Robots are slowly becoming normalized by corporations, with many utilizing automatons for everyday labor done. Rather than hiring people, robots are now taking over the roles of everything from taxi drivers to pizza makers.
Unfortunately, the robotic trend doesn't appear to be a fad either. One report claims that the past year has seen a 40% increase in robotics orders to fill these labor gaps.
Are robots replacing human workers
In a report by the Association for Advancing Automation, it was revealed that robotics orders are up year-on-year. The workplace robotics industry is now estimated to be worth around $1.6 billion.
Many were quick to point out how using robots to this extent could mean fewer jobs for people in the future. It’s unsettling to increasingly see robots doing jobs that people can do. This isn’t just the concerns of one nerdy writer as several analysts have also commented on the manner.
"Automation, if it goes very fast, can destroy a lot of jobs," Daron Acemoglu, an economics professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told The Wall Street Journal. "The labor shortage is not going to last. This is temporary."
However, there's no telling whether or not the companies investing in automation will want to give it up. Yes, new jobs will be made, but those jobs will not replace the common skill ones that are being given to robotics.
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Will robots solve the labor crisis?
Due to the ongoing labor shortage, companies have gotten used to having robots do a lot of work that humans used to do. There was a time when having robots do manual labor like this was seen as too expensive but various businesses are getting used to the idea. It’s a surreal thing to hear from actual businesses but that’s actually happening.
"The robots are becoming easier to use," Michael Cicco, chief executive officer of industrial robot provider Fanuc America, explains. "Companies used to think that automation was too hard or too expensive to implement."
Seeing the modern world blend with science fiction continues to be an oddity to many but that’s something we have to get used to. While seeing more machines in public will likely keep happening, here’s hoping it’s not at the expense of workers.