Machines and robots were supposed to take on tasks extremely dangerous for humans. Now humans are the danger, and robots may be the answer. A pandemic gripping the world, we could be forgiven for replacing human workers with robots; For a better human way of life under the current circumstances.
Analysts say robots will replace many people in their jobs, and that could lead to better or worse, as the outbreak of the Corona virus speeds up this process. People usually think about the integration of robots in the coming decades; They want a human element in their interactions to boost social connection, but the COVID-19 virus has changed that!
Covid 19 will change consumer preferences and open up new opportunities for robots
Companies large and small are expanding how robots are used to increase social distancing and reduce the number of employees who actually have to come to work. Robots are also being used to fulfill roles that workers cannot perform.
Walmart, the largest US retailer, is using robots to clean its floors. Robots have also been used in South Korea to measure temperatures and distribute hand sanitizer in many companies. With health experts warning that some social distancing measures may be required through 2021, there may be a greater demand for robotic workers.
Indeed a great idea, integrating robots with employees in companies and public places is a convenient and effective solution to help implement social distancing protocols; But there is a risk of creating fierce competition between robots and humans for jobs. Let's find out more about how these robots incorporate many functions.
Cleaning and sterilizing robots
Companies that manufacture cleaning and sanitizing products have seen a surge in demand. Where the company UVD the Robots , the company 's Danish manufacturer of robots UV disinfection, the shipment of hundreds of organs to hospitals in China and Europe. In addition to grocery stores and restaurants that serve take-out meals, these robots are also used more often.
Experts believe that with the expansion and reopening of more companies, we can expect the adoption of such technology to increase, and we can also see robots cleaning our schools or offices.
In light of the Corona pandemic, customers are more concerned with their safety and the safety and health of workers. Trends toward automation (the use of technology in all walks of life) can keep all of them healthy and customers will reward companies for it.
But there are still restrictions. The facts indicate that automated payments in grocery stores should reduce human interactions and friction, but because many systems do not function well, break down easily, or because of interruptions and problems plaguing the networks in many countries; Clients avoid this and go to human tellers.
Helping robots with social distancing
Food service is another area in which the use of robots in general is likely to increase, due to health concerns. Fast food chains like McDonald's are testing robots as cooks and servers. In warehouses, like those run by Amazon and Walmart, robots are already being used to improve efficiency. The Covid-19 outbreak has prompted both companies to increase the use of robots for sorting, shipping and packaging.
This may reduce the number of complaints by warehouse workers who say they cannot socialize with colleagues under the current circumstances. But according to technology experts, this in turn will take some of them out of work and lead to layoffs for many human workers and employees in companies.
Once the company invests in replacing a worker with a robot, it is unlikely that the company will re-hire as part of the tasks of the workers it has replaced with the robotic constellation. Robots are more expensive to create and incorporate into businesses, but once they are up and running, robots are cheaper and usually less expensive than human labor.
But what about the future after overcoming the Corona pandemic?
The use of robots in the post-Covid-19 world also offers some marketing advantages. People will prefer to go somewhere with fewer workers, more robots in general, because they feel they can reduce overall risks, receive more neat services and reduce the occasional verbal bickering with humans!
What about robots and explanation-based service roles?
Artificial intelligence is being developed so that it can replace teachers in schools, fitness coaches and financial advisors. Big tech companies are expanding the use of artificial intelligence. Both Facebook and Google are also relying on artificial intelligence to remove more inappropriate posts since corporate human content moderators cannot review certain things from home.
The skeptics of robots believed that humans would have an advantage in those jobs. But their viewpoint could change, because lockdowns and quarantines have made humans more comfortable with the idea of telephony. The coach or counselor on screen doesn't have to be a real person, they just need to think and act like a human being.
Expect a 2017 report by global consultants McKinsey; That a third of workers in the United States be replaced by automation and robotics by 2030. But events such as pandemics have the potential to change all timescales; And experts say it is really up to humans to decide how they want to integrate this technology into the world.
For example, every so often, a nurse has to go to a patient's room just to press some of the buttons on the ventilator. This requires full protective gear, so some hospitals operate infusion pumps that they can operate from corridors outside of patient rooms. But instead of all of that, a professional robot can fix it!
But while robots may be beneficial to frontline workers in hospital wards and medical centers, they may directly threaten the livelihoods of others. According to Amazon , robots are making warehouses more efficient, workers' jobs safer and easier, and allowing the company to pay higher wages. Future robots could deprive human workers of the tasks they are most likely to get.
But the pandemic may change that account. Before the emergence of the Covid-19 virus, many companies - not just in logistics or medicine - were looking into using robots to cut costs while protecting humans from dangerous tasks. Humans present the danger today and are likely to infect others with the Coronavirus. So the challenge now is that a worker with a minimum wage might actually be a carrier of the virus.
This makes human workers, in their increasing numbers, a burden. With online orders swelling, Amazon hired 175,000 new workers. Labor activists and employees demanded protective gear, warehouse sanitation, more licenses, higher wages, and PCR tests . Amazon will not say how many of its employees have been injured or died from COVID-19, but it and the other companies have a clear incentive to permanently replace more human workers for robotic workers. After all, robots don't need the costs of face masks, healthcare, or social distancing, and they're not on strike for better conditions.
Unfortunately according to the facts circulating, at the entry level, the unskilled jobs will end due to robots altogether. This shift means that soon, robots could not only monitor inventory in grocery stores, but also clean warehouse floors and shelves as well as place orders among employees, leaving humans only for the most complex tasks.
This means that (essential workers) today - people who deliver goods, work in stores, drive buses and trains, and process meat in packing factories - can be replaced by machines sooner than they were before the pandemic. That is, companies do not risk workers' lives just to keep the economy afloat; You also risk losing their livelihoods while recovering from the pandemic, too.
In return, experts predict that these people will be able to find work to help the robots that have replaced them. There will be a number of new jobs where these people will help machines do things that are still difficult to do with software and artificial intelligence. As a report from Oxford Economics University that 20 million jobs , global industrial can be lost due to automation by 2030, ie 8.5% of the world total.
The pandemic may forever change the way we work and shop. We don't know exactly what the result will be; There is no algorithm that can tell us exactly how people will end up next to robots. But tomorrow will certainly not remain a mystery forever. Robots are still custom built, and it takes time for technology to transform into a new reality. Maps and sensors help integrate into the workflow, but this requires programmers to spend time on site.
But we'll always ask, will there be enough new machine aide jobs to make up for all the losses? What happens when these machines become more complex and less dependent on human direction?