Hypertech Magazine

Issue Infote S35 January - April 2017

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Drones Drones 1 | Infote S35 January - April 2017

Ateneo Graduate School of Business

FOREWORD

This issue of Hypertech E-magazine features four (4) emerging technologies:

By Prof. Gary A. Grey, MBM

   

Social Media Analytics Internet of Things Drones Robotic Surgery

In the Gartner Hype Cycle Report of 2016, Cognitive Expert Advisors and Machine Learning are at the top of the peak of expectations while the IoT platform and smart robots are on the rise. In the sub-domains of Artificial Intelligence, the featured topics of Social Media Analytics are part of Cognitive Expert Advisors and Machine Learning, while Drones and Robotic surgery are part of Smart Robots.

These emerging technologies are part of a bigger picture called Industry 4.0. Industry 4.0 is the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. It includes cyber-physical systems, the Internet of things and cloud computing. Industry 4.0 creates what has been called a "smart factory." (Source: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industry 4.0).

Among the levers that enable Industry 4.0 are McKinsey’s 5 approaches and capabilities to drive the next generation operating model, viz., digitization, advanced analytics, intelligent process automation, business process outsourcing, and lean process redesign. (Source: Bollard, Albert, Larrea, Elixabete, Singla, Alex and Sood, Rohit. The nextgeneration operating model for the digital world, Digital McKinsey, March 2017).

The four articles look at the technology environment, the SWOT of the technology, applications in industry, education, healthcare, costbenefit analysis, and nation-building implications.

>> ABOUT PROF. GARY A. GREY, MBMGARY A. GREY, MBM >> ABOUT PROF. Prof. Grey is a consultant of Vision Analytics, Inc., a software development company engaged in creating optimal decision-making systems and intelligent process support software for the global market. He is concurrently a faculty member of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business where he teaches Information Technology, Business Intelligence, E-Marketing, Technopreneurship, and E-Commerce. In the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health teaches Health Informatics.

He took up undergraduate studies at De La Salle University where he graduated Magna Cum Laude major in Economics in 1972. He served in the banking community for the last 26 years with stints in Union Bank of the Philippines, Bancom Development Corporation, and PCIBank.

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Information Technology for Managers Section S35 2nd Trimester SY 2016-2017

MESSAGE Jonalyn Urciana Class President

We are so delighted to be part of the Hypertech e-magazine. This publication will be a vehicle for latest trends in technologies and how these technologies can positively impact human lives.

Our class consider social media analytics, internet of things, drones and robotic surgery as some of the most interesting topics to represent major technologies nowadays. In this issue, we presented costs, benefits, limitations and SWOT analysis to help our readers understand and appreciate what these technologies are all about.

We encourage you to go through our articles and get valuable insight into each topic.

We are honored to share the work of highly committed and hardworking individuals who are instrumental in changing our world through breakthroughs in technology.

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CLASS GROUPS Group 1 Benjunar Barcoma, Nathan Ecarma, Aynmarie Flores, Millet Crystal Flores, Paul Getty Granada, Daren Manuel, Cyril Radovan, Wehell Teleron

Group 2 Group 3

Vannilyn Alegre, Jesse Angelica Atanacio, VJ Hernandez, Leslie Lim, Alfred Palconit, James Pascual, Richelle Anne Mae D. Sayenga

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Joyce Ann Asilo, Krismon Chan, Diana Lynn Ching, Christian Caye Decasa, Marion Joseph Isleta, Kristina Michaela Salac, Kristine Taneco

Group 4

Jayfie Alcaraz, Gemma Atayde, Maricel Barba, Carissa Capacia, Claro De Veterbo, Maria Anna Francisco, Denise Marguerite Mayuga

Analytics

Introduction Online users are talking to each other daily – across social media sites, on public forums and within customer feedback channels. They are talking about products, services and their experience, as well as their likes and dislikes. This virtual focus group is taking place online, and these conversations are increasing. To be successful, companies must filter the noise to focus on specific recurring themes.

Social Media Analytics allows organizations to analyze detail in conversations within social media and other online channels, enabling you to: • Continuously collect and archive social media conversations that are necessary to understand trends.

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• Predict future volume of social media conversations and their impact on business results.

• Adjust underlying sentiment applied to source documents and the associated rules that assign sentiment to topics.

• Take action on insights using integrated routing and workflow features.

Vendors For Social Analytics With the sudden rise to fame of social media sites in the past decades, and the compounding amount of data being drawn from these sites, the natural derivatives are businesses geared towards understanding this data and finding value amidst this sea of value and non-value adding information.

Industry leaders in technology and computational science started offering products to assist in generating useful insight from this information. One company is SAS, which once stood for "statistical analysis system." The company started in North Carolina State University as a project to analyze agricultural research.

Demand for such software capabilities began to grow, and SAS was founded in 1976 to help customers in all sorts of industries – from pharmaceutical companies and banks to academic and governmental entities. SAS’s success can be attributed to its softwares that could run across all platforms, using the multivendor architecture for which it is known for today.

SAS Social Media Analytics products include SAS Text Miner, SAS Enterprise Content Categorization, SAS Sentiment Analysis, SAS Ontology Management and SAS Contextual Analysis.

Another major player is IBM, with its IBM Watson Analytics for Social Media. IBM has been in existence for more than a hundred years. It takes root in producing timekeeping equipment for schools and businesses, but it has changed along with the ever changing and accelerating change in technology. One thing remains constant though, that is its constant revolutionizing and innovating that has allowed it to thrive all these years.

IBM’s latest innovation is Watson Analytics, which automatically creates data visualizations for exceptionally insightful discoveries, all on the cloud. Identify a topic and quickly get relevant content that shows you interesting relationships and patterns. You can easily take the pulse of your audience, gain greater visibility into a topic or market and compare results with other data sources for new insights derived from different views of information.

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Other A-List market players are Attensity and Clarabridge, as provided in the table below.

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Typically, services like this start with larger companies, those with an international presence, economies of scale and vast expertise. However, over time, smaller companies have also started to provide this service, and here are a few notable ones, based on the recent assessment of an online site called TopTenReviews entitled “The Best Social Media Monitoring of 2017.�

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Requirements in order to have a social analytics in place In putting an analytics program in place, researchers are often faced with two major impediments, namely: 1.) Access to comprehensive data sets, and 2.) tools that will allow for deep data analysis without the need to program it in a language such as Java. Building on the opening statement, it is crucial that researchers have access to ‘big’ data sets in social media and the appropriate facilities for the experimentation process.

So basically, in order to put a social analytics in place, researchers must first establish these information outlets which are data, analytics and facilities.

Data ●

●

● ● ●

Researchers must first be able to secure online access to both historic and realtime social media data, especially the principal sources, to conduct an extensive research: Social network media—access to comprehensive historic data sets and also realtime access to sources, possibly with a (15 min) time delay, as with Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg financial data.

News data—access to historic data and real-time news data sets, possibly through the concept of ‘educational data licenses’ (cf. software license).

Public data—access to scraped and archived important public data; available through RSS feeds, blogs or open government databases.

Programmable interfaces—researchers also need access to simple application programming interfaces (APIs) to scrape and store other available data sources that may not be automatically collected.

Analytics After getting access to online data, researchers are required to program their analytics in a language such as MAT-LAB, Java or Python. To be specific, researchers require the following: ● ● ●

Analytics dashboards—non-programming interfaces are required for giving what might be termed as ‘deep’ access to ‘raw’ data.

Holistic data analysis—tools are required for combining (and conducting analytics across) multiple social media and other data sets.

Data visualization—researchers also require visualization tools whereby information that has been abstracted can be visualized in some schematic form with the goal of communicating information clearly and effectively through graphical means.

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Facilities Lastly, the amount of data in the social media being generated and process calls for both national and international facilities to be established to support the research. Based on the group’s source from Wharton Research Data Services, the following facilities must be put up to process the incoming data: ●

●

Data storage—the volume of social media data, current and projected, is beyond most individual universities and hence needs to be addressed at a national science foundation level. Storage is required both for principal data sources (e.g., Twitter), but also for sources collected by individual projects and archived for future use by other researchers.

Computational facility—remotely accessible computational facilities are also required for: a) protecting access to the stored data; b) hosting the analytics and visualization tools; and c) providing computational resources such as grids and GPUs required for processing the data at the facility rather than transmitting it across a network.

Key points in choosing social media analytics: ●

Check Compatibility of social analytics to existing software It is necessary to check with the supplier if the tool can be integrated in the existing software. This option will give user flexibility to incorporate output of software that company already purchased or developed. This scheme will allow companies to maximize available resources.

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Know if multiple users are possible Single user feature might be less attractive compared to multiple user capable software. It is better if the social analytics tool can give extra access to employees to monitor the social media interactions.

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Check the subscription period There companies should also check the subscription and cancellation period of this software. There are companies who want to avail services for a yearlong or even less. Flexibility on the subscription period will allow companies to focus on the heart of the project.

●

Identify cost and benefits of Social Analytics Before purchasing any social analytics, the company must assess the benefits over the cost of purchasing this tool. This system might be suitable for one industry but not for others.

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Use Cases (Business applications)

Business Benefits

Business Application

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Benefits of social media analytics 1) Competitive Advantage Social Media Analytics gathers information from social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and etc. This information can gain the organization competitive advantage because it will help them understand the competitiveness of their brands in the market, how their customers use their products and services, what are the concerns of their customers their products and services, and how society views the company. Social Media Analysis also helps the organization track activities of their competitor if they are doing fairly or poorly 2) Customer perception Internet has become an effective platform for organizations to grow their customer base through social marketing and online sales efforts. Social Media Analytics can assist the company to gather information from their customers and used this data in creating solutions and enhancements to their products.

3) Optimize Target Marketing Efforts Social Media Analytics are able to provide timely information to the company regarding demographic and psychographic characteristics for product and service usage. This information can assist the organization in creating effective target marketing campaigns.

4) Market Innovation Social Media Analytic tools provide deep natural language processing or semantic analysis of social media. These tools can be configured to discover capability gaps in a market as a whole. For example, the minimalist innovation in the running show market was partially fueled by user feedback desiring lighter, cooler (not hot) running shoes. With this information, shoe manufacturer were able to invent shoes fit to the customer needs

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Disadvantages/Limitations of social media analytics 1) Effective Data Gathering â—? â—?

A portion of customers are not using social media to provide comments regarding the company or the products. With this, data gathering will not be 100% accurate.

Most of the comments in social media are not about our clients’ brands and services, and the comments do not typically cover the whole range of experiences which leaves a gap in the information gathered.

2) Effectively dividing the data to Demographics Data gathered can sometimes be difficult to a specific group, for example data can be difficult to identify what country and regions it came from or what age and gender can the data be classified.

3) Social Media Data Comparison The dynamic nature of social media means that it is difficult to compare previous information to current data because the number of people using social media is frequently changing and growing. Without consistency, the accuracy of social media measurements is limited.

4) Sentimental Analysis Most automated sentiment analysis is considered by market researchers to either be poor or useless. This means inaccuracy can be encountered and measurement can sometimes be unreliable.

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Strength 1. Social media analytics can collect millions of comments, posts, and tweets, regarding a particular product or brand, discussed over a few weeks or a few years in a relatively short time. Because of this wide scope and speed, social media analysis is effective at spotting trends that are happening in multiple small pockets around the world, trends that would take months to identify using traditional focus group methods.

2. Another strength of social media data analysis is the ability to discover what people want to share with their friends and associate themselves with online. People “like� brands, share topics that are important to them, from technology to social issues to recipes, and ask for guidance from their virtual peers. This kind of data can also be used to identify influencers who persuade and influence others on their purchases.

Weakness 1. Social media analytics cannot be reliable in providing demographic details for every post or mention that traditional business or industry ethnographers may be used to. Demographic metrics such as gender, age, and location are often shared, but because people withhold their

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personal information, or provide incorrect personal details, dividing the information per demographic will be difficult.

