; CERN Document server software, Geneva, Switzerland; D-space; MIT Libraries, Cambridge, MA USA. etc.

Personnel-

The personnel will be required for the following tasks:

1.    Project management.

2.    Selection and preparation of source material

3.    Digitization and conversion

4.    Cataloguing and metadata assignment

5.    Quality assessment

6.    System administration and maintenance of digital library server and website.

7.    System analysis/programming for digital library application/interface development

8.    Promotion and provisions of services

PLANNING DIGITIZATIONS

Ø  Digitization is the first step towards building a digital library. It is highly specialized and cost-intensive activity that requires inputs from diverse branches of knowledge. It is important that objectives, needs and purpose of digitization is established clearly and its objectives are established beyond doubts. The digitization proposal should define its goals, scopes, benefits, costs, time required in developmental phase, feasibility, implementation issues, deliverable and target users.

Ø  It may be desirable to continue with traditional libraries with

i)             Acquiring of collections in digital media;

ii)            Buying access to electronic resources; and

iii)          Developing subject gateways or library portals, instead of undertaking digitization project.

 

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

 By Soumi Sengupta, Librarian, Ruby Park Public School, MLISC (JU), NET Qualified 

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT?  

➢ The concept of Knowledge Management was started and popularized in the business  world during the last decade of the 20th Century. It was the business word that first  recognizes the importance of knowledge in the “global economy” of the “Knowledge  age”. 

➢ Fundamentally, knowledge management is about applying the collective knowledge of  the entire workforce to achieve specific organizational goals. 

➢ The aim of knowledge management is not necessarily to manage all knowledge, just  the knowledge that is most important to the organization. It is about ensuring that  people have the knowledge they need, where they need it, when they need it – the  right knowledge, in the right place, at the right time. 

➢ As a subject discipline of the knowledge economy, knowledge management is  completely new concept and method of management. The applications of knowledge  management have now spread to other organizations including government agencies,  research and development, university and others. Librarian and Information  professionals are trained to be experts in information searching, selecting, acquiring,  organizing, preserving, repackaging, disseminating and serving. In the 21st century the  library will inevitably face the new subject of Knowledge Management. 

KNOWLEDGE IS CLASSIFIED INTO THREE TYPES:- 

1. Explicit knowledge - It is formal and easy to communicate to others. It is the  knowledge of rationality. That is, policies, rules, specifications and formulae. It is also  known as Declarative knowledge. 

2. Tacit knowledge - It is complex form of knowledge. It has two dimensions namely  technical and Cognitive. This is personal knowledge, which is in human mind and  difficult to formalize and also difficult to communicate.  

3. Externalized Knowledge or Cultural knowledge: One of the aspects of tacit  knowledge is the cognitive dimension that comprises beliefs, ideals, values and  mental models. 

NEED FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT:- 

➢ To enhance users satisfaction.  

➢ To interact and retain new information seeker.  

➢ To increase public faith in the organization to strive meet and manage needs of user  community. 

➢ To be able to justify the spending of funds allocated to the organization library and  information center by the parent body.  

➢ Recruiting the best people for the job. 

➢ Exposing professional to the complexity of real problem to stimulate and cultivate  professional’s know how to retain professionals to react in problem solving  techniques. 

KEY CONCEPTS INTERDISCIPLINARY NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE  MANAGEMENT: 

In order to distinguish between knowledge management and information management, one  must understand the relationship between data; information and knowledge. 

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT IN LIBRARY INFORMATION CENTERS:- 

➢ As a learning organization, libraries should provide a strong leadership in knowledge  management. Libraries should improve their knowledge management in all of the key  areas of library services. To cope with the exponential growth in human knowledge,  libraries need to develop their resources access and sharing strategies from printed  to electronic and digital resources. Limited by funding, technology, staff and space,  libraries must carefully analyze the need of their users and seek to develop  cooperative acquisition plans to meet the needs of users.

➢ Libraries should be developed and maintained an integrated online public access  catalogue (OPAC) with both internal and external resources as well as printed and  other formats of knowledge. Libraries should use the new approach to capture web  information by cooperative efforts such as Dublin Core, Metadata and the  cooperative online resources catalogue, Institutional Repository. 

➢ Other new methods such as data mining text mining, content management, search  engines, natural language searching. 

➢ Information visualization as two dimensional or three dimensional knowledge  mapping. 

