Real Jobs For Real Robots

The robot uprising has begun. Taking your job is just the start of what robots will take from humans. Eventually they will (say it with me) KILL US ALL!

It’s quite possible someday soon that robots may deliver food to your table in a restaurant or gather up your laundry and bring it to the laundry room – that is if some of the machines featured in this slideshow make it out of the research labs and into the real world. Here we take a look at 18 robots that are already functioning in a variety of real life jobs.

they tirrrkk errrr JERRRBBSS!!

It really is only a matter of time before they do actually take the low end jobs.

I give it 10 years and we're going to have a world-wide revolution as robotics change the way we live. How many cab drivers alone will be replaced and need new jobs once self-driving cars show up? What about restaurant cashiers / order takers when we're all ordering from kiosks at the counter or table? How many companies will have receptionists anymore? Cooks? Who knows....? I suspect millions of people will be needing new jobs soon and a good many of them won't have marketable skills to make that transition with.

You know, people are on this thing about it reading low end jobs. I constantly see some asshole saying herp deep, serves you right for working a shit job. Yet one of the first jobs being actively replaced already is pharmacists. This has been happening for years in hospitals, now target announced they are moving toward it and that trend will continue. This isn't a shit job, it pays well and requires an expensive education. Oh yes, the robot revolution is coming, but I don't think it's going to be what some people seem to believe and only replace low end jobs.

Dekoth-E- said:

You know, people are on this thing about it reading low end jobs. I constantly see some asshole saying herp deep, serves you right for working a shit job. Yet one of the first jobs being actively replaced already is pharmacists. This has been happening for years in hospitals, now target announced they are moving toward it and that trend will continue. This isn't a shit job, it pays well and requires an expensive education. Oh yes, the robot revolution is coming, but I don't think it's going to be what some people seem to believe and only replace low end jobs.

Click to expand...

We live in a free market, the free market has proven to be so vastly superior to all other forms of economic and social systems. Obviously it has problems that arise and it requires oversight and regulation, but by and large, the last 150 years have seen technological and economic growth that are completely unparalleled in human history. The process of replacement is just part of that free market.

The quandary for me is this: Is there a point where the free market becomes a hindrance to our species? Are we reaching a point where work for pay can no longer support a society in a functioning fashion? We re-purpose ourselves for new things all the time, that's evolution, are we reaching a point in advanced countries where we no longer need to labour at all? We're not that far off designing machines that can do the vast majority of design and construction work we do. What's our role going to be in a society where the only thing we really offer is our imagination?

It's deep stuff. I'd rather think about on my dock with a rye in my hand.

Twisted Kidney said:

We live in a free market, the free market has proven to be so vastly superior to all other forms of economic and social systems. Obviously it has problems that arise and it requires oversight and regulation, but by and large, the last 150 years have seen technological and economic growth that are completely unparalleled in human history. The process of replacement is just part of that free market.

The quandary for me is this: Is there a point where the free market becomes a hindrance to our species? Are we reaching a point where work for pay can no longer support a society in a functioning fashion? We re-purpose ourselves for new things all the time, that's evolution, are we reaching a point in advanced countries where we no longer need to labour at all? We're not that far off designing machines that can do the vast majority of design and construction work we do. What's our role going to be in a society where the only thing we really offer is our imagination?

It's deep stuff. I'd rather think about on my dock with a rye in my hand.

Click to expand...

You are definitely onto what I am thinking will happen. Millions of people around the globe will be replaced with machines because it is cheaper then paying them. The problem becomes when you have a population of 8 billion people and the world only needs 3 billion workers. What do those other 5 billion do? Eventually the population will reach the correct equilibrium but I suspect getting there is going to be a very messy and painful process for every one. Is it 10 years or 200 I really can't say.

Twisted Kidney said:

The quandary for me is this: Is there a point where the free market becomes a hindrance to our species? Are we reaching a point where work for pay can no longer support a society in a functioning fashion? We re-purpose ourselves for new things all the time, that's evolution, are we reaching a point in advanced countries where we no longer need to labour at all?

