Humans and Robots Can Work Together (Grade 4 PDF)

## Humans and Robots Can Work Together - Humans have always used technology to make their lives easier. - Automation is becoming part of daily life but doesn't mean we live in a robot-dominated world. - Automation increases efficiency and convenience. - One major online retailer uses robots to help...

## Humans and Robots Can Work Together - Humans have always used technology to make their lives easier. - Automation is becoming part of daily life but doesn't mean we live in a robot-dominated world. - Automation increases efficiency and convenience. - One major online retailer uses robots to help manage orders. - By 2018, the company employed 45,000 robots. - When an order is placed, a robot retrieves the item and takes it to a human worker. - These robots have not replaced human workers. - In fact, with humans and robots working together, an order can be filled 80% faster. ## "Remote Presence System" Robot - A "remote presence system" robot helps a customer in a home repair store. - Many robotics companies are looking for ways to combine the best efforts of human and robotic workers. - One solution is a "remote presence system" which consists of small robots that look like rolling computers and have video-chat capabilities. - This allows company employees to be anywhere in the world and still help customers in a store. - Workers need Wi-Fi and a special app that links them to the robot. - These robots do not take away jobs. - Instead, they can help create jobs in areas where there are few employment opportunities. - People can work for a store even if they don't live near it. - Having humans work alongside robots improves efficiency and speed and can even create new human jobs. - The job of robots is to make humans' work easier, but humans will be working jobs for a long time to come. ## Robots Will Take Professional Jobs - The image of robots in the workplace is often of robotic assembly workers in a manufacturing plant. - More and more workplace robots do "white-collar jobs". - The workers they are replacing are not factory workers, but office workers and professionals. - In the second half of the twentieth century, the world entered the Digital Age. - Many new and important computer and robotic technologies were invented. - Some inventions made work easier and cheaper than using human beings. - As a result, many employers found that it cost much less to maintain a robot than to pay a human worker salary, benefits, and health insurance. - In such cases, workers sometimes lost their jobs to machines. - At first, the majority of lost jobs were "blue-collar", or manual labor, or professional. - White-collar jobs were thought to be safe from replacement. - No one thought a robot could do specialized professional work better than a human. - However, technology improves quickly and recent technological advancements have begun to threaten some white-collar jobs. - Some tasks that only doctors could perform can now be done by machines. - Robot-assisted surgery is growing in popularity. - Robots can perform much of the procedure. - Computer programs are able to diagnose certain illnesses better than a human can because they can access information more quickly than humans. ## Technology for Tomorrow - Technology has made life easier and better in many ways. - However, as technology advances, machines can do increasingly complex jobs. - The lower cost of machines and computer programs means they could eventually block people from taking these jobs. - Even white-collar jobs could be completely replaced. - Humans and technology can exist together in the workplace. - Others think that as new technology develops, humans will no longer be needed. ## Will a Robot Take Your Job? - How likely is it that a robot takes this job in the future? - (1 = certain) | Job | Likelihood (1 = certain) | | :----------------------------------- | :----------------------- | | Editors (white-collar) | 0.06 | | Firefighters (blue-collar) | 0.17 | | Real Estate Agents (white-collar) | 0.86 | | Retail Salespeople (blue-collar) | 0.92 | | Telemarketers (white-collar) | 0.99 | - Source: "The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerization?" by C. Fray and M. Osborne (2013) - This real estate robot could be taking a human Realtor's job. - Robots have replaced blue-collar jobs such as cashier, bank teller, and tollbooth worker, for years. ## Robots in the Restaurant - During the past fifty years, innovations in pizza have included deep-dish and square pies and toppings like goat cheese and arugula. - There's an extra-large deluxe change revolutionizing the industry. - Several companies are using robots to make pizza. - Machine-made pizza is not new. - The frozen pizza you buy at the grocery is created in a factory. - Robots working in a restaurant kitchen are a recent change. - According to a 2017 Washington Post article, a California-based company that uses robots "can now make and deliver 372 pizzas an hour." - Robots squirt and spread tomato sauce on the dough. - They shape the dough into a circle. - Then they place the pizza in the oven. - The robots do have coworkers. - People are still needed to prepare the sauce and add toppings. - An engineer designs the robot and programs how it moves. - Engineer Josh Goldberg said in a 2017 Los Angeles Times interview that he updates the robot's software in the restaurant. This prevents a "hacker from taking control of the pizza assembly line." - Robot workers keep costs down. - Company owners say this allows them to spend more on quality ingredients. - Robots don't need wages or benefits, such as vacation days. - A new generation of pizza cooks is here to stay.