The opportunity
Factories so automated they can run in the dark, around the clock, with only a few people supervising. Precision and flexibility at a new level.
What Jim has written about this
“Daily Inspiration” (February 2017)
“We have a new vocabulary! Self-driving cars, 3d printing, crowdfunding, the sharing economy, swarm-bots, smart dust, vertical farms, Internet of Things, cognitive navigation, smart factories, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, quantum computing, intelligent farms, smart clothing! What was science fiction just a few short years ago is a reality as time compresses and the future accelerates!
This was the subject of a blog post, Your new vocabulary for 2017 . Words and phrases like smart buildings, robotic hype cycles, scientific exponentiation, virtualized hospitals, intelligent infrastructure, connected energy and more.
“Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #5 Construction” (September 2025)
Robotics & automation on the job site . Robots are moving out of the factory and onto the construction site, with autonomous vehicles for earthmoving, brick-laying robots, and drones for site surveys, addressing labor shortages and improving safety.
Hyper-connectivity & location intelligence . The job site is becoming a fully connected, data-rich environment, with real-time data from drones, sensors, and wearables providing unprecedented visibility and control.
Companies like Built Robotics have engineered solutions such as the Exosystem,, a package that can be retrofitted onto existing heavy equipment from major manufacturers like Caterpillar and John Deere. This transforms a standard excavator or dozer into a fully autonomous robot, allowing companies to gain the benefits of automation without the prohibitive capital cost of purchasing an entirely new, specialized fleet.
“Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #1 Manufacturing” (September 2025)
AI-Powered Automation & Robotics : Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the factory floor. This includes machine vision for quality control, predictive maintenance to reduce downtime, and collaborative robots (cobots) that work alongside humans to boost efficiency and safety.
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) : Billions of sensors are being layered throughout facilities, creating “smart factories.” This massive connectivity allows for real-time data exchange, automated communication between machines, predictive diagnostics, and enhanced supply chain tracking.
ZIMM GmbH (Austria) : This SME manufacturer of spindle lift gears needed to increase production flexibility and efficiency for unmanned shifts.20 By implementing a modular manufacturing cell with a KUKA loading robot, ZIMM automated the physically demanding task of loading heavy metal parts.
Read the full pieces on jimcarroll.com:
Daily Inspiration: “We have a new vocabulary! Self-driving cars, 3d printing, crowdfunding, the sharing economy, swarm-bots, smart dust, vertical farms, Internet of Things, cognitive navigation, smart factories, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, quantum computing, intelligent farms, smart clothing! What was science fiction just a few short years ago is a reality as time compresses and the future accelerates!”
Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #5 Construction: “For centuries, construction was about brute force. The next century will be about intelligence—smart materials, robotic precision, and data-driven design.”
Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #1 Manufacturing - “The most valuable part of a modern manufacturing operation is the part you can’t see: the algorithms that optimize flow, the data that predicts failure, and the agility that makes the entire process intelligent.”