2. Social Media Analytics can provide an incomplete picture because most of the people with social media accounts are lurkers. These people are not posting frequently and just observe other people’s opinion.

3. People’s sentiments which may be used in Social Media Analytics can provide inaccurate information and can mislead companies into making wrong decisions.

Opportunities 1. Social Media Analytics can provide information and use these data in tapping different markets and expanding the company’s market share 2. Social Media Analytics can help the company in creating new innovation through customer feedbacks 3. Social media analytics can help the company monitor and analyze their competition by using the information provided in social media.

Threats 1. Measuring the return on investment if the company will use social media analytics as a tool in helping the organization grow 2. Continuous changing of people’s behavior may cause the data provided of social media analytics to inaccurate 3. Social Media Analytics is still new in the market and best practices are still to be discovered which why selecting the right vendor will be difficult since every vendor uses different analytical approaches

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Cost Benefit Analysis

For this section we will be using an actual total economic impact study performed by Forrester Consulting on the performance of ‘Intelligent Advertising for Publishers’ by SAS for a certain company.

Intelligent Advertising for Publishers is a product offered by SAS that consolidates all advertising operation into one single platform that allows the user to perform bookings, delivery, reporting and forecasting across multiple media (digital, mobile and video) from a common user interface.

Total Cost

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In the 3 years of using ‘Intelligent Advertising for Publishers’ was also able to identify and target new customer segments though the analytics capabilities of the product and saw an 18% increase in sales without having to make any changes to their processes, organization and methodology. The Company also saw cost savings by eliminating license fees amounting to $714,870 from several applications whose functions were taken over by the product.

Total Benefits

Given the cost and benefits for a 3 year period we can calculate the ROI for the product:

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Ethical Implications Data analytics technology can reap huge benefits to individuals and organization bringing personalized service, detection of fraud and abuse, efficient use of resources and prevention of failure or accident. So why are there questions being raised about the ethics of analytics, and its related technology, Big Data?

Based on an article entitled “Ethics for big data and analytics” by Mandy Chessell, an IBM distinguished engineer, she claimed that “Laws and regulations guide organizations, particularly around privacy and the use of data, defining the current “no-go” areas for an organization. However, recent advancements in analytics and big data technology have widened the gap between what is possible and what is legally allowed, changing the balance of power between individuals and the data collectors. Within this gap are new opportunities alongside the risks of public relations disasters and unintended consequences. And it is within this gap where the ethical questions around what is acceptable are raised. “ Also, she claimed that the organization looks towards applying analytics and big data to enhance the way they operate, so, how do they know that their use of this technology is ethical?

With the difference on stakeholders and customers opinion on what ethical, she suggested that users of these analytics should consider these ethical implications on doing their activities: 1. Context – For what purpose was the data originally surrendered? For what purpose is the data now being used? How far removed from the original context is its new use? Is this appropriate?

2. Consent & Choice – What are the choices given to an affected party? Do they know they are making a choice? Do they really understand what they are agreeing to? Do they really have an opportunity to decline? What alternatives are offered?

3. Reasonable – Is the depth and breadth of the data used and the relationships derived reasonable for the application it is used for?

4. Substantiated – Are the sources of data used appropriate, authoritative, complete and timely for the application?

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5. Owned – Who owns the resulting insight? What are their responsibilities towards it in terms of its protection and the obligation to act?

6. Fair – How equitable are the results of the application to all parties? Is everyone properly compensated?

7. Considered – What are the consequences of the data collection and analysis?

8. Access – What access to data is given to the data subject?

9. Accountable – How are mistakes and unintended consequences detected and repaired? Can the interested parties check the results that affect them?

Nation-Building Implications With the emergence of different social media channels in our country nowadays, we can see how the people around us interact with each other. Through the use of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, websites, and even personal blogs, we can freely air out our opinions about certain topics. In general, the role of social media has been a huge part of our lives. Ever since the emergence of technological advancements - the era of smart phones, tablets, PDAs, and even smart watches, almost everyone of us signed up for the free use of online platforms not only because it is the “in” thing right now, but also because we want to market ourselves, we want to make our friends “follow” us, we want to to open up a part of our lives and share it to our friends.

We want to connect with the people around the world, as well as discover what are the other opportunities that we can get outside of our comfort zone.

We can share a part of our everyday lives to our friends because it makes us feel connected even though we are miles apart. However, the most important reason why we are very active in social media channels is because we can freely talk about anything under the sun, no matter who we are, and no matter where we are. We have our own voice which can be heard, and be seen by the people whom we really want to talk to.

Nowadays, Social Media platforms are being used not only to connect people, it is also being used for nation building activities. This is where the importance of Social Media Analytics takes place. By tracking our social media actions, companies who offer SMAs, can analyze and make sense every move we make, every like we click, and every article that we post. It has something to do with how we see the world, how we like to improve our society, and what we can or want to do to improve our lives at this point in time. The use of social media has empowered the common folk to freely express his opinion on certain issues. That is the main reason why our government wants to use social media to improve its governance in the next coming years.

Since we are in a democratic country, analyzing the online democratic language can certainly help us improve our way of life.

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If our Philippine government would adopt the usage of Social Media Analytics to its normal operations, they can not only solve the emerging problems that a lot of people talk about online, they can also improve the lives of the majority. An example of this would be if a lot of people post about the problem of traffic in the Metro, with the use of SMAs, the government would know what could be the source of the problem, they could also analyze if the problem is really rooted in the overpopulated urban areas, or if it is just because a lot of motorists are not following the correct traffic procedures. The government, as a client, would also know what insights or suggestions the public are talking about online which they can also consider in solving the problem. Another example of an event where we can see the advantage of having a Social Media Analytics platform is when there is a typhoon. The technology can track refugees, their specific locations, what they are feeling, and what help they would need so that the government can help send their humanitarian efforts as soon as possible. During those emergency situations, the advantage of time can be of the essence. The more time the government saves because of this facility, the more time it can help those who are in need.

Lastly, SMAs can also help the government track terrorists, and prevent them from further destroying the peace in our country. By using SMAs, the technology tries to enter all the possible social media posts looking for specific information, such as how the terrorists would communicate to each other, how they can reach their target audience, and if their messages are being communicated properly. This tool can also help the government indicate if a certain message is effective or not, and if the people are being influenced by their message, or if the people are looking to distance themselves from all the messages that the terrorists have been sending. If the government, with the help of SMAs, would be able to put those information together and translate it into action, all of our citizens would feel so much better because somehow, there could be a tool for us to use that can lessen, if not totally erase the fear of terrorism. If the citizens in a country feels safe, then the country can continue to focus on more important issues like economic growth and job stability.

By doing that, the country can not only attract local investors, they can also attract even international investors. The country could be attractive enough to be able to convince investors to move foreign funds from developed markets to emerging markets like the Philippines.

Through the use of social media, the government and the normal citizens, can freely communicate with each other without using any filters. Through the use of SMAs, the interaction of both parties could make so much sense, and they can even use that analysis to improve our country’s development.

REFERENCES "Why Has Social Media Analytics Met With Limited Success In Market Research?" GreenBook. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2017. <http://www.greenbookblog.org/2014/04/25/why-has-social-media-analytics-met-withlimited-success-in-market-research/>.

Spencer. "Digital Analytics - University of Utah." Digital Analytics - University of Utah. N.p., 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 11 Feb. 2017. <http://dauofu.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-benefits-of-media-as-technology.html>.

Morgan, Jacob. "Using SWOT for Social Media Strategy." Jacob Morgan. N.p., 26 Nov. 2008. Web. 11 Feb. 2017. <https://thefutureorganization.com/using-swot-for-social-media-strategy/>.

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"Social media analytics: What itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good for, and what itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not | Alliance." Deloitte Digital. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2017. <http://www.deloittedigital.com/us/blog/social-media-analytics-what-its-good-for-andwhat-its-not>.

"Machine learning enriches the private cloud." IBM Big Data & Analytics Hub | Understanding big data for the enterprise.

N.p., n.d.

Web. 11 Feb. 2017. <http://www.ibmbigdatahub.com/sites/default/files/whitepapers_reports_file/TCG%20Study%20Rep ort%20-%20Ethics%20for%20BD%26A.pdf>.

"The Best Social Media Monitoring of 2017 | Top Ten Reviews." TopTenREVIEWS. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2017. <http://www.toptenreviews.com/services/internet/best-social-media-monitoring/>.

"A guide to buying the best social media analytics tool." Quintly Blog. N.p., 16 Feb. 2017. Web. 11 Feb. 2017. <https://www.quintly.com/blog/2016/09/best-social-media-analytics-tool/#anchor5>.

"Analytics, Business Intelligence and Data Management." Analytics, Business Intelligence and Data Management | SAS. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2017. <http://www.sas.com/>.

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By Group 2

I.

The Internet of Things

A. Technical Environment of The Internet of Things Broadband internet is becoming widely available and the cost connecting is decreasing. Mobile devices with Wi-Fi capabilities are also following the same trend. Google is even contributing to this fast adaptation of connecting to the internet through their Project Loon. These trends are what making the Internet of Things (IoT) concept possible.

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IoT is simply the connection and communication of devices through the internet. It utilizes cloud computing to process data that is gathered from these connected devices. It is mobile, instantaneous, and ambitious. It supposed to make everything in our lives from coffee makers to streetlights smart.

The value of what IoT brings is the integration of data gathering through the different connected devices and leveraging the collected data through the cloud-based applications. These often feature identifiable items and objects, programmable artificial intelligence, and the tracking of these objects through geolocation.

The world’s foremost research groups have predicted that by 2020, there will be 4 billion connected People, $4 trillion revenue opportunity, 25+ million apps, 25+ billion embedded and intelligent systems and 50 trillion GBs of data.

B. Trends in The Internet of Things The applications of IoT depends on the availability of the network for devices to connect to, the scale of the application, and how receptive the users may be. Over the past years many IoT applications are being adopted and improved.

In homes, control of appliances and other home equipment from air conditioners to vacuums allow better energy management. Homeowners can even control these appliances straight from their smart phones. Here are the hot picks for trends in IoT for 2017: Amazon Echo, Google Home, etc. These consumer-IoT products are making waves as these devices are enables home automation, i.e. switching on/off of appliances on call or as schedules. They are also capable of voice interaction, providing weather information and data pulled out from the internet, set alarm, to-do lists and can stream music and videos. All these are done by using trigger words such as “Alexa”, “Amazon” and others.

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Industry 4.0. This is also commonly called in the manufacturing industry as the â&#x20AC;&#x153;smart factoryâ&#x20AC;?. It is the current trend in manufacturing that includes cyber-physical systems, IoT and cloud computing. Gone are the generations of mechanization/steam power, mass production/assembly line, and computer-aided automation.

Printed nanotechnology (RFID/NFC). Printed tags and NFC-enabled phones have made life more sophisticated with limitless applications in place. Phones can now be used for retail and payment. Smart tags paved the way for cashless toll payment and smart parking systems in malls, airports and other facilities.

Autonomous cars. These cars do not need human input to operate. It is self-driving by gathering data from the environment by use of different tools and techniques such as radar, GPS and computer vision.

Development of the driverless cars is still a work in progress but with the potential IoT is having, fully autonomous vehicle is right on the edge.

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Wearables. Along with the improvement in mobile phone technology and regular updates in smartphone features and functionalities, wearables emerged. Examples are the Apple Watch and Samsung Galaxy Gear, both smart watches that are secondary devices for smartphone functions. The Google Watch is as useful as a smartphone but is hands-free.

Trends have started to emerge as IoT becomes more accessible such as the focus on security, service, and further development of the technology. With multiple objects having the ability to be interconnected, there is still a risk of information being stolen or devices that could be hacked.

