Industrial Automation Magazine India

Robots-taking-jobs argument is extremely exaggerated

Published on : Tuesday 30-11--0001

Are robots a boon or a threat to human beings, especially when it comes to jobs?

A robot is a machine designated to execute one or more tasks automatically, with speed and precision. It may be a labour-saving machine or a more efficient process. The advent of ‘robots’ is not new. Every machine that has been introduced to automate mundane and tedious manual jobs has been treated with scepticism – may it be automobiles replacing horses; mechanised-looms replacing artisans; computerised accounting software replacing conventional book-keeping. However, historically it has been established, each ‘robot’ or automated machine/process has only lead to creation of multiple new jobs.

Is the robots-taking-jobs argument exaggerated, as there are still jobs waiting to be filled?

Yes, the robots-taking-jobs argument is extremely exaggerated.  Humans are not meant to do jobs which are labour intensive and take the toll on human health. There are thousands of jobs which continue to be done by human beings which, given an option, need to be passed on to an automated device or a robot. However, jobs that require a one-on-one connection with other humans, such as in healthcare, education, hospitality, tourism amongst many others will remain firmly in people’s hands. Most such jobs require empathy and emotional intelligence that robots cannot replicate. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence will only assist human beings in taking much more calculated decisions.

While robots are adapting fast to new roles, are their human counterparts slow in doing so?

Robots are adapting fast to new roles – and completely different kinds of roles. Conventional visualisation of a robot is a human like device which takes away the mechanical task of a human, typically deployed in an industrial environment. Humans using ‘industrial robots’ in industrial (business) environment may not be adapting to such robots as fast as they should, because they still have multiple questions to answer, justifying the economic viability of the investment, as well as the psychological challenges of replacing humans with robots. However, the behaviour of the same humans when it comes to deploying ‘service robots’ is completely different. They have quickly accepted multiple such service robots such as automated vacuum cleaners, cloud-based virtual assistants such as Alexa, Google, Siri, roti-makers, vending-machines, amongst many others. With the new generation being more receptive to such automated/robotic tools in their lives, it is going to be a matter of time when industrial robots will start getting deployed as fast as the service robots.

Compared to the advanced economies, robot penetration in India is still low. Will there be a dramatic change in the near future?

There indeed are multiple challenges that India has to overcome, biggest challenge being the cost of hardware and software needed to deploy the robots. SMEs are especially challenged with validating the RoI as well as depending on skilled technical resources for deploying as well as maintaining the assets. However, with the advancement of science and technology in India, robotics is entering into the industrial space faster than before. There are many new opportunities of employment opening up for technology enthusiasts in the robotics space, which promises that the future of robotics in India is bright, and penetration is going to be faster than before. In fact, deploying robots is going to be the only way that Indian manufacturers will be able to compete in the global market and the next 10 years are predicted to be extremely consequential in deployment of robots in India.

Finally, will man and robot co-exist in harmony?

Over the last few years, there is a new class of robot called ‘collaborative robot’ or ‘cobot’. Such robots have multiple safety features built-in, which ensures that the robot is classified safe when operating next to a human. It has been established that when a robot is deployed alongside a human being, the productivity and efficiency enhances significantly. There are already multiple robots deployed globally where they are working in harmony with the humans. Human and robot co-existing in harmony is inevitable.

Anuj Bihani is the Managing Director of Alstrut India Private Limited.  He is a mechanical engineer with a Masters in manufacturing engineering, an executive MBA from ISB.

Alstrut is well known company in India for their automation solutions in the discrete manufacturing industry. Over the last 3 years, Alstrut has put in significant efforts in the collaborative robot space, emerging to be amongst the largest players in the collaborative space in India. With strategic partnership with the Universal Robots - the largest collaborative robot company in the world, and MiR, the largest autonomous mobile robot company in the world, Alstrut has successful installations in industries as diverse from auto-components, FMCG, food, pharmaceutical, electrical/electronics.

Alstrut has just launched a UR+ product called 'cobotizur' – compatible with Universal Robots and is a Plug & Play equipment which enables industries to automate their end of line palletising in just a few hours. Alstrut believes that this new product will accelerate deployment of robots in packaging industry.