Click to expand...

A free market will eventually work this out. New jobs will be created, jobs that currently don't exist.
Just like computers, email, cell phone, etc. have replaced lots of jobs, they also created lots of new jobs.

Even if we have robot servers in restaurants, I'm sure there will be some that buck the trend and still serve food the old fashion way. Plus there will be plenty of jobs is robot repair, robot design, etc.
Eventually we'll have lots of military jobs when the robots try to take over

So keep supporting a higher minimum wage, it will just raise the cost of labor, and make the adoption of robots happen even sooner.

Personally, I can't wait until I can buy a robot that can do most the house and yard work. Not having to deal with the dishes, laundry, house cleaning or yard work would be great.

Dekoth-E- said:

You know, people are on this thing about it reading low end jobs. I constantly see some asshole saying herp deep, serves you right for working a shit job. Yet one of the first jobs being actively replaced already is pharmacists. This has been happening for years in hospitals, now target announced they are moving toward it and that trend will continue. This isn't a shit job, it pays well and requires an expensive education. Oh yes, the robot revolution is coming, but I don't think it's going to be what some people seem to believe and only replace low end jobs.

Click to expand...

Nah, not low end jobs, just jobs that are either tedious or something that given the right skill set (i.e. one you can program a computer to do) anyone can do. Not meaning to paint a broad stroke here, but about the only thing the pharmacist has done for me is take pills from a larger bottle and put the appropriate amount in a smaller bottle then slap on a sticker, or in some cases take a bottle that has pills and just slap on a sticker over the existing label. Now I'm not saying that's the only thing a pharmacist does (hell I don't know otherwise) but it's not exactly a job that requires a great deal of skill and yes, it can be replaced by a robot quite easily.

Is it just me, or did #18 give anyone else horrible visions of the movie Screamers?

And, for some reason, calling a robot or computer HAL just seems to be asking for trouble...

sfsuphysics said:

Nah, not low end jobs, just jobs that are either tedious or something that given the right skill set (i.e. one you can program a computer to do) anyone can do. Not meaning to paint a broad stroke here, but about the only thing the pharmacist has done for me is take pills from a larger bottle and put the appropriate amount in a smaller bottle then slap on a sticker, or in some cases take a bottle that has pills and just slap on a sticker over the existing label. Now I'm not saying that's the only thing a pharmacist does (hell I don't know otherwise) but it's not exactly a job that requires a great deal of skill and yes, it can be replaced by a robot quite easily.

Click to expand...

Yeah, it seems kind of silly to call a pharmacist highly skilled when I'm sure you could train an 8-year old to do their job. In theory, pharmacists have the knowledge to warn people of drug interactions and such, but I've never seen it happen.

DocSavage said:

Yeah, it seems kind of silly to call a pharmacist highly skilled when I'm sure you could train an 8-year old to do their job. In theory, pharmacists have the knowledge to warn people of drug interactions and such, but I've never seen it happen.

Click to expand...

Then you have really crappy pharmacists. Ours checks for interactions and has let us know multiple times in the past or called the prescribing physician to suggest an alternate medication that doesn't interact. And generally, the ones simply taking the pills out of the bottles and packing them or relabeling them is usually just a pharmacy tech/pharmacists assistant. The only actual "pharmacist" usually just goes behind them and checks everything that is filled to make sure the markings on the pill match the correct medication type, to make sure that the CORRECT directions and warning labels are properly applied, and to check for interactions and make sure the prescription actually fits the condition (and checks with the doctor just in case of potential "off label" uses). The pharmacy tech's I can see being replaced, but the actual pharmacist is the "quality control officer" who has the knowledge and makes the final assessment before the product is dispensed to the patient. One specific case in point would be where the PA at our local doctors office scribbled down my wife's prescription hurriedly and the nurse misread it and electronically transmitted a prescription for "hydralazine" rather than "hydroxyzine" (aka Atarax). Hydroxyzine is an antihistamine -- which was being used in conjunction with methylprednisilone to help control a nasty allergic reaction to antibiotics. Hydralazine is a blood thinner. And, had the pharmacist not caught it -- especially at the prescribed dosage level of 50mg 4 times daily -- the results could have been deadly.