Although the IoT is still in its infancy, security experts advocate constantly updating the software to avoid hacks.

According to Nick Jones, Vice President and Analyst at Gartner, the seemingly hot IoT technical areas in discussion are as follows: 1. IoT Security. With the advent of technological developments in the IoT discussion, security technologies will have to protect both hardwares and softwares involved. The IoT devices need to be protected from tampering while the platform has to be protected from information attacks.

2. IoT Analytics. As the amount of data will increase dramatically as technology develops Analytics will also evolve and converge with IoT. Recently, Big Data has also been an industry topic to address the rapid change in data management brought about by IoT innovations.

3. IoT Device Management. IoT devices will have to be monitored consistently to systematically synchronized for firmware and software updates, crash analysis and diagnostics, etc.

4. Low Power, Short Range IoT Networks. This will dominate wireless IoT connectivity through 2025. Wide Area networks will no longer be the preference by this time as projected and will be outnumbered.

5. Low Power, Wide Area Networks. Traditional cellular networks isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t perfectly

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compatible to IoT applications, hence narrowband IoT will dominate this transmission space as developed to tailor-fit IoT innovations. This can be deployed in spectrum allocated to LTE. 6. IoT Processors. Semiconductor companies will be forced to improve in their research and development of processing chips. The notable trend in chip development is an inverse relationship between the physical dimension and functional capacities. These companies create smallest chip possible packed with advanced technical functions.

7. IoT Operating Systems. The operating system used for IoT devices is different from the traditional OS we use in our computers like Windows and iOS. However, Microsoft developed its latest OS to accommodate the trend and called it Windows 10 for IoT. Other examples are RTOS that are robust and provide scalability and Brillo developed by Google when it decided to enter the embedded OS market.

8. Event Stream Processing. Data rates that are extremely high require real time analysis. With this, tools have been developed to perform tasks like real time analytics and pattern identification.

9. IoT Platforms. Most devices come in modular form as a lot of components will be embedded into a single product to perform low-level control and operations, data acquisition and management and application development.

10. IoT Standards and Ecosystem. The rise of IoT paves the way for interoperability of organizations and their devices. Hence, the APIs (application programming interface) are designed in such a way that the devices interoperate with each other.

Companies also see the IoT as a means to an end, with the end being the additional services that the company can offer to the customer after the sale has been made. With the plethora of items and devices that could be interconnected, companies are in a rush to consolidate their positions by acquiring different companies that would be in line with their devices. This race for interconnectivity would mean companies would push for innovation which would be beneficial to the customers.

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C. SWOT Analysis of The Internet of Things

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESS

Information Availability Cost reduction Ease of Use Innovation

Huge Investment Data challenges Complexity Compatibility Issues

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

Connectivity and accessibility Healthcare Applications Investment Opportunities

Security Vulnerability Dependency Low Demand

STRENGTHS Information – Since devices are connected and continuously gathering and interpreting data, information is always available. These information is used for decision making in critical situation.

Time – When information is always available time is saved from the process to initiate gathering of data and interpreting it. Data is continuously processed and fed to servers where it will always be available for analysis.

Cost efficiency - This is the main driver of implementing IoT. This will address overruns and production efficiency reducing costs significantly. Devices connected in production, delivery and sales gives businesses the flexibility to immediately respond to sales (demand) by increase/decrease in production (supply) and prioritizing delivery.

Innovation - There are endless possibilities for IoT enabling businesses to be more innovative adapting to environmental concerns, customer needs, luxury and a lot of future possibilities.

Improving standard living - Having the capacity use one device such as mobile phone to control several devices such as tv, aircon, garage gate, lights etc… improves the overall standard of living.

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WEAKNESSES Compatibility â&#x20AC;&#x201C; One of the weaknesses of IoT is that not all hardware is compatible to each program or software. Some hardware needs only talks with a specific programming language or has a specific controlling device, which can be used for other hardware. There should be a standard or uniform programming language that can be used to control all things connected to the internet.

Complexity â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Systems adopting to IoT are more complex than the standard system. As it requires compatibility of multiple hardware to different programs, it is eventual that failures and bugs in the system will occur. Specialist and technicians are required more than ever to solve these problems Data challenges - Data challenges in terms of storage, extrapolation analysis in obtaining information on given parameters for connected devices would take more time.

High investment cost - High investment cost for businesses being pioneers in IoT. Software, hardware and devices needs to be customized since only a few key players in the business are offering solutions and devices. Apart from production cost, huge allotment to research and development cost needs to be provided for.

OPPORTUNITIES Connectivity and accessibility - Opportunities include connectivity and accessibility to the internet.

As of 2016, almost 46.6% of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population has internet access and is predicted to increase annually by 8%.

Healthcare Applications - Healthcare applications connecting several devices provides several opportunities for developers to innovate and make solutions to make lives easier. Healthcare applications, integrating doctors/patients/hospitals records and allowing shared information provides more alternative personal healthcare, even remote diagnosis or robotics surgery with calculated precision and risk.

Wearables - smartwatches records our daily activities, workout routines, heart rate, steps etc..

From a small compact practical device it eliminates carrying several items.

Exciting investment opportunities - IoT brings with it an array of potential investment opportunities.

THREATS Privacy and online security - The biggest threats for IoT are related to privacy and online security.

Since most of the devices are connected to the internet, there is a possibility that the connection can be hacked or anyone connected to the internet may control them.

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Dependency - Also, as the technology of the IOT develops, users might be caught in a trap and be overly dependent on the technology. Errors in the system might lead to incapacitating whole departments from completing their work.

Lack of demand due to high cost - price is not cheap. IoT being at its early stage few businesses offers devices and solutions in the current market.

II.

The Internet of Things: Application to Traffic Management System Through IoT applied in a traffic management system, we can have traffic flow optimization, because instead of traffic lights having fixed time anytime within the day, we will have a system that will adjust the traffic lights to respond to the condition and changes in traffic flow. The capabilities of this system are the following: Traffic Condition Detection Sensors, called as loop detectors, installed along the road transmit the data (e.g. vehicle volume and speed) to each intersectionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s controller that collects, verifies, and analyzes it. The controller is connected to a broadband device, which transmits the data to a central server. The measured values from the controller are then interpreted to useful information, through software algorithms, for operators in the command center and other control and information systems.

Real-time Traffic Adjustment Data transmitted to the system from each controller is analyzed collectively. The system will then adjust the timers for each intersection or network depending on the traffic situation on the ground. This technology ensures that the system adapts to real-time traffic situation, reducing the need to manually adjust the timers on site.

Emergency Response One of the many challenges of emergency responders is the unpredictable traffic condition, which affects their response time and that of the patient. The system has a capability of prioritizing a specific lane, which allows vehicles to move freely at a given time. Emergency responders just need to coordinate their route to the command center for them to prioritize to the route that the responders will take.

This way, emergency responders can arrive to their destination without the fear of being stuck in traffic.

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Incident Management Since not all data cannot be collected by the sensors in the road (e.g. incidents and obstructions that caused traffic slowdowns) the system will obtain other relevant traffic information from different sources such as traffic news and police reports to supplement the collected data.

A good example of this system is Waze. Waze obtains information from different drivers that have the application installed in their phones. The drivers are asked notify Waze on the current condition of the road and what events may have occurred in that location.

Travel Time The system has the capability to measure the vehicle’s travel time from sensor to sensor that allows it to accurately interpret traffic congestion and disruptions.

Information Management The system retrieves all measured values, status information, and other operational commands (operator initiated) in the system, matches them with userdefined limits and combines them with time constraints to define effective traffic interventions. Logical sequences of traffic lights are defined through the integration and analysis of all these gathered data.

Data gathered can now be interpreted into useful information and cascaded to the public through LED monitors. These monitors are connected to the internet to inform the public of the current situation going to their respective destinations.

III.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

A. The Cost of Ownership of IoT for Advanced Traffic Management System The application of IoT to the traffic management system will require a multiple hardware and programs installed within the city for it to function. To apply it on a current system, equipment modification and system remodelling may be required. A typical set-up of this advanced traffic management system are the following: ● ●

Traffic Management Software Command Center ○ Data Servers

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● ●

○ Monitoring Facility ○ Control Facility Data collectors ○ Sensors installed throughout the intersections of a city Miscellaneous ○ Equipment and signages

A similar setup is currently being installed in the central business district of Makati and was priced at around PHP 200M. The summary of assumptions and cost are presented in the table below.

Cost of Ownership of Advanced Traffic Management System (Millions) Advanced Traffic Management System Additional Cost for Operation (Quarter; 3.5% of Capital)

PHP 200.00 7.00

The cost of operating and maintaining the system was assumed to be at the typical 3.5% of the capital cost. These cost may be the following: ● ● ●

Proprietary Software updates System maintenance Equipment maintenance and spares

B. The Benefits of IoT in The Traffic Management System 1. Reduction of parking-related traffic.

Innovative parking guidance systems can provide exactly the required information and use dynamic signs to guide motorists to the nearest free parking space.

Municipalities stand to profit from such systems in multiple ways: Visits to the city center become more attractive and the occupancy of usually less frequented parking facilities is increased.

2. Shorter travel times and less congestion on motorways.

Speed harmonization is one of many options in active traffic management system aimed at reducing congestion and accident numbers. This method is applied at points where lanes merge and form bottlenecks, the greatest cause of congestion nationwide. The strategy involves gradually lowering speeds before a heavily

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congested area in order to reduce the stop-and-go traffic that contributes to frustration and crashes.

3. Up to 90% lower energy use LED light sources save up to 90 percent of energy and have a much longer service life: As experience shows, conventional filament lamps have to be replaced after 4 to 6 month of service while LEDs work reliably for several years, maximizing signal availability and minimizing maintenance costs. Enhanced traffic safety: LED signal heads offer better visibility, even in direct sunlight and from the side, and a more homogeneous luminous field.

4. Dynamic traffic control protects the environment Comprehensive traffic data are used to calculate the emission levels in each section of the road network in real time. Together with current weather information or weather forecasts, traffic-related pollution can be easily predicted across the entire road network. This overview forms the basis for targeted and proactive environmentally oriented traffic control. As conditions change daily, selecting the optimum strategy for the current situation is essential. Often “soft” measures, such as adaptive traffic light control for improving traffic flow, bring a significant reduction in air pollution.

5. Fast response times help prevent secondary accidents The fast and accurate analysis of traffic situations and the reliable identification of traffic incidents helps prevent secondary incidents and reduce average travel time.

Moreover, emergency services can be alerted earlier and directed to the scene of the accident.

C. Financial analysis Jerry Chase of Dataconomy stated that industry forecasters find it difficult measure ROI for IoT as the effect of its usage in businesses is somewhat vague and unquantifiable. They can focus on the so – called ‘digital transformation’ which deals with material improvement in businesses but this still does not provide tangible ROI. However, on December 2015, Microsoft made bold projection on worldwide industry IoT revenue opportunity. According to Microsoft’s data, within a 4-year span, revenue opportunity across all industries will dramatically increase. Most notable is the huge increase in the manufacturing sector.

For transportation, the $156 B revenue from 2014 is projected to balloon to global $325 B IoT revenue opportunity by 2018. This covers figures for the purchase of commercial vehicles and deployment of transportation and traffic management systems.

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IV.

Ethical Implication Egalitarian Theory For example, in the traffic management system; the system has a capability of prioritizing a specific lane or direction, persons in authority for their own benefit may abuse this. They can prioritize their route and arrive at their destination smoothly while others are stuck in traffic. This is in conflict with the Egalitarian Theory that states that every person should be given exact equal shares of a societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s or a groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s benefits and burdens.

Information Security With all the data gathered and transmitted by the IoT, the risk of losing information privacy and security increases. Entities handling the information gathered by their systems should be responsible in safeguarding them from threats. Malicious users may use the system to pry on personal information of individuals and use it for their gains.

