The city council fixed the budget and invited the citizens to propose projects that might be implemented, letting them know that the funding decisions will be made by voting. Soon, three groups of activists formed, one focused on cycling infrastructure, one committed to making the city greener, and one dedicated to improving the quality of life for senior citizens. Each group decided to submit a single project, but they quickly realized that they have many options to choose from. For example, cycling enthusiasts could propose repainting the markings on a few bike paths, which would be very cheap, or they could request one or more new bike paths, which would cost more, or--with the full available budget--they could greatly improve the whole biking infrastructure while also offering free bikes for rent. In other words, they could spend any amount of money on cycling (at least if it were above a certain necessary minimum) and the more they could get, the better a project they could offer.

To stay competitive, the Low- or Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) need to embrace Industry 4.0 and Logistics 4.0. This requires government-level interventions and policy-making to incentivize quality product solutions and drive innovation in traditionally resistant economic sectors. In this position paper, we support the establishment of Smart Industrial Parks (SIPs) with a focus on enhancing operational efficiencies and bringing together MSMEs and startups targeting niche clientele with innovative Industry 4.0 solutions. SIPs along with the phased deployment of well-planned robotic automation technologies shall enable bringing down India's untenable logistics costs. Toward the successful execution of SIPs, we are required to implement the efficient allocation of manufacturing resources and capabilities within SIPs. Thus, we emphasize the importance of efficient resource utilization, collaboration, and technology adoption in industrial parks to promote industrial development and economic growth. We advocate the use of a cloud-based cyber-physical system for real-time data access and analysis in SIPs. Such centralized cloud-based monitoring of factory floors, warehouses, and industrial units using IoT infrastructure shall improve decision-making, efficiency, and safety. Digital Twins (DTs), which are cyber-replicas of physical systems, could play a significant role in enabling simulation, optimization, and real-time monitoring of smart manufacturing and distributed manufacturing systems. However, there are several challenges involved in implementing DTs in distributed manufacturing systems, such as defining data schemas and collaboration protocols, ensuring interoperability, the need for effective authentication technology, distributed machine learning models, and scalability to manage multiple DTs.

More than a thousand robots are set to join the delivery personnel ranks of Chinese behemoths Alibaba, Meituan and JD.com over the next year as the pandemic fuels demand for contactless services. The firms expect to operate over 2,000 robots between them by 2022, up about fourfold from now, their executives said, encouraged also by falling costs of making robots. Millions of couriers still deliver packages for as less as 3 yuan ($0.47) in China, but companies have been exploring the use of drones or box-like robots on wheels from as early as 2013 amid a labor crunch that has worsened due to the pandemic. Beijing has also ordered firms to ensure rest periods for couriers as they scramble to meet rising demand and deadlines. "The COVID-19 pandemic has been a big boost" for robot rollout plans, said Xia Huaxia, chief scientist at Meituan.

Welcome to another edition of my newsletter, the seventh this year, which I hope will spark new ideas and provide you with useful information on how tech companies are tackling various engineering problems. If you miss the last one, you can catch up here. I want to make sure each edition brings something valuable to you; that's why your feedback matters to me. If you have any ideas or requests for future editions, let me know. I hope you enjoy this month's edition.

In the United States and Western Europe, many traditional grocery retailers are seeing their sales and margins fall--and things could get even worse. Here's how to reverse the trend. To put it bluntly, much of the $5.7 trillion global grocery industry is in trouble. Although it has grown at about 4.5 percent annually over the past decade, that growth has been highly uneven--and has masked deeper problems. For grocers in developed markets, both growth and profitability have been on a downward trajectory due to higher costs, falling productivity, and race-to-the-bottom pricing. One result: a massive decline in publicly listed grocers' economic value.

Self-driving car start-up Aurora announced Thursday that it has raised more than $530 million in funding, from investors including Amazon, Sequoia and the investment arm of energy giant Shell. "This funding and partnership will accelerate our mission of delivering the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly," Aurora said. Aurora's management has a lot of experience in the automotive industry. The company's CEO and co-founder, Chris Urmson, is the former CTO of self-driving cars at Alphabet, which owns the autonomous vehicle firm Waymo. Co-founder and Chief Product Officer Sterling Anderson led the design and launch of the Tesla Model X, according to Aurora's website. Drew Bagnell, Aurora's chief technology officer and co-founder, helped found Uber's Advanced Technology Center.