autonomous transfer hub
Author / Robb Bush
get in and go. anywhere.
personal pod
devices
the future is closer than it appears
In the fall of 2020, I embarked on a journey to revolutionize the concept of supply chain management – and all that ‘SCM’ has come to embrace or imply.
However, realizing the rapid evolution of technology, I was determined NOT to be constrained by a fixed “tech stack” or mindset from the start – but to focus solely on how “it” should behave, given different conditions and scenarios.
Drawing on my 25+ years of experience in Enterprise Software, I firmly believe that initial tech-decisions have an immense and lasting impact on the speed, agility, and innovation throughout the entire company and product lifecycle.
I am grateful that I held off, as the future trajectory has become increasingly clear with each passing month, week, or day (recently)!
With this in mind, there is no better time than NOW to accelerate the development of a new approach to enabling the dynamic and intelligent enterprise of the future.
If this sounds interesting, or is your kinda thing – please reach out!
#generativeai #ai #enterprise #supplychain #autonomous #industry5 #numuv
NŪMŪV: What is it, and who cares?
The primary design-hypothesis of the NUMUV concept:
De-coupling the cabin from the conveyance enables a whole new mobility system – both physically, and digitally.
Depending on the point of view and area of expertise, various people will see different aspects of the NUMUV system that are interrelated:
A Transportation Designer may see:
- a modularized vehicle system with a wide variety of interoperable ‘transporters’ and ‘cabins’
- leverage existing infrastructure and transport modes in a new way
A Logistics Professional may see:
- ‘Containerization’ which has proven to “make the word smaller, and the economy bigger”
A Supply-Chain Professional may see:
- A digital-thread system that “follows the Person / Product” and not the purchase or delivery order
A Software Engineer may see:
- Internet of Things and Autonomous Robotics
A Hardware Engineer may see:
- Robotics and Microcontrollers
An Industrial Automation Engineer may see:
- Meh
Citroën Autonomous Mobility Vision
Citroën has unveiled a new urban mobility concept that sees lines of autonomous, electric and interchangeable pods winding through cities of the future. The Citroën Autonomous Mobility Vision is primarily a flat, wheeled portion called the Skate that moves the vehicle. On top, any number of manufacturers can install capsules of their own design.
https://www.autoblog.com/2021/10/05/citroen-mobility-concept-lets-other-companies-design-your-cabin/
stand in the future…
stand in the future to solve today’s problems
Steve Justice, Skunk Works – Lockheed-Martin
This quote really resonates with me.
After 25 years at the leading-edge of Enterprise & Supply-Chain technology with trailblazing and iconic companies – where I was privileged to learn from industry-legends – I have developed an obsession for achieving ‘elegance’ in solutions to highly-complex problems.
It is something that I have repeatedly attempted to deliver, with successes & failures. However, it is always constrained by limitations that were built-in from the start – and this means 20-50 years ago – and also from the ‘paralysis’ that comes from induced artificial-complexity, that typically compounds over time.
After resigning1from management & NOT from my colleagues – some of the very best in the business! from Infor2 a KOCH company in October 2020, I was determined to see if I could design a ‘dream system’ for global trade & logistics – for a foreseeable future. A completely-new approach to address the wicked-problems we face in the present, anticipates the potential in the next 30 years or so, and provides a concrete, realistic example of how an ideal system could be. It represents a new system-design and set of principles that could make a positive impact on ‘how the world works’ in the 21st century, and beyond.
2050 seems ambitious and aspirational enough to ‘anticipate’. Its a year I hope to see – a world where my grand-daughter will be 30 years old.
the calls for action
Supply-Chain challenges and failures are front-and-center, making today’s headlines – with calls to “re-think, or re-imagine supply-chain”, or to reduce unnecessary complexity and barriers.
To achieve the results & benefits the world needs, then we must envision what that future could be. We need to stand in the future.
taking action!
Today, with all the hype surrounding the latest concepts and buzzwords like ‘Industry 4.0’, ‘Digital Transformation’, and ‘Self-Driving’, or ‘Autonomous’ this-or-that…
You have to wonder, ‘how will we get there from here?’, and subsequently, ‘then what’?
Will it actually be ‘better’ than what we have today?
How will we get to an INDUSTRY 4.0 ‘vision’ – with a conflagration of business-processes, constructs, and assumptions from 20-50, or even 70+ years ago?
the best way to predict the future
ALAN KAY
is to invent it.
In the spirit of the ‘art of the possible’ – I dedicated myself to create something completely different than anything that exists today, with zero-dependencies on the past – that can only be appreciated when you ‘stand in the future to solve today’s problems‘ – and not to remain stuck in the past.
I have created a Supply-Chain Management Simulation Game, called INDUSTRY 5.0 – and an experimental Autonomous Logistics System for People & Cargo called NŪMŪV.