The Internet of Things also impede on privacy by collecting information on people and their habits. Companies have the means to access this information which are readily available for them. They can transform this information into many tools and help them generate revenues.

There would also be a problem regarding ultra-connectivity. These connections will increase in number as well as the amount of data that could be transferred, which could be used maliciously.

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Location Tracking The internet of things could track the consumer’s location and overtime could endanger consumers’ physical safety. Our devices collect data from our activities and location without knowing that we are being monitored in a variety of ways both voluntary and involuntary.

Data Transparency Club et al mentioned in their paper entitled The Ethics, Privacy, and Legal Issues around the Internet of Things that ‘The first principle of data usage should ideally be data transparency. Every consumer has a right to know what data is being collected and how it is being used by the company. Few companies do this well, some companies provide some transparency, but a lot of companies are not very transparent at all. Some of this is due to competition and secrecy.

V.

Nation-Building Implication Application of IoT will open opportunities for different undergraduate specializations like information technology, computer science, electronics engineering, and other practices as it deals directly with computer software and electronic hardware. It will significantly improve our quality of life as this technology makes things easier and more accessible for everyone.

Internet of Things provides several benefits to different industries. In healthcare, for example, Atomic Blog provided a device used in the United States called Sensor, Technology, and Analytics to Monitor, Predict and Protect Ebola Patients” (or STAMP for short) where it collects all kinds of patient data, from body temperature to oxygen saturation. Agricultural businesses can also benefit from IoT as through IoT devices farmers can easily track soil acidity levels, temperature and crop growth.

The Asian Market is expected to spend $598B for IoT by 2020. The Philippines on the other hand is also expected to benefit from IoT as the country’s economy is growing faster. The Filipino companies are now embracing the limitless possibilities of IoT in developing their business because of efficiency. IoT allows efficient business operations by automating a given set of conditions and predict the next business move.

REFERENCES Mario Morales, IDC. Info graphics on IoT 2020. Retrieved February 17, 2017, from https://www.geoforce.com/blog/The-Internet-of-Things-IoT-lives-in-the-oilfield-too Siemens. (2012). Traffic data analysis in Sitraffic Scala/Concert. Germany, Siemens AG: Author. Rerieved from http://www.mobility.siemens.com

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Federal Highway Administration. (2016). Adaptive signal control technology. Retrieved February 9, 2017, from http://www.fhwa.dot.go/innovation/everydaycounts/edc-1/asct.cfm J. Gubbi et al. (2013). Internet of things (IoT): A vision, architectural elements, and future directions. Future Generation Computer Systems, 29(2013), 1645-1660. Retrieved from http://www.scienceirect.com/science/article/piis0167739X13000241 Curtland Education. (2010). The Internet of Things. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from https://sites.google.com/a/cortland.edu/the-internet-of-things/ethics SC Magazine. (2014). Ethical Challenges of the Internet of Things. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from https://www.scmagazine.com/ethical-challenges-of-the-internet-of-things/article/538993/ The IoT Portal. (2015). The Internet of Things. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from http://theiotportal.com The Loop Newsletter. (2016). The 2016 Philippine Cloud Summit (IoT The Pinnacle of Digital). Retrieved February 16, 2017, from The-Loop-Newsletter-Vol-10-Issue-1-Spread_web The USV Annals of Economics and Public Administration. (2013). Internet of Things: Some Ethical Issues Volume 13 Issue 2. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from http://seap.usv.ro/annals/ojs/index.php/annals/article/viewFile/628/599 TechTarget. (2015). Internet of Things Agenda. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from http://internetofthingsagenda.techtarget.com/definition/IoT-security-Internet-of-Things-security Berkeley Education. (2015). The Ethics, Privacy, and Legal Issues Around the Internet of Things. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from https://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/projects/w231internetofthingsfinalpaper.pdf Atomic Blog. (2016). The 4 Greatest Ways the Internet of Things Can Benefit the Developing World. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from https://www.atomicreach.com/blog/the-4-greatest-ways-the-internet-of-thingscan-benefit-the-developing-world/ Chase, Jerry. (2016). Where, Really, Is the ROI in IoT?. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from http://dataconomy.com/2016/07/where-really-is-the-roi-in-iot/ Meola, Andrew. (2016). These are the 10 hottest trends in the Internet of Things right now. Retrieved February 17, 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/these-are-the-10-hottest-trends-in-the-internet-of-thingsright-now-2016-7 Skilton, Mark. (2016). What are the IoT trends for 2017?. Retrieved February 17, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/professor-mark-skilton/what-are-the-iot-trends-f_b_13510070.html Carter, Jamie. (2017). 10 surprising trends in the IoT for 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2017, from http://www.techradar.com/news/10-surprising-trends-in-the-iot-for-2017 Columbus, Louis. (2015). Roundup of Internet of Things Forecasts and Market Estimates. Retrieved February 17, 2017, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiscolumbus/2015/12/27/roundup-of-internet-of-thingsforecasts-and-market-estimates-2015/2/#32baa52134a1 MEC Network Corporation. (2014). Makati city, financial center of the Philippines, deploys Firetide mesh network to alleviate traffic congestion. Retrieved February 17, 2017, from http://www.mec.ph/news/firetidenews/makati-city-traffic-management/

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I. Technology Description Simply put, a drone, is an unmanned aircraft or flying robot.

Drones are also referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAV for short. A drone can be piloted using remote control or software that maps out a flight plan connected with GPS. Drones have the ability to go from one point to another simply by clicking a mouse or touching a screen, without humans directly intervening. Basically, a drone is a robot that uses GPS to follow a simple directive: go there.

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While most commonly thought of as a military tool, drones provide other value functions as well. Monitoring traffic, watching the weather, fighting fire, and aerial photography are common uses for UAVs. Drones range in size, scope and ability. Some, like military drones, are the size of small fighter jets and can launch strike missiles. Think a new kind of warfare. Others, commercial drones, are essentially small, sophisticated remote controlled toys that have been outfitted with a camera, such as the Parrot AR Drone.

In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is developing regulations for the operation of unmanned aircraft. The drone industry has grown largely as a result of supporting defense organizations. However, operations in civil airspace presents different challenges. Civil safety standards are often more stringent, especially in the areas of safety and reliability. The public expects a safe aviation environment and the FAA is determined to develop broad standards.

Other Names for DRONES: ● Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) ● Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) ● Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) ● Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) ● Unmanned Aircraft (UA) ● Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV) ● Remotely Operated Aircraft (ROA)

A. Technical Environment Historically used in military operations, drones have now well and truly earned their spot in the mainstream. But it’s not just corporate giants, Facebook, Google and Amazon, who are putting drones to inventive use. Consumers can now pre-order their own drone to track activities and take incredible aerial footage.

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Social projects, search and rescue missions and even town planning are now making use of drones to facilitate vital work. But what about environmental monitoring? How is drone technology affecting the environmental sector?

The agricultural industry has already been advanced by the use of drones for environmental monitoring. The data collated by drones is used to increase arable farming efficiency, and reduce the unnecessary use of pesticides and fertilizers. For example, Ursula Agriculture, funded initially by the Welsh Government, now works with agrichemical companies to meaningfully interpret information from drones. This allows them to identify specific weeds and use a GPS tractor for targeted spraying.

Meanwhile major corporations such as Cargill - the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest agricultural company are using drones to monitor and mitigate their own environmental impact. Cargill is committed to achieving zero deforestation across Indonesian supply chains, and drones are helping to map and monitor sensitive areas. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re also used to quickly detect illegal forest clearing, and increase palm oil yields.

Drones are also being used by environmental organizations to defy natural barriers and obtain critical information needed to help a range of wildlife. In the Antarctic, activists are using remote-controlled drones to monitor and disrupt Japanese whale hunting. Instead of traversing dangerous seas, the group can launch a drone and spot whaling ships at a range of 190 miles.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has also become a trailblazer in the use of drones for environmental monitoring. Their drone includes thermal imaging; radio tracking and wide-angle cameras to monitor endangered and reintroduced breeds of bird.

As drone technology advances, prices will inevitably reduce and drones will become more widely available across the whole spectrum of environmental monitoring. The benefits of drones for environmental purposes are clear. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re quick to deploy, provide unrivalled image quality and are not affected by cloud cover. But - as with all technology - drone success depends on the ability of organizations to not only embrace new developments, but to interpret and act on data in a forward thinking and responsible way.

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A drone, in a technological context, is an unmanned aircraft. Drones are more formally known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or unmanned aircraft systems (UASes). Essentially, a drone is a flying robot. The aircrafts may be remotely controlled or can fly autonomously through software-controlled flight plans in their embedded systems working in conjunction with onboard sensors and GPS. In the recent past, UAVs were most often associated with the military, where they were used initially for anti-aircraft target practice, intelligence gathering and then, more controversially, as weapons platforms. Drones are now also used in a wide range of civilian roles ranging from search and rescue, surveillance, traffic monitoring, weather monitoring and firefighting to personal drones and business drone-based photography, as well as videography, agriculture and even delivery services.

B. Trends in the Technology The global market for Commercial drones is projected to reach $1.8 billion by 2020, driven by the expanding use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in executing high-tasks, and growing prominence of drones-as-a-service.

UAVs

have been a major force in military applications and battlefield scenarios. In the

past decade, UAVs have been gradually transitioned from being expensive systems used in the military agencies to an easily accessible commodity, opening up a slew of opportunities in the commercial space. Improved maneuverability and reduced capital costs are positioning drones as a ideal alternative to humans and conventional manned aircraft, particularly for tasks in remote locations and high-risk scenarios.

In the coming years, growth in the market will be driven by expanding applications, especially in the law enforcement and agriculture sectors. Increasing demand for better aerial imagery, rising demand for remote sensing and air surveillances and the advent of advanced sensors and faster computing capabilities are driving use of UAVs in commercial applications.

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Here are the next big trends for drones: 1. Harder (to crash) - Drones are slowly acquiring more standard sensors. The most recent include downward facing cameras, direct measurement of height (timeof-flight lasers, ultrasounds, etc.), and higher precision GPS. These contribute to safety and crash-resistance. The next sensors to be standard will probably be distance sensors that allow the vehicle to avoid obstacles.

2. Better: Drones are becoming more reliable, more commoditized, and more interchangeable. Soon they will also be supported by an ecosystem of businesses that provide services to the hardware users.

3. Faster: As energy density in batteries increases, drones will become faster or equivalently able to stay in the air longer at the same speeds. The biggest thing that will change drones in the future will be a battery revolution that suddenly makes inexpensive drones have a much longer useful flight time (or coverage area depending on your choice in metrics).

4. Stronger: Drones will become stronger and lighter at the same time. Material science is slowly advancing and so light and strong materials are getting cheaper.

5. Cheap: A basic drone with a camera is now something that costs less than many laptops. Many drones have been becoming something that's so inexpensive compared to the cost of the employee using them, that at some point they won't even figure into the cost equation for purchasing much. If the sensor on a drone costs 10x the cost of the drone, it's more of a sensor that flies than a flying thing with a sensor. There will still be expensive drones, but they will be an increasingly tinier portion of the total drone market.

Anyone in the Internet world that must go without online access knows the angst that comes from not being able to post selfies to Instagram, tweet out our frustrations about our favorite sports team, or clear our debts using online bill pay. We take this amazing technology that gives us convenience, commerce, and information for granted.

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However, approximately ⅔ of the world’s population still does not have access to the internet. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, said “Connecting the world is one of the fundamental challenges of our time. When people have access to the Internet, they can not only connect with their friends, family and communities, but they can also gain access to the tools and information to help find jobs, start businesses, access healthcare, education and financial services, and have a greater say in their societies. They get to participate in the knowledge economy.”