TECHNOLOGIES FOR KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT OF LIBRARIES:- 

Data wise technologies developed the following list of technologies for the knowledge  management. • Intranet within an organization  

• Document management systems 

• Information retrieval systems  

• Relational and object databases 

• Electronic publishing  

• Groupware and work flow systems  

• Push technologies  

• Help desk applications 

• Brain storming applications  

• Data warehousing and data mining 

GLOBALISATION: 

Exploring the new Dimensions: Knowledge Management can be helpful in introducing the  library and information professionals globally, providing them a platform for their regular  skill enhancement and up-to-date, realistic and practical knowledge. It can be used for the  purpose of converting the traditional learning system into an e-learning practice, thus  accelerating the new dimensions of its scope and coverage.

ROBOTICS

 By Soumi Sengupta, Librarian, Ruby Park Public School, MLISC (JU), NET Qualified 

0. INTRODUCTION

Robots became a subject of great interest now a day. Robots are man-made mechanical devices that can move by themselves, whose motion must be modelled, planned, sensed, actuated and controlled and whose motion behavior can be influenced by programming. Robotics falls under one of the main area of Artificial Intelligence.Robotics is the branch of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots,as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing.

1.0 DEFINITION OF ROBOT

Robots are physical agents that perform tasks by manipulating the physical world. They are equipped with sensors to perceive their environment and effectors to assert physical forces on it .As mentioned before Robots can be put into three main categories: manipulators, mobile robots and humanoid robots.

1.1 DEFINITION OF ROBOTICS

Robotics is the study of robots. Robots are machines that can be used to do jobs. Some robots can do work by themselves. Other robots must always have a person telling them what to do.

1.2 PURPOSE OF ROBOTICS

• Robots are used to perform tasks that are dangerous or difficult for humans to do directly, such as radioactive waste clean-up.
• They are used to do repetitive tasks that could perform more precision by a robot, such as automobile production.
• Robots are designed to perform precision surgery, explore space, the ocean and dangerous areas.
• It can operate equipment at much higher precision than humans.
• Cheaper on the long term basis.
• It can perform those tasks which are impossible for human.

2.0 BACKGROUND OF ROBOTICS

The word Robot first introduced by Czech writer Karel Capek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), which was published in 1920. The play begins in the factory that makes artificial people called Robot. The word robot comes from the Slavic word robota, which means labour. 

The word Robotics was coined by Russian born American scientist and science fiction writer Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) in his science fiction short story "Liar!", published in May 1941 in Astounding Science Fiction. 

2.1 THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS

In 1942 the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov created his Robotics. Later he added Zeroth law.

LAW 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

LAW 2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

LAW 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Law 0. A robot may not harm humanity, or, through inaction allow humanity to come to harm.

2.2 THE FIRST ROBOT “UNIMATE”

Unimate was the first robot, which worked on a General Motors assembly line at the Inland Fisher Guide Plant in Ewing Township, New Jersey, in 1961. It was created by George Devol (February 20, 1912 – August 11, 2011) in the 1950s .

2.3 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ROBOTICS

Artificial intelligence is a subject by itself.it is a highly interdisciplinary area influenced by many other like cybernetics, linguistics, cognitive science, epistemology, logic, information theory and psychology. Robotics falls under one of the main area of Artificial Intelligence.Artificial intelligence is a theory. The base object is the agent who is the "actor". It is realized in software. Robots are manufactured as hardware. The connection between those two is that the control of the robot is a software agent that reads data from the sensors, decides what to do next and then directs the effectors to act in the physical world.

3. CHARACTERISTICS OF ROBOT 

A robot has these essential characteristics:

Sensing- First of all your robot would have to be able to sense its surroundings. It would do this in ways that are not unsimilar to the way that you sense your surroundings. Giving your robot sensors: light sensors (eyes), touch and pressure sensors (hands), chemical sensors (nose), hearing and sonar sensors (ears), and taste sensors (tongue) will give your robot awareness of its environment.

Movement -A robot needs to be able to move around its environment. Whether rolling on wheels, walking on legs or propelling by thrusters a robot needs to be able to move. To count as a robot either the whole robot moves, like the Sojourner or just parts of the robot moves, like the Canada Arm.

Energy -A robot needs to be able to power itself. A robot might be solar powered, electrically powered, battery powered. The way your robot gets its energy will depend on what your robot needs to do.