- INDUSTRY 5.0 is a ‘serious game’ that enables you to envision business models, supply chains and logistics of the future – based on anticipated capabilities, where autonomous robotics are manufacturing & moving people & cargo – even in space!
- NŪMŪV (i.e. ‘new move’) is an experimental multi-modal transport system-simulator – one that moves both people and cargo ‘autonomously’ – orchestrated by supply & demand, in time & space via the INDUSTRY 5.0 game.
what next?
With a comprehensive design-specification and several Patents in process, we are now in the early stages of development, and getting closer to be able to really show it off.
- Do you want to know more?
- Do you want to help?
- Do you want to Invest or Partner?
We greatly appreciate any encouragement and support in this early stage.
Onward and upward!
Robb
that time I did a TED-talk pitch contest (and won)
I recorded these videos in February 2012 as part of a pitch contest for TEDx Austin 2012 held at the (brand new) Circuit of the Americas.
I won, and got a free pass to the event. Nothing else ever came of it.
The Future of Mobility
1. Own or Subscribe?
No one buys a cable box anymore – or even buys their own phone and probably even your computers and devices anymore.
So why should I own a car? I’d rather subscribe.
I have a family of four including two teenagers and I’m willing to sign a contract with the manufacturer for all my family’s transportation for the next two to three years.
Here’s the deal: we should be able to swap our vehicles anytime and get the right-size vehicle when needed. Small car for small trips, big car for big trips.
Heck, I’ll even visit the dealership more often – and I may buy other stuff there.
2. Multi-Modal Network!
Even cooler, we should be able to expand our transportation network easily – you know, \ if we need a bike, scooter, bus, train, airplane – whatever – we need a total logistics system.
And get this, by using other partner services i’ll learn partner or loyalty credits to use towards something special – maybe an outrageous supercar for the weekend!
3. Incentives for Sustainability!
How about this? If I opt-in and allow people to discover me with their smartphones they can ride share with me and I’ll get even more credits.
This new mobility business model will be so much better in so many ways and in today’s economy and the challenges we face – it’s a really smarter way to go.
Web 2.0 and the Emperor’s New Clothes?
This is a Blog post written by Robb Bush on JUNE 3, 2010 that has long since disappeared from the internet.Can someone explain why/how the various “Web 2.0” thingamajigs actually HELP business productivity?
I think they are neat-o, of course. I like things like Facebook and LinkedIn. Sometimes. But I can’t say they make me more productive or effective in my real everyday work. This is at least in comparison to what my expectations for what business productivity software and networked applications were supposed to do.
Is it the next Photoshop? The next Excel? The next advanced Planning and Optimization tool? I say emphatically no.
Almost all of these wonderful “Web 2.0 innovations” generate an explosion of content fragments that may – or may not – contribute to “useful knowledge”. Much of it is “in the now” – and eventually disappears or becomes buried.
Heres what I see:
- Increased fragmentation of knowledge
- Further challenge to already incredibly short attention spans (you want executives to use this?)
- Reduction of meaningful conversation/ideas into soundbytes (particularly challenging when multilingual)
- Over-reliance on text messaging / human-interpretation without process-support (eg Take a look at this… What do you think of… Heres an action item…)
Weren’t computers and software supposed to make us smarter, to bring us information, and not just inspire us to poke-around and click at disconnected messages?
The over reliance on linear text-messaging, rating things up/down, “likes”, the generation of excessive random tasks and discussions, and the capture and “trapping” of digital assets (more PPTs!) – seem to be further “dumbing things down” for everyone.
However, it provides the illusion that “things are happening”. That must be good right?
I consider this phenomenon in our industry another example of “the generation of artificial complexity that contributes to an illusion of productivity“.
More eyeballs, attention, and excitement are a good thing for Start-Ups selling shiny-objects to VCs and more Advertising to consumers…
But, is it REALLY good for the enterprise?
I have been tinkering with all of this for a long time, and often have been a strong evangelist from the earliest days of Web 0.1. But, the way things are going seem to be quite a step backward with over emphasis on copy-cat patterns from the recent crop of browser-based web applications. They may be fun to play with for a while, but may not equal more productivity or quantifiable business benefit.
Are we going to let the future of software get hijacked with brittle, non-scalable applications that place too much emphasis on linear discussion and voting trails?
Why not just consider the real benefit of Web 2.0 – which I consider the ‘people-connection’ – as a “add-on” or extension embedded into what Business Productivity Software already does (or is supposed to do). It should not be the “center” of a person’s activity, IMO.
Maybe some intelligence can be brought to all of these systems and provide some semantic matching and perhaps sensemaking. But, to do that – it will NOT be in a flat-browser paradigm, nor will you be endlessly clicking and poking around and reading little text fragments.
And, I don’t think we will call it Web 3.0/4.0… it should be a more “Disappearing Computer” that does not require our reliance on being glued to a web screen 24×7 tracking a multitude of disparate ‘inboxes’ and fragments.
Now that would be the real emerging technology.
Robb Bush
June 3, 2010