Internet access for most of the world is provided through a carefully constructed telecommunication network. This infrastructure is made up of telecom and cable companies, wireless networks. However, the cost, time and effort of running wires and creating new networks to all “unwired” regions of the globe is almost incomprehensible.

Internet Access Drones Enter drones. Someday near future, solar-powered unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) will be able to hover high in the skies for months, even years, providing internet access to unwired areas.

Inexpensive to build and almost free to maintain, internet-enabling drones will soar at heights that make that them virtually invisible. Such high-altitude drones will be unaffected by weather and turbulence.

Google & Facebook Want Drones Both Google and Facebook are vying to be leaders in providing connectivity via drones. In April 2014, Google purchased drone-maker Titan Aerospace. Facebook followed suit by buying U.K.-based drone company Ascenta.

Facebook teamed with Internet.org, a nonprofit

organization devoted to increasing global Internet access, to publish a white paper labeled “Connecting the World from the Sky.”

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C. SWOT ANALYSIS The application of drones or UAVs for domestic and/or commercial purposes involves strengths and weaknesses. These, as well as opportunities and threats, are summarized in the following SWOT (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis.

Weaknesses

Strengths Portability Low cost of operation Ease of use Automation of analysis Cost Effective

Data overflow Flight regulations are not advanced

Brand awareness Lack of data

SWOT Opportunities

Threats

Increase public safety

Violation of human rights

risks for humans

(tracking without permission, feel of control - ethical issues)

Reduce crime rate

Democracy espionage

Reduce health and safety

Regulatory issues

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II. Applications Drones can be used by several fields. Listed below are its applications, from photography to a life-saving tool.

● Journalism, Filming and aerial photography — Drones are starting to be used in sports photography and cinematography. They were used in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi for filming skiing and snowboarding events. Another group considering using drones is journalists. The ability to collect footage and information for use in live broadcast is a real possibility in the near future. aerial photography for the Real estate market is becoming more popular also. ● Shipping/ Delivery — While the FFA is not in favor of Drone delivery, companies like Amazon, UPS and DHL see its potential. Drones can be used to deliver small packages, pizzas, letters, medicines, beverages etc. at short distances ● Disaster Management — After a natural or manmade disaster, a drone provides a quick means to gather information, navigate debris with a portable and useful technology that doesn’t drown out cries for help, and that can be deployed by teams that are working a specific area. Equipped with high definition cameras and radars, Drones can give rescuers access to a higher field of view without the need for wasting resources on manned helicopters. And, because of their small size, they can provide a close-up view of areas where larger aerial vehicles would prove perilous or inefficient. ● Search and Rescue/ Healthcare — With thermal sensors, drones can quickly discover the location of lost persons, and are particularly useful at night or in challenging terrain. The search and rescue mission is a battle against time, particularly in harsh conditions, and drones become a powerful tool because of the ease of deployment. Besides locating victims, a Drone could potentially be used to “drop in supplies” to an otherwise unreachable location. For example, a

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drone might be utilized to lower a walkie talkie, gps locater, med supplies or water to a stranded victim before rescue crews can extract them. ● Underwater Drones to detect enemy submarines, piracy, and illegal fishing Liquid Robotics is a US-based firm founded in 2007 and launched its first drones in 2010. In just five years, the firm has set a Guinness World Record for the longest journey of an unmanned autonomous surface vehicle and was awarded the Economist's inaugural ocean innovation award in June. "Typically, countries fly over or drop a sonar buoy into the ocean to detect submarines. It's very expensive and it's like hunting for a needle in a haystack. At a hundredth of the cost, we can have a fleet of Wave Gliders detecting submarine incursions using acoustic sensors. We've offering an augmented way to detect submarines for defense of the country," Liquid Robotics president and CEO Gary Gysin told IBTimes UK. According to Gysin, the cheapest vessel a country could use to patrol its oceans would cost $15,000 (£9,800) a day to operate, while deep ocean exploration would cost upwards of $500,000 a day. In contrast, it costs between $3,000 to $5,000 a day to run a Wave Glider; the price goes down the deeper the drone goes into the ocean. "Countries don't necessarily have a large navy fleet or large air force to patrol their seas for illegal fishing, piracy and refugees. In order to patrol the seas with a manned asset, the bigger the ship, the more fuel it needs, and the deeper you go, the more expensive it is," Gysin said. "With a robotics solution, we can detect [submarines and vessels associated with piracy] and then you send the more expensive asset out to go and intercept it, like another ship or an aircraft.” ● Geographic Mapping — Drones can reach difficult-to-access locations like eroded coastline or mountaintops and acquire very high-resolution data to create 3D maps. The technology is already available to amateurs and professionals, enabling them to collect data and instantly download the imagery. Some are even using the collected data to contribute to crowd-sourced mapping applications like OpenStreetMap. ● Structural Safety Inspections — Drones can provide faster access to high-quality, real-time visual inspection for all types of utility companies that need to inspect power lines, oil and gas pipelines, transmission towers, buildings and bridges,

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wind turbines and rotor blades enabling the inspector or team to access the information from a safe position. The inspection of complex infrastructure will benefit from regular aerial monitoring. The ability to sense in three dimensions, take thermal readings, and to detect metal strain will greatly improve infrastructure inspection. Small Drones that can hover and get close will provide a new level of detail to improve performance. ● Precision Agriculture — Agricultural use of drones could comprise 80% of the market. The reasons include the need to closely monitor crops to improve management and yield, the need to do this more regularly and cheaply, and the environment of private land with little threat to others. Near-infrared sensors can be tuned to detect crop health, letting farmers react and improve conditions locally with inputs of fertilizer or insecticide. ● Wildlife Monitoring/Pooching — Poaching is a bigger problem than ever before, elephants, rhinos, and big cats are vanishing at a disturbing clip, The presence of drones has proven to serve as a deterrent to poachers and illegal loggers. They also monitor salmon, rabbits, seals, sea lions providing new insight into animal behavior. The devices have many advantages in this type of monitoring and research, including the ability to approach wildlife closely without spooking it, the ability to operate at night, and with thermal camera sensors, drones provide unprecedented protection. ● Law-Enforcement and border patrol — Helps with crowd surveillance and public safety, help in monitoring criminal activity, Crime scene and fire investigations.

The border patrol monitors criminal smugglers of migrants and drugs with Drones. ● Construction Sites — The monitoring from above of construction project sites provides a new input during all phases of a project life cycle. Aerial photography is done now for only the largest projects, however the input would be used more widely and more frequently if more readily accessible. The ability to quickly model from above in 3D with increasing precision will provide a important way to check on projects, compare to plans, as well as better coordination of materials on the job site.

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â&#x2014;? Storm Tracking/Forecasting â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sending drones into hurricanes and tornadoes provides new insight into their behavior and trajectory. Unmanned systems are the best approach to these dangerous situations, and with specialized sensors to detail weather parameters, new insight becomes possible.

III. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Capital Investment, Hidden Cost Owning a drone, either for personal or commercial use entails costs other than the cost of the drone itself. From sourcing to actual purchase and adding of accessories to training, the drone operator must be financially capable to own and operate a drone.

For commercial application, the costs associated with drones are paid for by the company wishing to use drones. However, if one is to use a drone for recreational and hobby, he/she must be ready to shell out money from his/her pocket.

Costs associate with owning a drone may include, but not limited, to the action items listed below, by order of occurrence: 1. Sourcing 2. Testing 3. Purchase 4. Accessories 5. Training 6. Government registration For illustration purposes, the team has chosen Lishitoys L3063 Quadcopter drone.

According to justdrone.com.au, the model is ideal for enthusiasts who are just starting to be into drone flying mainly because of its low and high flight modes. Built with a durable and sturdy body, it features illuminated arms, allowing operators to fly it even at night. It comes fitted with a 0.3 MP video and still camera.

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Figure 1. L3063 Quadcopter

To fully appreciate this product, it is worthy to know and understand its features and specifications, as shown on the tables below.

Table 1. Summary of Features of L3063 Quadcopter FEATURES 6 axis gyro stabilized flying Low and High Flight Modes Stable Hovering One button 360° flips and rolls Bright LED navigation lights Throw launch capable Highly durable plastic hull 0.3 MP video and still camera 4 GB micro SD card included.

2.4Ghz 4 channels transmitter with trim Age: 14 years old and above

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Table 2. Summary of Specifications of L3063 Quadcopter SPECIFICATIONS Size: 35 x 35 x 9 cm Battery: 3.7V 500 mAh Charging time: 30 – 50 min Flying time: 9 – 13 min Flying range: 50 – 100 m Color: Black with red trim

As stated above, owning a drone entails steps. The following table illustrates the details of the cost in order to own a drone. Anyone venturing into drone essentially must go through these actions items. Completing the presentation are the cost for each item.

Table 3. Cost of Owning a Drone (Using L3063 Quadcopter as Sample) # 1

PARTICULARS Sourcing/Research Internet research Phone call inquiries Landline Cellphone

2

Testing Transportation to/from venue (Own car) Testing

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DETAILS

COST ESTIMATE (PhP)

Internet café rate: P15/hour At 2 hours/day for 5 days

150.00

No cost if already available Smart Trinet Plus 399 (500 minutes worth of calls to SMART, TNT, Sun and PLDT Landline + 2,000 texts to all networks + 150MB worth of mobile Internet browsing for 30 days)

399.00

Depends on location of residence and test venue (Assume 15 kms one way at PhP42/liter)

126.00

No cost (shouldered by seller)

-

3

4

Purchase Lishitoys L3063 Quadcopter

Available at lazada.com.ph

43,794.64

Taxes

VAT 12%

Shipping/delivery

Free if bought in store or online

5,255.36 49,050.00 -

Accessories Camera upgrade (video and still)

Upgrade to GoPro Hero4 12MP Action Cam Silver

16,999.00

Gimbal

Gopro Carbon Fiber Brushless 2 Axis Gimbal Kit with Damping

2,050.00

Extra Batteries

3.7V 500mAh Li-Po battery for the L6036 Quadcopter

750.00

Extra propellers

HobbyKingâ&#x201E;¢ Propeller 3x2 Black (CCW) (5pcs)

84.00

Flight Chair

Turnigy Portable Flight Chair (Navy Blue)

49 | Infote S35 January - April 2017

950.00

5

Training Training fee Transportation

6

2-day training with Drone Ph Depends on location of residence and training venue (Assume 15 kms one way at PhP42/liter)

15,000.00 126.00

Meals (lunch only) Based on 1-pc Jollibee for 2 days

198.00

Snacks

200.00

2 snacks/day for 2 days

Government Registration Certification

1,500.00 1,000.00

Total

88,582.00

Other options are available in the market based on use and/or application. The prices of each drone differ depending on the features, sizes, brands. However, the total cost ownership, as cited above, is not confined to the cost of the drone itself.

Financial Analysis In setting up any business, the amount or cost will depend on the approach and scale you want to undertake. If you intend to go big by renting a place, then you would need a good amount of capital as you would need to ensure that your employees are well taken care of, and that your facility is conducive enough for workers to be creative and productive.

This means that the start-up can either be low or high depending on your goals, vision and aspirations for your business. The tools and equipment that will be used are nearly the same cost everywhere, and any difference in prices would be minimal and can be overlooked. As for the

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detailed cost analysis for starting a photo booth business; it might differ in other countries due to the value of their money.

When it comes to starting an aerial drone photography business the major areas that you look towards spending the bulk of your cash is in the purchase of standard aerial drones with excellent cameras and of course renting or leasing well located facilities. Aside from that, you are not expected to spend much except for paying of your employees and the purchase of supplies.

Table 4. Financial Analysis â&#x20AC;&#x201C; American company (in USD)

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Table 5. Financial Analysis â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Philippine set-up

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IV. Ethical Implications of Drones Use of unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, are growing over the years.

However, like most technologies today, it comes with ethical implications that need to be addressed. Listed below are the relevant issues related to the use of drones.

