Tomorrow’s world, today. The groundbreaking automations powering industry worldwide.

Automation is everywhere, with fast-accelerating technological breakthroughs bringing improvements to our homes, our travel, our built environments and, crucially, our workplaces, at a dizzying rate.

There was a time when a remote controlled colour TV and a plumbed-in washing machine was the ultimate home entertainment and labour-saving combination. Now, in all areas of our lives, constant evolution and refinement are transforming how we do things at home and at work.

We’ve taken a look at automated processes in five key global industries for a definitive list of the most innovative, unexpected and eye-catching technologies powering tomorrow’s world.

Read more below to learn how automation is driving change in food & drink, agriculture, construction, healthcare and leisure & hospitality.

Food & Drink: Making a meal of it

As so many food preparation tasks are highly repetitive, it’s no surprise that the food and drink industry was an early adopter of automation.

Labour shortages and maintaining competitive advantage during the pandemic have redoubled the need for smart digital processes. Recently, Pazzi, a Parisian pizzeria, became the world’s first restaurant to be staffed entirely by robots – from order-taking to prepping the dough to boxing the meals.

Grabbing a slice of the automated action has proved highly popular with the venue’s customers, who enjoy the performance as much as the food. Surveys also show that most consumers are happy to have their food cooked by robot chefs, as these are seen as more hygienic than human hands.

Meanwhile, WineCab, an automated wine cellar/sommelier is making a splash with serious oenophiles – storing, protecting, showcasing and retrieving bottles from their prized collections. Combining the latest AI technology with high grade materials, it features a temperature and humidity-controlled environment, facial security settings and a high-speed robotic arm.

Agriculture: Flying fruit pickers and ‘rice quackers’

Agriculture is another pioneer of automation, with tractors and combine harvesters replacing horses, ploughs and arcane threshers decades ago. The pace hasn’t slackened since and, again, is being powered by pressing current demands.

Following Brexit, UK farmers will no longer be subsidised by the Common Agricultural Policy, while their once-reliable pipeline of seasonal EU workers has been switched off just as vacancy rates nationwide have hit record highs. They must think smart and adopt technology across all activities if they are to achieve sustainability and increased yields through efficiency drives and organic farming.

Among the most eye-catching breakthroughs are Tevel’s flying fruit picker, which can work day and night and even distinguish between ripe and unripe fruit. This airborne android reduces the need to recruit large numbers of staff, organise visas, travel, accommodation and healthcare.

You might be surprised to learn that the supply of a global staple is being safeguarded and its environmental impacts lessened by a ‘Robot Duck’ from Nissan.

The compact unit mimics the natural benefits of wildfowl, which paddle around flooded rice paddy fields, improving water health and reducing the need for herbicides and pesticides. Rotating brushes on its underside replace ducks’ webbed feet, oxygenating the paddy by stirring it up and preventing weeds from taking root. Snacking on insects, Robot Duck’s manure acts as an organic fertiliser.

Other agricultural robots include manure cleaners, automated livestock feeders and improved milking machines. Farm animal health monitoring devices – ‘Fitbits for cattle’ – are also gaining in popularity.

Construction: Building a successful future

Automation is helping the construction sector solve major challenges, such as a shrinking workforce, labour and skills shortages, rampant inefficiency, stringent Health and Safety demands and widening information gaps between onsite and remote staff.

While it sounds like something out of a comedy sketch, the Automated Bricklaying Robot by Construction Automation is in fact an edge tech system set to revolutionise housebuilding forever. It completed its first bricks and mortar home in 2020, with significant improvements being made since then.

Fastbrick Robotics’ Hadrian X recently broke its own record by laying 200 bricks in an hour. This sounds slow compared to the 900/hour human record, until you consider that the housebricks were 12 times larger than standard ones! The ‘auto brickie’ isn’t limited to these, though – and can handle all sizes, grades and weights. It is claimed that each robot can build the walls for up to 330 homes a year in the right conditions.

And plans are being hatched to ship entire mobile robot factories to construction sites worldwide. The incredible Factory-On-The-Fly functional prototype is the brainchild of tech firm, Odico, whose mini manufacturing units can custom-make a wide range of products needed, including formwork, insulation and tiles, at the touch of a button from locally-sourced materials.

Transported in a standard shipping container, Odico says that Factory-On-The-Fly will not only save on labour costs and avoid skills shortages but also avoid the delays of sourcing and shipping pre-made products from specialist manufacturers.

Healthcare: A healthy outlook

Healthcare and medicine are constantly evolving disciplines so invention, creativity and discovery have always been key to advancement. However, while precision-tooled instruments and computerisation have long been used in procedures such as surgery and dental work and examinations, analyses and diagnoses, e.g., radiography and blood tests, the sector has traditionally resisted widespread new AI techniques.

However, their adoption is fast picking up pace with the realisation that IT can boost positive clinical outcomes across the wide spectrum of health provision.

For example, robotic therapy pets have been made for patients who are unable to look after an animal but who benefit from interacting with one. The automated companions are particularly effective in dementia sufferers, who are calmed and cheered up by their presence, which also boosts memory, responsiveness and cognitive ability. They may also combat anxiety and loneliness experienced by children in hospital.

The ‘auto pets’ come with no welfare issues, toileting and exercise requirements or food and veterinary bills.

Meanwhile, companion robots for children with cleft lips and palate disorders are providing contextual speech therapy in a gamified, story-building format. Crucially, MySpeechBuddy, makes the lengthy and demanding process a fun activity. With the aid of story-building audio visuals, children are prompted to use and repeat challenging words and vowels collaboratively, building adventures together with family and friends.

Buddy’s cost-effective route to communication is particularly useful for undeveloped regions or less well-off families, where access to corrective surgeries and dental procedures may be limited or delayed.

Of course, we must never lose sight of the need for empathy and the human touch. No automated or remote tech is ever going to supplant this sort of crucial engagement in certain scenarios.

This was highlighted by the recent case of a patient who was told he had days to live by a robot displaying a doctor who was miles away on a screen. Sophisticated digital delivery must be about common sense and emotional intelligence – just because it can be done doesn’t mean that it should be.

Leisure & hospitality: A welcome reception

The march of digital technology is also changing hospitality business models, giving them new revenue-making and added-value opportunities. Automation is expected to grow in the coming years, with almost three quarters of hoteliers seeing it as key to their post-pandemic recovery, according to reviewpro.com.

Relay the robot butler, from Savioke, can navigate crowds, corridors and lifts to bring room service and other items right to your door. Delivering everything from food and drinks to linens and toothpaste, it is reliable, secure and no tip is required! Relay has proved a hit with guests, who are inspired into sharing positive posts and reviews about venues that have the system inhouse.

Another robot with winning social skills is Eva the automated wedding photographer, by servicerobots.com. Also able to act as receptionist, greeter and information provider, ‘she’ can roam any function snapping guests or delegates – always asking first, of course!

Hailed as the future of photo booths, Eva allows people to pose before delivering prints or texting/emailing shots to them or their friends. If unhappy with the images, guests can edit them or go for a retake. The process is entertaining and inclusive and provides a compelling service extra.