I recommend getting a rob maintaining robots.

nutzo said:

A free market will eventually work this out. New jobs will be created, jobs that currently don't exist.
Just like computers, email, cell phone, etc. have replaced lots of jobs, they also created lots of new jobs.

[Snip for brevity.]

So keep supporting a higher minimum wage, it will just raise the cost of labor, and make the adoption of robots happen even sooner.

Click to expand...

So what you're saying is that a higher minimum wage will accelerate or social evolution? I'm inclined to agree.

May faith in any market model isn't as absolute as yours, at least at the point where the free market operates on a model of mutual benefit. If we design a synthetic labourer that can effectively duplicate any task a human does there is no further need for humans in any job that can be scripted with reasonable accuracy. That removes the benefit of an organic worker in almost every single task.

Of course I think our evolution will inevitably lead us to design our own synthetic replacements, so maybe I have a different angle to most people.

Designed in Japan, made in Mexico, imported by a Chinese company, replacing workers in the USA. They were right...

There have been so many advancements through history that eliminated jobs. Cotton gin, printing press, steam engine... It takes less people to do the same job. But, it also opens jobs for manufacturing the new technology, maintaining it, improving it, etc... All of us computer folks wouldn't have had a job 100 years ago in the same field. Then, people bitching that computers are going to take our jobs. Now, there is a whole industry surrounding it.

Damn robots. Pretty soon they'll want a living wage to go with it. And dental.

They foreshadowed this on Sam and Cat (nickelodeon)

mdburkey said:

Then you have really crappy pharmacists. Ours checks for interactions and has let us know multiple times in the past or called the prescribing physician to suggest an alternate medication that doesn't interact.

Click to expand...

My doctor has a list of medications that I've taken, so they check interactions before hand because everything is computerized and the pharmacy records are tied to the hospital. Labels are computer printed, and there is a photocopy of plenty of handouts with every script to let me know of risks. Now perhaps if I was an old fart taking more pills a day than there are days of the week this would be a little different.

The pharmacy tech's I can see being replaced, but the actual pharmacist is the "quality control officer" who has the knowledge and makes the final assessment before the product is dispensed to the patient.

Click to expand...

And in the case of many pharmacies that are "large" this is exactly what will happen, as most of the people working there are not a particularly skilled labor force. If it wasn't for them needing to verify the person picking up the drugs is the right person, we probably would have auto dispensaries for pharmacy drugs.

sfsuphysics said:

My doctor has a list of medications that I've taken, so they check interactions before hand because everything is computerized and the pharmacy records are tied to the hospital. Labels are computer printed, and there is a photocopy of plenty of handouts with every script to let me know of risks. Now perhaps if I was an old fart taking more pills a day than there are days of the week this would be a little different.

Click to expand...

There are at least two issues with this:

1) The doctor still has to actually prescribe the medication, typically by hand onto a form, especially if it is a controlled substance. This form is then entered into the computer by the nurse or other staff member and is then transmitted to the pharmacy. Or, in the case of non-controlled substances, the doctor will typically just TELL the staff vocally to go write up scrips for the following medications and dosages and then bring them back to him to sign, if the patient wants to take it with them, or just tells them to send it to the pharmacy. In either case, there are several steps where the wrong medication can get transcribed and sent to the pharmacy. As I mentioned before, I have had this actually HAPPEN with one of my wife's prescriptions.

2) In your case, the physician may have a current list of all the medications you are taking and the dosages. In many cases, this may not be correct, or at least not 100% accurate. Specifically, I personally have prescriptions from my GP, my orthopedist, my ENT, and my endocrinologist. The GP knows, more or less, what the others have prescribed, but the others don't know 100% of the time. Additionally, my prescriptions from my endocrinologist don't even go to the same pharmacy as the others do (because they need to be mixed at more precise dosages and require a compounding pharmacy to do it).