Intelligence-A robot needs some kind of "smarts." This is where programming enters the pictures. A programmer is the person who gives the robot its 'smarts.' The robot will have to have some way to receive the program so that it knows what it is to do.

4.0 TYPES OF ROBOT AND THEIR APPLICATION

4.1 AUTONOMOUS ROBOT

  Autonomous robots are intelligent machines capable of performing tasks in the world by themselves, without explicit human control. In other words, autonomous robots are self-supporting or in other words self-contained. In a way they rely on their own ‘brains’.

  Autonomous robots run a program that gives them the opportunity to decide on the action to perform depending on their surroundings. At times these robots even learn new behavior. They start out with a short routine and adapt this routine to be more successful at the task they perform. The most successful routine will be repeated as such their behavior is shaped. Autonomous robots can learn to walk or avoid obstacles they find in their way. Think about a six legged robot, at first the legs move at random, after a little while the robot adjusts its program and performs a pattern which enables it to move in a direction.

  An autonomous robot is despite its autonomous not a very clever or intelligent unit. The memory and brain capacity is usually limited; an autonomous robot can be compared to an insect in that respect.

Most of the robots fall under the category of autonomous robot. There are some important autonomous robots are following –

4.1.1 INDUSTRIAL ROBOT

As defined by ISO 8373 Industrial robot is an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes, which may be either, fixed in place or mobile for use in industrial automation applications.

Industrial robot are designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through variable programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks.

Main function of Industrial Robot :

• Material handling
• Welding
• Inspection
• Improving productivity
• Laboratory applications

4.1.2 MOBILE ROBOT

A mobile robot is an automatic machine that is capable of locomotion. A spying robot is an example of a mobile robot capable of movement in a given environment. Mobile robots have the capability to move around in their environment and are not fixed to one physical location.

Mobile robots may be classified by:

•  The environment in which they travel:
•  Land or home robots. They are most commonly wheeled, but also include legged robots with two or more legs (humanoid, or resembling animals or insects).
•  Aerial robots are usually referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
•  Underwater robots are usually called autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)
•  Polar robots, designed to navigate icy, crevasse filled environments

  The device they use to move, mainly:

• Legged robot: human-like legs (i.e. an android) or animal-like legs.
• Wheeled robot.
• Tracks.

4.1.3 MEDICAL ROBOT

A medical robot is a robot that allows surgeons greater access to areas under operation using more precise and less invasive methods. They are in most telemanipulators, which use the surgeon's actions on one side to control the "effector" on the other side.

SURGICAL ROBOT

Robotic surgery, or robot-assisted surgery, allows doctors to perform many types of complex procedures with more precision, flexibility and control than is possible with conventional techniques. Robotic surgery is usually associated with minimally invasive surgery — procedures performed through tiny incisions.

• Microbot- Microscopic robots designed to go into the human body and cure diseases.

REHABILITATION ROBOT

Rehabilitation robotics is a promising research avenue to take over some of this time- and energy-consuming workload. The goal is not to replace the physiotherapist, but to relieve him of the most painful aspects of his task, eventually leading to longer and/or more frequent training sessions.

BIO ROBOTS

Bio robotics is the use of biological characteristics in living organisms as the knowledge base for developing new robot designs. The term can also refer to the use of biological specimens as functional robot components.

4.1.4 SPACE ROBOT

AEROBOT– Robot capable of independent flight on other planets.

Robotic Arm-NASA uses robotic arms to move large objects in space. The "Canadarm" robotic arm is on the space shuttle. The International Space Station has the larger Canadarm2. The space shuttle uses its arm for many jobs. The Canadarm can release or recover satellites. Astronauts have used it to grab the Hubble Space Telescope. This let them fix the Hubble. The shuttle and space station arms work together to help build the station. The robotic arms have added new parts to the space station. The arms also can move astronauts around on spacewalks. The space station's arm can move to different parts of the station. It moves along the outside of the station like an inchworm, attached at one end at a time. It has a robotic "hand" named Dextre that can do smaller jobs. An astronaut or someone in Mission Control must control these robotic arms. The astronaut uses controllers like joysticks used to play video games.

(Dextre is attached to the end of the International Space Station's robotic arm)

Rover (space exploration) –

A robot with wheels designed to walk on other planets floors.