ď&#x201A;ˇ

Surveillance Ethical and legal issues of drones in data gathering or surveillance are divided into four categories:

ď&#x201A;ˇ

Regulations In the US, Federal Aviation Administration regulates the use of drones. It restricts flying of drones within five miles of most airports, over military bases, or above 400 feet. National Parks also has the same restrictions that bans drones over national parks and waters. In total, there are 84 million acres of no-fly zone for drones in the US. These restrictions are currently the biggest barrier to the adoption of drones as far as gathering geographic information is concerned. Most commercial drone activities are currently illegal in the US as of 2014[1].

In the Philippines, drones are regulated by the Civil Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) whose primary concern is ensuring public safety over improper use of drones. The regulations cover both commercial and noncommercial uses, and is somehow patterned with the US versions as it also prohibits drones flying over populated areas, airports, military training camps, and MalacaĂąang Palace [2].

The use of images and other data from drones for security purposes has not yet been the subject of specific legal provisions. US law focuses on government intrusion but there are also constitutional guarantees regarding how data is obtained, leaving this up to member state law, and whether it is admissible as evidence in a criminal court.

The emergence of drones and their privacy implications may give new impetus to the adoption of privacy legislation [3].

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

Privacy The biggest ethical and legal issue about drones is the concern about privacy. Per Onsrud, Johnson, and Lopez (as cited by Dempsey, 2015), a concern about invasion of privacy, when it comes to private property, has long been an issue tied in gathering geographic information, whether it’s gathering imagery via satellite, airplanes, or drones. There is also a growing concern about private drone operators invading the privacy of beachgoers and private property owners [4]. Drones an also be used to access information or data from users without his or her permission. Researchers at the London-based Sensepoint security firm designed a software that, once deployed on a drone, allow the vehicle to steal data from mobile devices surrounding it. The software is designed to trick a victim’s mobile device into thinking it’s connecting to a trusted access point to access data such as user credentials, credit card information, and location data from the handset once attached [5].



Security FAA prohibits flying drones near populated areas or over people for safety reasons.

Drones are flown at low attitude and may hit someone by accident. FAA also mandates that the operator of the drone be in constant visual contact with the machine. Matt Waite emphasized safety issues with drones by citing two drone videos. Of Amazon's video showing a package delivered by a small drone with circulating helicopter-like blades, he said that if a child anticipating the package reached for it, her finger could be cut off by the blades. Of a video showing a drone flying through fireworks, he said that if it had hit one firework fragment, burning plastic could have dropped on children watching the fireworks [6]. A similar incident happened when a drone injured an athlete. A drone operated by a film company crashed onto the course of an Australian triathlon, injuring one athlete, Raji Ogden. It was reported that the drone operator lost control because of a channel hop attack to the drone.

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

Noise Because of the low altitude flying of drones, they can get incredibly noisy and therefore an intrusion upon wildlife and local populations. This was the rationale behind National Park’s banning of drones in their parks.



Delivery Drones There’s also a growing concern about job security, that is, drones may take away a lot of jobs in the future because of the emergence of delivery drones. Amazon has previously announced its plans of delivering packages to consumers via drones.

Likewise, Domino’s Pizza may soon deliver pizzas via the same method. In fact, it’s currently being tested in New Zealand and Australia[7].



Warfare Governments, particularly US, have started using drones in their war against terrorism. Critics on the use of drones for this purpose asserted that drones make it easy to kill from a distance, which can cause far more civilian casualties than the government admits. Although it was pointed out that the problem is not really on the drones themselves but on the faulty intelligence upon which some strikes have been based, drones should still be used discriminately [8]. Still, politically speaking, however, because there’s not much political fallout with drone attacks, it’s easy for commanders to order strikes leading to a lot of civilian casualties on the other side.

The number of civilian casualties from drone attacks has more to do with foreign policy and intelligence gathering practices than the technology of drones per se, but if it’s not a priority to avoid civilian casualties, we’ll expect its number to rise[9].

Because of the ethical and legal issues associated with the advancement of the use of drone technology, government should mandate laws to regulate its use and set boundaries for the proper and improper use of the technology. Code of ethics for drone journalists are already in the works. A similar approach must be made to both commercial users and hobbyists so drones use will be bounded by ethical considerations.

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V. Nation-building In the Philippines, drones can create a positive impact to its agricultural sector. The Department of Agriculture may come up with a program where drones will be used to improve total farming acreage by ensuring that lands are used efficiently. Through this, Filipino farmers will be able to maximize the area allotted for various crops all throughout the year. Also, through drones, weather monitoring and forecasting will be much easier especially in the areas where we lack meteorological devices. An improved weather monitoring, will help not just our farmers, but also the rest of the citizens. This enables everyone to take the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of their livelihood.

Aside from agriculture, drones can also be used to improve safety and security. From traffic monitoring through MMDA to selected operations of our police, drones can be fully utilized in doing several functions. Through the cameras implanted in the device, monitoring of illegal acts will be more efficient – like in the case of illegal logging, and mining, as well as wild animal hunting. Our country is blessed with an abundant wildlife sanctuary but lately, there were so many reports of exploitation. Through the usage of drones, we can ensure that our wildlife is being protected and well-maintained. On a different note, drones can be used in various rescue operations – in fire (to some extent), flood and earthquake. In many different ways, drones will surely be helpful in ensuring the welfare of the Filipinos.

Despite all these benefits, our government should regulate the use of drones. There should be a strict monitoring of its functions and uses. One cannot simply use the device without seeking for an approval from the government or a regulatory group. Abuse of the drone’s functions and capabilities will surely result to a negative impact in the society.

Having all these stated, a responsible use of drones will contribute to the country’s nationbuilding and will create a positive ripple effect amongst Filipinos.

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FOOTNOTES [1] Dempsey, Caitlin. September 10, 2015. Drones and GIS: A Look at the Legal and Ethical Issues.

Retrieved from: www.gislounge.com.

[2] Lopa, Richie. April 24, 2016. CAAP amends rules on drones operations. Retrieved from http://interaksyon.com.

[3] Inderscience Publishers. May 22, 2014. Legal and ethical concerns of drone surveillance.

Retrieved from: https://phys.org [4] Mintz, Steven. April 7, 2016. Legal and Ethical Concerns of Commercial Drone Use. Retrieved from www.workplaceethicsadvice.com.

[5] Paganini, Pierluigi. April 25, 2014. Privacy and security issues for the usage of civil drones.

Retrieved from: http://resources.infosecinstitute.com.

[6] Waite, Matt. July 24, 2014. Drone journalism raises legal, safety, ethical issues. Retrieved from: http://www.press.org.

[7] Reid, David. November 16, 2016. Dominoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s delivers worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first ever pizza by drone. Retrieved from: http://www.cnbc.com.

[8] Mockaitis, Tom. January 12, 2017. Drones and the Ethics of War. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com.

[9] Maguire, Laura. September 10, 2015. The Ethics of Drone Warfare. Retrieved from: www.philosophytalk.or

REFERENCES D. (n.d.). What is a drone? Retrieved February 1, 2017, from http://www.dronedefinition.com/what-is-a-drone/ How is Drone Technology Affecting Environmental Monitoring? (n.d.). Retrieved February 1, 2017, from https://www.envirotech-online.com/news/environmentallaboratory/7/breaking_news/how_is_drone_technology_affecting_environmental_monito ring/35247 Rouse, M. (n.d.). What is drone? - Definition from WhatIs.com. Retrieved February 3, 2017, from http://internetofthingsagenda.techtarget.com/definition/drone Commercial Drones Market Trends. (n.d.). Retrieved February 1, 2017, from http://www.strategyr.com/MarketResearch/Commercial_Drones_Market_Trends.asp

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(2014, September 21). How Drones are the Future of Internet Access. Retrieved January 25, 2017, from http://www.dronedefinition.com/drones-future-internet-access/ Weiss, A. (n.d.) Public availability â&#x20AC;&#x201C; DIY drones that can be created for criminal purposes. http://193.40.244.77/idu0310/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/140605_IoTproject_Weis.pdf J, C. (2016, September 04). Top 12 non military uses for Drones. Retrieved January 30, 2017, from http://www.airdronecraze.com/drones-action-top-12-non-military-uses/

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I. TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION A. Technical Environment Just like how computers revolutionized industries such as manufacturing, business and especially telecommunications in the early 20th century, Developments also in the field of medicine were made. With the emergence of robotics and artificial intelligence, Surgeons are now able to

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make advancements in the field of surgery and improve treatments to patients while at the same time, reducing; as much as eliminating fatalities, and increasing success rates.

The field of medicine, which dates back to ancient Egypt, Greece and China, have been integral to human civilization, especially with the development of surgical procedures. Various accounts recorded in Roman books, The Sushruta Samhita from India to ancient Chinese texts, discusses surgical procedures from simple incisions to heavily invasive brain surgeries. Looking back at history, one may be terrified, seeing the tools used and knowing how surgeries were done. But over the years, advancements such as anesthesia, refined tools and techniques were developed to help doctors perform surgeries relatively easier and less painful for the patients, compared in the ancient times.

Defined by the Mayo Clinic, Robotic Surgery is a means, which allows doctors to perform many types of complex procedures with more precision, flexibility and control than is possible with conventional techniques. In the field of medicine, there was a belief that “A big surgery requires a big incision”. That was before. At present time, General Surgery evolved over the last several decades, and is geared towards minimally invasive approaches to procedures which were painstakingly done by making big incisions. Benefits of these developments is clearly realized both by surgeons who appreciate fewer wound complications and infections and also patients who value less post-operative pain, faster recovery time and the ability to easily return to normal-life activities.

One prominent system leading in this field is the Da Vinci Surgical System.

Below, is a list of procedures that can be performed through Robotic Surgery. 







 

Heart surgeries o Mitral Valve Prolapse o Coronary Artery Disease Colorectal surgeries o Colectomy (Colon Resection) o Rectal Resection (Rectal Cancer Surgery) General Surgeries o Bariatric Surgery o Gastrectomy (stomach cancer surgery) o Hernia Repair o Cholecystectomy (gallbladder surgery) o Pancreatectomy Gynecology o Hysterectomy o Endometriosis Resection o Myomectomy o Sacrocolpopexy Head, Neck and Thoracic (chest) Urology

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Globally, Da Vinci robots are the most widely used technology of its kind, with the United States, at the No. 1 spot of its installation map, followed by Europe and Asia, headed by Japan which has the most number at about 183 robots, followed by South Korea with 46 robots.

In the Philippines, there are currently four (4) Da Vinci robotic surgeon machines. Two of which are found in St. Luke’s Medical Center Global City in Taguig, and two in The Medical City in Ortigas, Pasig. To date, 61% of robotic operations done in St. Luke’s are Gynecological, followed by 35% urological and 4% general surgery cases, and its first lobectomy (lung resection).

While The Medical City performed The Country’s First Robot-assisted Radical Cystectomy to Treat Bladder Cancer last August 2014.

B. Trends in Technology The first documented use of a robot-assisted surgical procedure occurred in 1985 when the PUMA 560 robotic surgical arm was used in a neurosurgical biopsy, a non-laparoscopic surgery. This first laparoscopic surgery done by a robot lead to more innovations in robotic surgery. In 1990, the AESOP system produced by Computer Motion became the first system approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its endoscopic surgical procedure.

In the year 2000, the da Vinci Surgery System broke new ground by becoming the first robotic surgery system approved by the FDA for general laparoscopic surgery. This was the first time the FDA approved an all-encompassing system of surgical instruments and camera/scopic utensils. The da

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Vinci robotic surgery system’s three dimensional magnification screen allows the surgeon to view the operative area with the clarity of high resolution. The one centimeter diameter surgical arms represent a significant advancement in robotic surgery from the early, large-armed systems such as the PUMA 560. With such miniaturized operating arms, the da Vinci robotic surgery system removes the need to leverage the sides of the incision walls.

