When discussing the growing role of robots and automation in
manufacturing and industry, it usually spawns a conversation about at least one
of the following, in order of decreasing popularity: job replacement;
efficiency; safety; hacking threats; development and maintenance costs; and
universal income.
Without a doubt, fears of replacing human jobs with robots
in manufacturing are a main concern. At the moment, multi-axis arms and tables,
along with process lines and LAN integration, are the primary threat. Humanoid
robots that can multi-task and quickly, independently problem solve at flexible
work stations are still a ways off.
Due to this, Mercedes-Benz recently scaled back automation
efforts at its Sindelfingen, Germany, production factory. The company cited
that humans
are more adaptable and better suited to a variety of tasks as the primary
reasons for this technological reversal. At this plant Mercedes-Benz is
producing its S-Class saloons, which are highly customized according to
customer specifications. S-Classes used
to be marketed with the slogan, "Engineered like no other car in the world," as
it was designed for regular Autobahn use by engineers who weren't tied to purse
strings. 2016 base model S-Classes start at $95,000, and the price could double
depending on what a customer orders. With this price, Mercedes can afford to
pay laborers instead of developers and technicians.
This is confirmation of what we've long suspected: certain
human jobs are in no immediate danger of replacement. Humans remain better for
cross-training and retraining, aesthetic and artisan work, and for flexible
manufacturing environments. Instead, Mercedes plans to supplement workers with
smaller, lighter robots that are better for performing repetitive mechanical
tasks, and less dangerous to human coworkers. However, the skills gap between
humans and robots is rapidly eroding.
Even though robots aren't up to human problem-solving
standards, they're becoming more adaptable and human-like by the day. Check out
this video of the latest iteration of Atlas by Boston Dynamics. Despite the
creepy marching, the machine is nimble and articulate. The above-linked article
states it can take weeks to reprogram a robot to do a different job, but I find
that hard to believe. Arm Atlas with a few robotics engineers, and it seems
primed for the production line any day now.
So this seems like a temporary setback for robots, mostly
because it seems Mercedes didn't have proper expectations for their automation
efforts. While we like to blame robots for many business and social changes,
this one isn't on the android.
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