Robots help explore space. Spacecraft that explore other worlds, like the moon or Mars, are robots. These include orbiters, landers and rovers on other planets. The Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity are robots. Other robotic spacecraft fly by or orbit other worlds. These robots study planets from space. The Cassini spacecraft is this type of robot. Cassini studies Saturn and its moons and rings. The Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft are now traveling beyond our solar system. They are also robots. People use computers to send messages to the spacecraft. The robots have antennas that pick up the message commands. Then the robot does what the person has told it to do.  

(Spirit is one of a group of robots that have explored Mars from the surface or from orbit.Credits: NASA)

4.1.5 ANDROID

Android is humanoid robot. Robot resembling the shape or form of a human.

4.1.6 AUTOMATON

Early self-operating robot, performing exactly the same actions, over and over.

4.1.7 EXPLOSIVE ORDANCE DISPOSAL ROBOT

Explosive ordnance disposal robot is designed to assess whether an object contains explosives; some carry detonators that can be deposited at the object and activated after the robot withdraws.

4.1.8 AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE

Autonomous vehicle equipped with an autopilot system, which is capable of driving from one point to another without input from a human operator.

4.1.9 HEXAPOD (WALKER)

Hexapod (walker) is a six-legged walking robot, using a simple insect-like locomotion.

4.1.10 MILITARY ROBOT

Cruise missile –Robot-controlled guided missile that carries an explosive payload.

4.1.11 SERVICE ROBOT

Service robots are machines that extend human capabilities.

4.2 STATIONARY ROBOT

Robots are not only used to explore areas or imitate a human being. Most robots perform repeating tasks without ever moving an inch. Most robots are ‘working’ in industry settings. Especially dull and repeating tasks are suitable for robots. A robot never grows tired; it will perform its duty day and night without ever complaining. In case the tasks at hand are done, the robots will be reprogrammed to perform other tasks.These are robots that are fixed in position. They tend to have robot arms that can move about.

 4.3 VIRTUAL ROBOT

• Virtual robots don’t exits in real life. Virtual robots are just programs, building blocks of software inside a computer.
  
• A virtual robot can simulate a real robot or just perfume a repeating task.
  
• Search engines use such kind of robots. They search the World Wide Web and send the information to the search engines.
  
• RVW simulates popular real world VEX®, LEGO®, and TETRIX®robots in 3D environments while using the same language, ROBOTC, to program both virtual and physical robots. The RVW environment is perfect for home, classroom, and competition environments.

4.4 EDUCATIONAL ROBOT

The set of educational activities that support and strengthen specific areas of knowledge and skills developed in students through the design, creation, assembly and operation of robots.

The goal of teaching robotics is to adapt students to current production processes, where the Automation Technology (which is related to the use of mechanical, electronic and computer-based, in the operation and control of the production) plays a very important role. However robotics system is considered beyond a working application.

In robotics, robot hardware and software need to have a perfect relationship, as robotic movements are a link between the physical and logical.

Objectives of Education Robot:

• Make it more orderly.
• Promote the experiments, where the mistake is part of learning and self-discovery.
• Be more responsible with their things.
• Develop greater mobility in their hands.
• Develop our knowledge
• Develop the ability to group, allowing people to socialize.
• Develop their creative abilities.
• Able to observe every detail.
• Develop learning in a fun way.

 4.5 DOMESTICS OR HOUSEHOLD ROBOTS

Domestic or household robots are at home. This type of robots includes many quite different devices such as robotic vacuum cleaners, robotic pool cleaners, sweepers, gutter cleaners and other robots that can do different chores. Also, some surveillance and tele-presence robots could be regarded as household robots if used in that environment. 

Domestic Robots are 2 types:

• Those designed to perform household tasks.
• Modern toys which are programmed to do things like talking walking dancing etc.

4.6 REMOTE CONTROLLED ROBOT

A remote control vehicle is defined as any vehicle that is remotely controlled by a means that does not restrict its motion with an origin external to the device. This is often a radio control device, cable between control and vehicle, or an infrared controller. A remote control vehicle or RCV differs from a robot in that the RCV is always controlled by a human and takes no positive action autonomously.

5. ADVANTAGES OF ROBOTICS

•  You can send them to very dangerous places.
•  You can make them do your job for you.
•  They are more accurate than humans, Eg. No shaking when in a very important surgery     puts every screw in fabricating a car etc.
•  Can do jobs 24/7.
•  Can guard without being tired just keep doing the same thing 24/7.
•  No need of nutrients.
•  You can programm them to make them do exactly what you want them to do.
•  They cannot harm you unless they are programmed to.
•  Can work without doubts. 
•  They can lift very heavy things.

