Manual labour in slaughterhouses is hazardous work. Workers suffer from injuries and occupational illnesses resulting from repetitive movements with sharp knives. There is a need for a robotic tool which can perform versatile tasks with a high level of precision. This knife must be able to imitate the same primary cuttings of a professional butcher and produce meat products which are acceptable to the end-market. This paper reports the results of a world-wide assessment of the fresh pork meat cuts as a performance indicator of knives specifically adapted for automated operation. These knives included Victorinox knife, bespoke double bladed Uddeholm knife, vibrating knife and novel smart knife with built-in sensing mechanism that detects in real time the contact with meat and cut depth. Physical appearances of cuts were assessed anonymously by independent responders with different backgrounds. All knives were deemed acceptable in terms of cutting quality. There was also no discernible difference of opinion between manual and robot cuts. This indicates that the new knife for robot-assisted cutting is acceptable by market.

The article highlights the consequences and transformational changes in labor markets and labor resources due to the spread of artificial intelligence. The purpose of the article is to empirically study the processes of interaction between artificial intelligence and national labor markets, as well as to develop methodological tools for quantifying the impact of AI technologies on labor market parameters. The research methodology is based on the envelope model (“input” orientation) to assess the level of transformation of labor resources and labor markets as a result of the spread of artificial intelligence for a sample of European Union countries. The study found a significant transformation of the employment structure under the influence of artificial intelligence, where the most vulnerable occupational groups are office workers, data entry operators, call center workers, accountants, and administrative staff with routine analytical and administrative tasks. The study identified countries that can optimally transform AI diffusion (the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Italy, and Malta) for the domestic labor market into results when the trend of economic development and the realization of human capital potential is formed. The obtained results confirmed the existence of reserves for optimizing the interaction of artificial intelligence with the labor market, with an emphasis on the need to adapt AI to the specifics of economic models of national economies.

Automation in service delivery has increased the consumers’ expectation with regard to service quality and subsequently the perception of the same. Technology-driven services redefined quality dimensions and their subsequent impact on the behavioural outcomes of the consumers with specific reference to attitudinal loyalty and propensity to switch. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has further reinforced the operational aspects of a service provider by integrating the behavioural perspectives with technology. This paper attempts to explore the nomological link between automated service quality and its behavioural consequences with specific reference to consumers’ attitudinal loyalty and their intention to switch or defect from their present service provider. The study further takes into consideration the moderating effects of the performance of the dimensions and attributes of customer relationship management by introducing a novel approach to CRM performance indexing. The cross-sectional study was carried out with the customers of State Bank of India at Asansol, Durgapur, Bolpur and Santiniketan in West Bengal, India. The study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to assess and validate the nomological relationship between the variables.