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security. There are thousands of com- panies now researching and developing products and ecosystems that run en- tirely on the blockchain technology. In current scenario of COVID-19 pandemic, Blockchain has become a key player in helping medical fraternity in securely storing medical research data and patient information.
5. Robotic Process Automation
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can be used for automating daily tasks, quite like artificial intelligence. It is a tool
that partially or fully automate man- ual, rule-based, and repetitive human activities. They work by replicating the actual human interacting actions using one or more software applications to perform tasks such as data entry, stand- ard transactions process, or respond to simple customer-related service queries. The most common example of the tool is “chatbot” that we have experienced on many of the websites.
Being a user-friendly and cost-effec- tive tool, robotic process automation provides a number of advantages such as low technical barriers, increased accuracy, uninterrupted work and in- creased productivity that attracts more organizations across industries. Various academic studies estimate that RPA among other technological trends is expected to lead a new wave of produc- tivity improvements in the global labour market. Although not directly attribut- able to RPA alone, Oxford University assumptions that up to 35% of all jobs might be automated by 2035.
6. Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality (VR) is the technology by which one can feel an astonishingly realistic feel of an environment. It uses a computer for creating a simulated environment with scenes and objects that appear to be real, making the
user feel they are engrossed in their sur- roundings. Such type of environment is perceived through a device known as a Virtual Reality headset or helmet. Medi- cine, culture, education and architecture are some of the areas that are getting benefitted from the use of this technol- ogy. From guided museum visits to the dissection of a muscle, the technology allows us to cross limitations that would otherwise be considered unimaginable. It is popularly used for playing com- puter games where it allows users to immerse themselves in video games as if
we they are one of the characters, make them to learn how to perform heart surgery or improve the quality of sports training to maximise one’s performance.
Virtual reality is applied commonly in entertainment applications like video games, 3D cinema, and social virtual worlds. At present the 3D cinema has been widely used for sporting events, pornography, fine art, music videos and short films.
7. Edge Computing
Edge computing is based on the phi- losophy of bringing computing power near the data source. This enables reduction of bandwidth and latency. Edge computing helps decentralize data processing and lower dependence on the cloud. This technology also shifts those processes to locations such as the user's system or an edge server.
Edge application services minimiz- es the volumes of data, the associated traffic in addition to the distance that data must travel. It provides lower latency that also lessens broadcast costs. Computation for real-time applica- tions like facial recognition algorithms showed improvements of response times. Edge computing technology employed in health monitors and other wearable healthcare devices helps in keeping an eye on patients with chronic conditions. It can save lives by sending
instant alerts to caregivers when help is required. Similarly, during video calls, poor video quality, frozen video screens etc. frustrations due to slow link to the cloud. By placing the server-side of video conferencing software closer to participants, such quality problems can be reduced.
The author is Scientist D at Vigyan Prasar. Email: sachin@vigyanprasar.gov.in
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May 2021