September has been a'wonder month' for me so far. In one way, I restarted my career with freelance writing, which I am glad to do in these challenging times of Covid outbreak; in another way, I started exploring the world of robotics with my daughter. Any parent will relate to me when I say that it is difficult to keep your children actively engaged indoors. As going out is not an option due to the pandemic situation, parents are constantly thinking of new ways to ensure that their children are happily involved. One day, an old friend called me and mentioned about how she enrolled her son for a robotics class.

Doctors won't be spared, as cutting-edge robotics will do some jobs more precise than they can. An ... [ ] older doctor with shaky hands and less-than-perfect eyesight will easily be replaced by a robot who doesn't take off Wednesday to golf. Just because you turn the page on the calendar, it doesn't mean that things will be radically different. History shows that most major events unfold slowly and then happen all of a sudden. The start of 2020 will continue the current trends that we are witnessing right now.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the large accounting and management consulting firm, released a startling report indicating that workers will be highly impacted by the fast-growing rise of artificial intelligence, robots and related technologies. Banking and financial services employees, factory workers and office staff will seemingly face the loss of their jobs--or need to find a way to reinvent themselves in this brave new world. The term "artificial intelligence" is loosely used to describe the ability of a machine to mimic human behavior. AI includes well-known applications, such as Siri, GPS, Spotify, self-driving vehicles and the larger-than-life robots made by Boston Robotics that perform incredible feats. Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, speaks about Siri during an announcement of new products at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference Monday, June 4, 2018, in San Jose, Calif.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the large accounting and management consulting firm, released a startling report indicating that workers will be highly impacted by the fast-growing rise of artificial intelligence, robots and related technologies. Banking and financial services employees, factory workers and office staff will seemingly face the loss of their jobs--or need to find a way to reinvent themselves in this brave new world. The term "artificial intelligence" is loosely used to describe the ability of a machine to mimic human behavior. AI includes well-known applications, such as Siri, GPS, Spotify, self-driving vehicles and the larger-than-life robots made by Boston Robotics that perform incredible feats. Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, speaks about Siri during an ... [ ] announcement of new products at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference Monday, June 4, 2018, in San Jose, Calif.

The future job market will be radically different--almost alien--to what we have now. There are a waves of forces that will significantly change the way we work and the type of jobs we hold. The rapid ascension of sophisticated technology, global connectedness and a confluence of other factors will make the workforce of the future almost unrecognizable. The South by Southwest festival (SXSW), in addition to its music and film, is also a home for smart, distinguished people to come together and discuss important issues. This year, one of the panels will include talks about job design and the future of work and will offer a follow-up piece about their conclusions.

ARTY is a week-long program for middle school students to teach them programming of robots and allow them to express themselves artistically. It was started in 2013 and ran its fourth edition in 2016. We describe the ideas behind the inception of this program, its curriculum, our experiences during the 2016 workshop and challenges/future directions for the program. Our primary intent in this paper is to convey the program curriculum and its design, including the way in which robots can be viewed as vehicles for artistic expression. Some results from a brief attitudinal survey that was administered before and after the workshop are also included along with a discussion of outcomes assessment and issues.