6. DISADVANTAGES OF ROBOTICS

•  You need to get people trained to fix them if anything wrong happens.
•  Need a very intelligent crew.
•  They can ruin people’s lives Eg. Take their job away from them.
•  They are very expensive to make.
•  You need the right materials to make them, that could be very rare.
•  If you make a very amazing robot with amazing quality and it brakes, it might be very hard to fix.
• They can be very hard to programe.
• They can reproduce but it could cost money for the materials.
•  You need highly trained people to make them.

7. ROBOTIC ORGANIZATIONS

 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) – organization founded by inventor Dean Kamen in 1989 in order to develop ways to inspire students in engineering and technology fields. It founded various robotics competitions for elementary and high school students.

 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society

 Robotics Institute

8. FUTURE OF ROBOTICS

•  Robots that can learn.
•  Robots that interact smoothly with people.
•  Robots with artificial intelligence. (Cognitive robotics is concerned with endowing a robot with intelligent behavior by providing it with a processing architecture that will allow it to learn and reason about how to behave in response to complex goals in a complex world. Cognitive robotics may be considered the engineering branch of embodied cognitive science and embodied embedded cognition)
•   Robots that can make other robots.

8.1 LIFE LIKE ROBOT

Robotic engineers are designing the next generation of robots to look, feel and act more human, to make it  easier for us to warm up to a cold machine. Realistic looking hair and skin with embedded sensors will allow robots to react naturally in their environment. For example, a robot that senses your touch on the shoulder and turns to greet you. Subtle actions by robots that typically go unnoticed between people help bring them to life and can also relay non verbal communication. Artificial eyes that move and blink. Slight chest movements that simulate breathing.Man made muscles to change facial expressions. These are all must have attributes for the socially acceptable robots of the future. The brain behind the beauty will be the key to turning a realistic looking machine into a life like robot. AI plays a pivotal role in successful human/robot interaction.

 

  8.2 ROBOTICS PETS

  Pets are the future might be robots with AI(Artificial Intelligence).

 

8.3 RESCUE ROBOT

Imagine yourself lost deep in the forest on a cold autumn night and nightfall is rapidly approaching. Too windy for search aircraft and too dark for ground teams, this could be a life threatening situation. Fortunately for you, it is ten years into the future and hundreds of tiny intelligent robots will be combing the woods for you throughout the night.

All terrain robots (ATRs), will truly function as a team by sharing their locations, discoveries, search patterns and more. Large ATRs could carry many smaller robots and provide them with localized control and power.

These smaller more specialized robots will have cameras, sonar, heat sensors, motion detectors and can be sent out by the large ATRs as needed. Smaller robots might work together to perform tasks such as moving a large obstacle.

8.4 ROBOTICS COMPETITION

The FIRST Robotics Competition challenges teams of young people and their mentors to solve a common problem in a six-week time frame using a standard "kit of parts" and a common set of rules. Teams build robots from the parts and enter them in competitions. 

The ultimate goal of the RoboCup project(RoboCup is an international research effort to promote autonomous robots)is to develop a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can win against the human world champion team in soccer by the year 2050.

9.PROBLEMS WITH ROBOTICS

Yes there are problems. As with any machine, robots can even cause disaster. They are powerful machines that we allow to control certain things. When something goes wrong, terrible things can happen. Luckily, this is rare because robotic systems are designed with many safety features that limit the harm they can do. There's also the problem of evil people using robots for evil purposes. This is true today with other forms of technology such as weapons and biological material. Of course, robots could be used in future wars. This could be good or bad. If humans perform their aggressive acts by sending machines out to fight other machines, that would be better than sending humans out to fight other humans. Teams of robots could be used to defend a country against attacks while limiting human casualties. Could future wars really just be a video game that drives robots? Either way, human nature is the flawed component that's here to stay.

10. IMPACT OF ROBOTICS ON SOCIETY

Since robots are used mainly in manufacturing, we see their impact in the products we use every day. Usually this results in a cheaper product. Robots are also used in cases where it can do a better job than a human such as surgery where high precision is a benefit. And, robots are used in exploration in dangerous places such as in volcanoes which allows us to learn without endangering ourselves.

