Future of Robotics in Our World

According to an article summarizing the 8th annual RoboBusiness Leadership Summit held this past October, the robotics industry claims that the most growth in robotics will be seen in the areas of warehousing, distribution, and manufacturing. Within the next ten to twenty years, robotics technology will provide robots that can be taught manufacturing processes in a day or move, sort, and distribute products throughout a warehouse. While some people may be worried by the potential loss of jobs or the ““the ending of the human era” as Jay mentioned in his post, it is inevitable that robots will eventually be integrated into our everyday work and home lives.

An article was posted on the official class blog from Wired entitled “Better Than Human: Why Robots Will – And Must – Take Our Jobs.” This article addresses the fear humans have that robots will eventually take our jobs and leave people unemployed by pointing out that 70% of American workers lost their jobs to technology during the industrial revolution. Workers responded by adapting and finding jobs in the new fields that this technology created. The same will happen when robots become incorporated into our lives in the next hundred years. Robotics will enhance the current workforce by first completing tasks involving repetitive, manual labor but will eventually move to “information-intensive” jobs.

Robots will definitely infiltrate the workplace in most industries, and building and construction are not excluded. Through watching the video in class of the flying robots placing blocks and creating a pre-determined structure, it was apparent to me that robots will play a role in future construction sites. Another interesting point the Wired article addressed is that robots are being designed to work alongside humans. The article from the Leadership Summit addresses that “humans can do things that robots will not be able to do for a long time,” and provides the example that robots can much more effectively move goods while humans can perform dexterous grabbing. Imagine how much faster a construction job could be completed if robots could work with humans to accomplish tasks. Obviously there are many safety and cost issues that must be worked out, but I see this as being a probable direction for our future within the next hundred years.

http://www.library.drexel.edu/cgi-bin/r.cgi?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1243385066?accountid=10559
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/12/ff-robots-will-take-our-jobs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Top+Stories%29