This advancement allows for less contact between exposed interior tissue and the surgical device, greatly reducing the risk of infection. The “Endo-wrist” features of the operating arms precisely replicate the skilled movements of the surgeon at the controls, improving accuracy in small operating spaces.

The da Vinci system has been approved by the FDA for use in both adult and pediatric robotic surgery procedures in the following areas:    

Urological surgeries General laparoscopic surgeries General non-cardiovascular thoracosopic surgeries Thoracoscopically-assisted cardiotomy procedures

Here are just few interesting facts: • In 1997 a reconnection of the fallopian tubes operation was performed successfully in Cleveland using ZEUS. • In May 1998, Dr. Friedrich-Wilhelm Mohr using the Da Vinci surgical robot performed the first robotically assisted heart bypass at the Leipzig Heart Centre in Germany.

• On September 2nd 1999, Dr. Randall Wolf and Dr. Robert Michler performed the first robotically assisted heart bypass in the USA at The Ohio State University.

• In October 1999 the world's first surgical robotics beating heart coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) was performed in Canada by Dr. Douglas Boyd and Dr. Reiza Rayman using the ZEUS surgical robot.

• On November 22, 1999 - the first closed-chest beating heart cardiac hybrid revascularization procedure is performed at the London Health Sciences Centre (London, Ontario).In the first step of the procedure Dr. Douglas Boyd used Zeus to perform an endoscopic, single-vessel heart bypass surgery on a 55 year-old male patient's left anterior descending artery. In the next step of the procedure William Kostuk, MD, Professor of Cardiology of the University of Western Ontario, completed an angioplasty revascularization on the patient's second occluded coronary vessel. This multi-step procedure marked one of the first integrative approaches to treating coronary disease.

• On September 7, 2001, Dr. Jacques Marescaux and Dr. Michel Gagner, while in New York, used the Zeus robotic system to remotely perform a cholecystectomy on a 68 year old female patient who was in Strasbourg, France. (See: the Lindbergh Operation.)

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• In December 2003, TAMPA, Fla. - A woman whose husband died after a doctor using a surgical robot accidentally cut two of his main blood vessels is suing the hospital. Al Greenway's widow is suing St. Joseph's Hospital, saying it's at fault for her husband's October 2002 death. Brenda Greenway says hospital administrators allowed doctors inexperienced with the $1 million robot to perform her husband's surgery, which was to remove a cancerous kidney. Greenway, a 53-year-old Desert Storm veteran and Plant High School science teacher, died when the surgeon cut his abdominal aorta, which provides blood to the abdominal organs and legs, and the inferior vena cava, the neighboring vein that returns that blood to the heart. (AP News.)

• In May 2006, The first unmanned robotic surgery took place in Italy.

• In August 2007, Dr. Sijo Parekattil of the Robotics Institute and Center for Urology (Winter Haven Hospital and University of Florida) performed the first robotic assisted microsurgery procedure denervation of the spermatic cord for chronic testicular pain.

• In February 2008, Dr. Mohan S. Gundeti of the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital performed the first robotic pediatric neurogenic bladder reconstruction.

The operation was performed on a 10-year-old girl. (Esciencenews.com) • On May 12, 2008, the first image-guided MR-compatible robotic neurosurgical procedure was performed at University of Calgary by Dr. Garnette Sutherland using the NeuroArm. • In June 2008 the German Aerospace Center (DLR) presented the first robotic system for minimally invasive surgery with force-feedback in 7 dof in the tip of the instrument, distal of the 2-dof handwrist (MiroSurge).

• In January 2009, Dr. Todd Tillmanns reported results of the largest multi-institutional study on the use of da-Vinci robotic surgical system in gynecologic oncology and included learning curves for current and new users as a method to assess acquisition of their skills using the device.

• Also in January 2009, the first all-robotic-assisted kidney transplant was performed at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey by Dr. Stuart Geffner. The same team performed eight more fully robotic-assisted kidney transplants over the next six months.

• In September 2010, The Netherlands - The Eindhoven University of Technology announced the development of the Sofie (Surgeon’s Operating Force-feedback Interface Eindhoven) surgical system, the first surgical robot to employ force feedback.

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• In September 2010, Slovenia - The first robotic operation at the femoral vasculature was performed at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana by a team led by Borut Geršak.

The robot used was the first true robot, meaning it was not simply mirroring the movement of human hands, but was guided by pressing on buttons.

In year 2010, da Vinci Si surgical system was launched here in the Philippines at St. Luke’s Medical Center- Global City. Last May 2016, it reached the 500 patients mark who are now living normal lives because of this state-of-the art robotic surgery. According to St. Luke’s-Global City’s Head of the Institute of Surgery Dr. Narciso Navarro, Jr., “With robotic surgery,St. Luke’s doctors are able to provide patients with the best possible care with minimal risk and the promise of a faster recovery. Furthermore, our success rates are at par with other institutions abroad that also offer robotic surgery.“ To date, 61% of robotic operations done in St. Luke’s are gynecological, followed by 35% urological and 4% general surgery cases. Most of the robotically-assisted procedures performed are hysterectomies (removal of the uterus), myomectomies (removal of myomas, tumors),prostatectomies (removal of the prostate gland),thyroidectomies (removal of the thyroid gland), colectomies (removal of the colon), esophagectomies (removal of the esophagus) and gastric fundoplication.

Recently, in February 2016, St. Luke’s also performed the first robotic lung resection (lobectomy) on a patient with a 3.5 cm mass on the upper left lobe of the lung. Although these are considered to be major surgeries, majority of patients who undergo robotics usually stay only between 2-4 days in the hospital, and experience lesser blood loss and minimal postoperative pain.

Another more pleasant result of robotic surgery is that it leaves no unsightly scars.

According to Fortune.com, the developers of the robotic surgery are paying attention to a faster and easier-to-use system. This latest innovation is called, Verb Surgical, a J&J and Google venture that is investing about $250 million on this project.

Verb also envisions a system that is "always there, always on," enabling the surgeon to use the robot for parts of a procedure as needed, said Chief Executive Scott Huennekens.

Intuitive said it too is looking to improve technology at a reasonable cost, but newcomers will face the same challenges.

Device maker Medtronic (MDT, +0.13%) has said it expects to launch its surgical robot before mid-2018 and will start in India. Others developing surgical robot s include TransEnterix and Canada's Titan Medical (TITXF, -3.31%).

An RBC Capital Markets survey found that U.S. surgeons expect about 35% of operations will involve robot s in five years, up from 15% today.

J&J, which hopes to be second to market with a product from Verb, has said it sees robotics as a multibillion-dollar market opportunity. Huennekens said Verb's surgical robot will differ from another Google robotics effort, the driverless car, in one important aspect.

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C. SWOT Analysis

Strengths

â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Advanced tech resulting to improved clinical outcome As with all technology, it improves the way we do things.

Generally, robotics systems allow doctors to perform many types of complex procedures such as prostatectomy, pyeloplasty, cystectomy etc. These procedures can be done using robotics to allow minimally invasive surgeryâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; only small incisions are needed as compared to the traditional way of one large incision. Allowing small incisions would require flexibility, accuracy and control of which the controls are designed to be more flexible than the human hand.

Small wounds would require less healing time, minimal possible complication, less blood loss and less reliance on post operation medications. These saves the

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Weaknesses

– Cost The main weakness of the Da Vinci is its high cost requirements. The initial investment will set you back a little over Php130 Million. With this, costly surgeries and specialized skills would follow. Since Da Vinci requires specialized training, the pool for capable doctors is small therefore with high professional fees.

Benefits of having quick recovery and small wounds also have a hefty price tag attached to it. In other countries the cost of the surgery averages $3,000 higher than the non-robotics surgery.

Opportunities

– Expanded application of robotics in other areas

Robotics surgery has seen increasing number of surgeries; as of 2015 more than 1.5 million surgeries have been made. This number is increasing by as much as 25% annually. Demand for the robotics surgery is increasing every year therefore allowing bigger revenue sources for hospitals.

In other applications, some robots are in the pipeline– microscopic robots designed to clear clogged arteries, robots that will measure blood viscosity, robots that deliver drugs to precise location in the body, robots for lifting and repositioning patients and robot assistants for delivering lab samples and reports.

Threats

– Proper training for medical doctors, medical liability for accidents Significant threats to the robotics surgery are the possibility of inadequate training for surgeons leading to improperly operated devices. Worst case, improperly operated robotics may lead to the death of patients. According to Medical Daily, the frequency of an error, malfunction or both is 1% of total surgeries for 2013. A study has been made showing that out of 10,624 incidents reported, there were 144 deaths, 1,391 injuries, and 8,061 device malfunctions.

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II. BUSINESS/INDUSTRY/EDUCATION APPLICATIONS A. Application of Robotics in Healthcare Healthcare involves a lot of complex yet repetitive tasks that require constant attention to every detail because people get hurt if a mistake is made. This has resulted in the proliferation of checklists for routine tasks and requirements for a second caregiver to check the work of the primary caregiver. While effective at reducing errors, these types of procedures add to the workload of people who are already stressed and working at their limits. Robotic systems are being used successfully in some areas of healthcare.

Surgical robots, the most well-known perhaps being the da Vinci surgical system, are not so much robots as teleoperated manipulators that are controlled by skilled surgeons. Similarly, robotic systems being developed as prosthetics and assistive systems for disabled or elderly individuals are more about being responsive to real-time human control than about autonomous operation. The use of automated systems in these areas holds great promise in improving both healthcare and peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives, but these are not the robots that will reduce the workload of caregivers and reduce the risk of errors.

Many physicians and also patients are still in doubt about the safety in utilizing such machine in the very sophisticated and skillful work. Truly, the robot has several abilities superior to human physicians, such as the precision, repeatability, control, and date expeditions. However, the experienced physical doctor could decide better decisions over the robot artificial intelligence system in several circumstances. This leads many researchers to combine both advantages together by letting physicians work with special-built robots for surgical robots developed and ready to use in the real surgery.

B. Application of Robotics in Education Despite many technological leaps, surgical training has stayed more or less unchanged for more than a century. Surgeons in training have always had to gain operative experience through â&#x20AC;&#x153;supervised trial and errorâ&#x20AC;? on real patients. This approach makes surgical training completely dependent on the actual case load, prolongs surgical training, and compromises patients' safety. Robotic surgery will create a new medium for acquisition of surgical skills through simulation of all operations that can be done via the robot. Surgeons can use surgical robots to practice operations on 3-dimensional, virtual-reality visual simulations and soft-tissue models that recreate the textures of human tissues through force feedback (haptics). Image-guided simulations will allow surgeons to practice procedures on 3-dimensional reconstructions of the anatomy of the actual patients who they plan to operate on the next day. In all of these simulations, trainees can be guided through telementoring.

These systems are expected to significantly enhance the learning curve, allowing trainees to acquire surgical skills in a short time while improving patient safety by reducing surgical errors.Ultimately, these applications will be integral to the training and licensing of surgeons and will provide objective means for assessment of surgical skills.

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III. COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS A. Total Cost of Ownership Capital Investment* A

Purchase Price, inclusive of shipping and duties costs Peso to USD Conversion Rate

Hidden Costs* B Area Renovation and Installation Cost

C

Fellowship Grant (Training per MD), inclusive of salaries, benefits and airfare fees

$ Php

2,400,000 50 120,000,000

Php

5,000,000

$ Php

Minimum of 2 MDs Php

D

Training for Support Staff, inclusive of registration and airfare fees

$ Php

Minimum of 2 Staff Members Php

E

Maintenance Cost for a 5-Year Period

Total One-Time Ownership Cost

$

5,000 50 250,000 2 500,000

Php

100,000 50 5,000,000

Php

136,750,000

*Using Publicly Available Data from St. Luke's Medical Center, The Medical City and Intuitive Surgical, the makers of da Vinci Surgical System

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62,500 50 3,125,000 2 6,250,000

B. Direct and Indirect/Strategic Benefits 1. Direct Benefits 

High Source of Revenues - Utilization of advanced medical equipment to properly treat diseases will lead to greater income for the medical doctors (MDs) and the hospital itself.