11. CONCLUSION

Today we find most robots working for people in industries, factories, warehouses, and laboratories. Robots are useful in many ways. For instance, it boosts economy because businesses need to be efficient to keep up with the industry competition. Therefore, having robots helps business owners to be competitive, because robots can do jobs better and faster than humans can, e.g. robot can built, assemble a car. Yet robots cannot perform every job; today robots roles include assisting research and industry. Finally, as the technology improves, there will be new ways to use robots which will bring new hopes and new potentials.

12. REFERENCES 

•   http://www.allonrobots.com/types-of-robots.html
•   http://biorob.epfl.ch/research/rehabilitation
•   http://www.ifr.org/industrial-robots
•   www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/robotic-surgery
•   http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/biorobotics
•   https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotics

Understanding Data Mining (Part-2)

 By Soumi Sengupta, MLISC (JU), NET Qualified 

 Data Mining Techniques:

1. Classification: This technique is used to classify different type of data. 

2. Clustering: This technique is used to identify similar type of data. Its helps to understand differences and similarities between datasets. 

3. Regression: Regression analysis is the data mining method of identifying and analyzing the relationship between variables. It is used to identify the likelihood of a specific variable, given the presence of other variables.

4. Association rules: The rules of association are so useful for analyzing and predicting behavior. It used to identify hidden patterns of data. It is very much useful for examining and forecasting behavior. 

5. Outer detection: It’s refers to an observation of data items in a dataset. This technique can be used in a number of fields such as instruction, detection, fraud, theft or identification of faults etc. Outside identification is also known as Outlier Analysis or Mining.

6. Sequential patterns: This approach works to identify similar patterns of data for certain period. 

7. Prediction: This technique is used to analyze the relationship between independent and dependent variables.

References

https://docs.oracle.com/cd/B28359_01/datamine.111/b28129/process.htm#CHDFGCIJ

https://www.guru99.com/data-mining-tutorial.html

https://data-flair.training/blogs/data-mining-techniques/

https://business.uc.edu/content/dam/business/centers/analytics/docs/201511_Data%20Mining%20Day%201.pdf

Understanding Data Mining (Part-1)

 By Soumi Sengupta, MLISC (JU), NET Qualified 

Data Mining:

Data mining is the process of extracting usable data from a large set of raw data. It analyses patterns and correlation of data from a large batch of data using software.  Data mining identify and establish relation between data sets which solves many problems through data analysis. It allows any enterprise or organization to predict future treads. It also knows as Knowledge Discovery of Data (KDD). Techniques of data mining are used in Machine Learning (ML) model which powers Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications like, search engine algorithm.

 

 Data Mining Properties:

•     Automatic discovery of patterns.
•     Prediction of likely outcomes.
•     Creation of actionable information.
•     Focus on large data sets and databases.

Data Mining Process:

CRISP-DM (Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining) provides six steps of data mining, as follows

1.                Business understanding –

For business understanding you have to know your clients business goals and how data mining will help them to reach the goal.

 Gather all relevant data, facts and informed about current data mining scenario which are important factors for data mining. 

A plan should be developed at this stage to achieve both business and data mining goals, it should include timeliness, action and role assessment.

2.               Data Understanding-

Data collected from all possible sources which are available in the organization. 

To understand the hidden properties of the data and answer data mining questions data visualization tools, query, reporting are used here.

3.               Data preparation-

Data collected from various sources should be selected, filtered, transformed, organized, analyzed and (if required) constructed.

Data transformation makes the data useful in data mining. It includes following process of Data Smoothing, Aggregation, Generalization, Normalization, Attribute construction. This process resulted in a final collection of dataset which can be used in modeling.

4.               Data Modeling-

Mathematical models are used to understand data patterns. Based on business goal and objective preferred data modeling models are used. It creates a scenario to test the quality, check the validity of the model. The model runs on a prepared dataset then it produce results. Results should be evaluated on the basis of the objective of data mining.

5.                Evaluation-

In this process finding are evaluated and compared with the business goals. If the findings are satisfactory then it will be implemented across the organization.

6.                Deployment-

 At this final stage the knowledge or information discovered during data mining process are shared with everyday business operations.  The Final report is created with lessons learned and key experiences during the project. This helps to improve the organization's business policy.

 

 Diagram Source:https://jsndesign.co.uk/jsn_content/uploads/2017/05/Crisp-DM_all-1.png

 To be continued in the next part...