108 MAY2020|COMMPUTERSHOPPER|ISSUE387
videosaboundonYouTube ofthe
million-dollar machinery tripping and
falling. And while robots are inching
intoour homes, they’re more likely to
be single-use appliances like aRoomba
than robo-butlers whose intelligence
challenges our own.
Here we look at the sometimes
scary,oftenhilarious and always
intriguing reality of robots now –at
work, in the wider world, and at home
–and what’s next forautomated
machines and the artificial intelligence
(AI) that increasingly powers them.
ROBOTSATWORK
Backin2014,academicsatthe
University of Oxford predicted that a
third of UK jobs would be replaced byyy
automation and robotics wiiittthhhiiinnntttwo
decades, sparkingggmmmyyyriad headlines
about robots steaaaling jobs. Others
disagreed, with annnalyst firm Gartner
suggesting AI willcccreatemore jobs
than it destroys.
Technology naturrrally impacts
our work –only preteeentious or
nostalgic people woulddduse
typewriters any more,aaafterall
–and therise of robots at
work isn’t new,thoughitttmay
feel that wayfor those whhho
sit at adesk in an office.
“I think, in general,
people don’t realise how
our modern society is
already massively reliant
on robotic systems,”saysSimon
Watson, robotics lecturer at the
University of Manchester.
“The majority of ourmass-
manufacturing supply chain is built on
industrial robotic systems. Everything
from food,tomedicine,totransport
production is often done in automated
factories with limited human
intervention. Without robots, our
current society maylook very different.”
Given that, it’s no surprise that the
shift to automationand robots has
already led to job losses, butttnnnoootttas
many as you mayyyttthhhiiinnnkkk.Areeeeportfrommm
MITinnn 222000111777 suggestedthattttthenumbeeer
ofjobslostintheUSsince 1999990 is
somewhere between 360,000 and
670,000; not particularly high over 30
years across ajob market of 130million
people.While research varies
depending on industry,other studies
notethat increased productivity and
the ensuing boost to the economy
actually increases the overall number of
jobs available,though that’s not always
to the benefit of people who have lost
work and need to retrain.
What’s more,although robots
replace some work, theyare more likely
to support and augment. In Ocado’s
warehouse,robots shuttle crates of
food orders that have been packed by
staff ready fordelivery,while Amazon
has warehouses with automated
shelves. Nissan uses ‘cobots’ to support
staff with lifting or repetitive tasks;
previous robots in the car industry had
to be kept separatefrom human
workers to avoid injury.Inhospitals,
DDDaVinci robots can help surgeons be
mmmore precise with their incisions,
meeeaning shorter recovery times for
paaatients, but as yet there’s no robot
thhhat can fully replace asurgeon;
ttthey’re merely another tool,
alongsidethe MRI and scalpel.
Such robots are all support staff.
Thhhey maylead to some lost jobs,
but theystill need humans to do
the careful work of picking goods
to shhhip –ajob that current robots
stillfinnnddifficult –oroverseeing
and maaanaging what tasks need to
be compppleted. When used well, they
⬆ Robots have
long been used
in factories for
automated tasks
⬇Roombavacuum
cleaners are a
common sight in
many homes