Additional Source of Revenues - Shorter hospital stay for patients means greater availability of hours of MDs; Extra time of MDs can be devoted to performance of other services to gener

    

ate additional income.

2. Indirect Benefits 

Patient Care – Decreased operative pain, higher success rate of treatment and improved human life



Institutional Recognition – Hospital is at the forefront of advanced delivery of healthcare, putting the status at par with internal standards



Human Resource Development – Good training ground as part of continuing medical education

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C. Financial Analysis A PHILIPPINE HOSPITAL WITH A DA VINCI SURGICAL SYSTEM Income Statement (Amounts in Php) One-Year Period

REVENUES Price per Procedure

Quantity

450,000 350,000 350,000

35 61 4

Prostetcotomy Hysterectomy/Myomectomy Thyroidectomy

Total per year 15,750,000 21,350,000 1,400,000 38,500,000

COSTS Total Cost Depreciation (Over a 10-year Period) Training Costs (Over a 10-year Period) Maintenance Costs (Over a 5-year Period) Salaries and Wages Utilities

Cost per Year

125,000,000 6,750,000 5,000,000

12,500,000 675,000 1,000,000 1,300,000 300,000 15,775,000

NET INCOME

2,725,000

CASH FLOW

5,225,000

A PHILIPPINE HOSPITAL WITH A DA VINCI SURGICAL SYSTEM Income Statement (Amounts in thousands Php) 10-Year Period 2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Price per Quantity Total per Procedure per Year year 400 35 14,000 300 61 18,300 300 4 1,200 33,500

14,000 18,300 1,200 33,500

14,700 19,215 1,260 35,175

15,435 20,176 1,323 36,934

16,207 21,185 1,389 38,780

17,017 22,244 1,459 40,719

17,868 23,356 1,532 42,755

18,761 24,524 1,608 44,893

19,699 25,750 1,689 47,138

20,684 27,037 1,773 49,495

21,719 28,389 1,862 51,969

Cost per Year 12,500 675 1,000 1,300 300 15,775

12,500 675 1,000 1,391 312 15,878

12,500 675 1,000 1,488 324 15,988

12,500 675 1,000 1,593 337 16,105

12,500 675 1,000 1,704 351 16,230

12,500 675 1,000 1,823 365 16,363

12,500 675 1,000 1,951 380 16,506

12,500 675 1,000 2,088 395 16,657

12,500 675 1,000 2,234 411 16,819

12,500 675 1,000 2,390 427 16,992

12,500 675 1,000 2,557 444 17,176

NET INCOME

17,725

17,622

19,187

20,829

22,550

24,356

26,250

28,236

30,319

32,503

34,793

CASH FLOW

30,225

30,122

31,687

33,329

35,050

36,856

38,750

40,736

42,819

45,003

47,293

REVENUES

Prostetcotomy Hysterectomy/Myomectomy Thyroidectomy TOTAL REVENUES COSTS

Depreciation (Over a 10-year Period) Training Costs (Over a 10-year Period) Maintenance Costs (Over a 5-year Period) Salaries and Wages Utilities TOTAL COSTS

Total Cost 125,000 6,750 5,000 -

70 | Infote S35 January - April 2017

Financial Assumptions: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Revenues will grow by 5% per year with census and prices increasing similarly by 5%; Revenues in the first 2 years are half of the 100 target procedures per year Number of procedures in 2016 will reach 500.

Procedures mix is at 35-61-4 Salaries and wages will increase by 7% to cover for pay increases per year Utilities will increase by 4% to cover inflation per year

A PHILIPPINE HOSPITAL WITH A DA VINCI SURGICAL SYSTEM

Summary of Financial Ratios (Amounts in Php) 2011-2020 Year

Nth Year

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Total Investment 125,000,000 -

Net Income (Loss) 872,000 1,599,650 19,069,985 20,703,758 22,417,124 24,213,914 26,098,137 28,073,991 30,145,874 32,318,387

Annual Cash Present Value Flow (Deficit) at 6.00% p.a.

(125,000,000) (125,000,000) 13,372,000 12,615,094 14,099,650 12,548,638 31,569,985 26,506,768 33,203,758 26,300,486 34,917,124 26,092,107 36,713,914 25,881,861 38,598,137 25,669,966 40,573,991 25,456,624 42,645,874 25,242,027 44,818,387 25,026,353

Interest Rate per BSP Net Present Value Year 6 Internal Rate of Return Year 6

Operating Breakeven 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Discounted Payback

6 7 8 9 10

IRR -89.30% -60.64% -26.78% -9.72% 0.49% 7.06% 11.49% 14.60% 16.84% 18.50%

6% (20,936,907) 0.49%

Present Value of Investment at 6% pa 242,924,528 for 6 yrs Present Value of Earnings at 6% pa for(19,751,799) 6 yrs Net Present Value (262,676,327) Operating Breakeven (in years) Return of Investment (in years)

1 6

IV. ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS Though often called a robot, the Da Vinci Surgical System is simply an assisting surgical machine wherein the doctor still has complete control. Unlike the usual fears that robots will replace humans, Da Vinci is merely a tool and cannot work without a human being operating the machine.

We base our ethical issues from the four principles of medical ethics:

71 | Infote S35 January - April 2017

1. Autonomy - The patient's right to refuse or accept treatment.

2. Beneficence - Physician is expected to act in the best interest of the patients 3. Non-maleficence - Doing no harm to the patient 4. Justice - Resources are limited The ethical implication with this technology is Justice. Although the price of using Da Vinci for surgery is around $12,000, it is relatively cheaper than in other countries, which costs around $16,000. From its introduction until the present, only 500 patients have availed this highly expensive option.

With the steep price of the machine, only the rich can avail and benefit from this medical technology.

The ethical issue justice in the medical arena is there a less expensive alternative with the same benefits. The philosophical notion of Justice such as Prioritarianism is unfortunately is not applicable because of the question of who will cover the cost of operating the machine.

It may be still be far off into the future before the masses can avail of this technology, when every hospital offers this and the price will drop to a more affordable level.

Another more serious ethical implication from this technology is Non-maleficence. In the US, there are already 144 deaths linked to robotic surgery for the past 14 years. Since this is a complex machine with several moving parts, issues like power loss during surgery, video feeds turning off, and broken parts falling to patientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bodies are possible causes for unnecessary complications after a surgery.

Drugwatch.com offers assistance to victims and their families, who suffered complications and death after the surgery. They can file a lawsuit to the manufacturer and to the hospital using the device with any of the following issues: Defective product; Lack of training to surgeons; Using the device not intended for a specific procedure among others.

V. NATION-BUILDING IMPLICATIONS Da Vinci Surgical System is the latest medical trend in the market. This machine gives the surgeons three dimensional and magnified views, precise robotic movements and integrated data system which enable minimal invasive surgery in complex surgical process.

This revolutionized system in surgical process greatly benefits the country. First is the reduction in mortality rate. Da Vinci Surgical System enhanced surgical precision and clinical capabilities. People are reluctant in considering open surgeries in order to address their medical issues. Open surgeries are complicated and risky. Rate of recovery is slow and often people who undergone open surgeries suffered from various health complications and need to take pain relievers and medicine for quite a while. But with this new system, patients are more willing to undergo treatment. Da Vinci Surgical system as compared to open surgery involves minimal cut that is needed by the robot or machine to enter and maneuver inside the patientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body.

This process reduced trauma and complications in patients that enables them to recover easily. Second, the machine can be used for surgery in remote areas of the country.

Da Vinci Surgical System has streamlined design which enables the surgeons to use it easily and change the tools or parts that needed for the process. This is a plug and play machine which is readily available in times of need. Third benefit is lower healthcare cost. Patients nowadays are considering the best option

72 | Infote S35 January - April 2017

available with least invasive approach. The demand for the procedure is increasing and it is now available across the globe thanks to the power of social media and the internet. As of the moment, only the upper and middle classes can afford this procedure as it costs around $12,000. The procedure is much cheaper in the Philippines compared to other countries. This will lead us to the fourth benefit which is the promotion of medical tourism in the country.

St Lukeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s train surgeons with this cutting edge technology making our local surgeons be at par with other countries. Since it is much cheaper in the Philippines and the surgeons are experts on this field, we can encourage patients from other country to perform the surgeries here.

REFERENCES Basic Ethical Principles, uOttawa Faculty of Medicine, https://www.med.uottawa.ca/sim/data/Ethics_e.htm New Da Vinci robot surgeon now in PHL, GMA News Online, July 30, 2015 http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/530946/scitech/technology/new-da-vinci-robot-surgeon-now-in-phl St. Lukeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Reaches 500-Patient Mark on Robotic Surgery, St Lukes Medical Center, May 4, 2016 http://www.stluke.com.ph/st.-luke%E2%80%99s-reaches-500-patient-mark-on-robotic-surgery.html The Ethics and Reality of Rationing in Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Dec 2011, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3415127/ History of Robotic Surgery, http://www.roboticoncology.com/history/ Background and History of Surgical Robotics, http://allaboutroboticsurgery.com/roboticsurgeryhistory.html Rise of the Surgical Robot and What Doctors Want, Jul 28, 2016 http://fortune.com/2016/07/28/surgical-robot-development-intuitive-surgical-medtronic-google/ Robotics in Medical Applications http://www.bartlab.org/Dr.%20Jackrit's%20Papers/international%20proceedings/Robotics%20in%20Medical%20Appli cation.pdf Robotics in Healthcare: Challenges and Opportunities http://medicaldesign.com/archive/robotics-healthcare-challenges-and-opportunities-0 Robotic Surgery, Applications, Limitations and Impact on Surgical Education https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1681689/ Da Vinci Surgical System http://www.davincisurgery.com/ Eight Impressive but Terrifying Cases of Ancient Surgery http://www.ancient-origins.net/artifacts-ancient-technology/eight-impressive-terrifying-cases-ancient-surgery-002941 Robotics in Surgery - Kanika Singh - Cochin University Of Science And Technology http://dspace.cusat.ac.in/jspui/bitstream/123456789/2232/1/Robotics%20in%20Surgery.pdf Dynamic Systems and Control Magazine, September 2015 issue Vol 3. No 3.

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http://mechatronics.eng.buffalo.edu/publications/journal/Krovi_SurgRob_SpIssue_DSC_Magazine_September2015.pd f Robotics in General Surgery - James Wall, MD, Venita Chandra, MD and Thomas Krummel, MD Stanford University Department of Surgery, Stanford, California http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/668.pdf The Medical City Press release - The Countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s First Robot-assisted Radical Cystectomy to Treat Bladder Cancer performed at The Medical City http://themedicalcity.com/newsroom/press_release_view/the-countrys-first-robot-assisted-radical-cystectomy-totreat-bladder-cancer-performed-at-the-medical-city The Medical City invests in robotics surgery with launch of second machine - By Roderick Abad, The Business Mirror, August 24, 2016 http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/the-medical-city-invests-in-robotics-surgery-with-launch-of-second-machine/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZI5u0hC2Uo - Youtube video - Da Vinci Surgery in Greyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Anatomy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ_3GJNz4fg - Youtube video 144 Deaths Linked To Robotic Surgery In Past 14 Years: Are They Safer Or More Effective Than Conventional Surgeries?, http://www.medicaldaily.com/144-deaths-linked-robotic-surgery-past-14-years-are-they-safer-or-moreeffective-344462 da Vinci Robotic Surgery Lawsuits, https://www.drugwatch.com/davinci-surgery/lawsuits/

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