Technology in the workplace: robots

Technology in the Workplace

Robots in the Workplace Decrease Human Jobs

In this essay, I have discussed the robotics technology and how it has affected the position of human labor in the working environment. I have covered both advantages and disadvantages of robots use. However, I have main highlighted how their use has impacted manual labor. In particular, I have described how robots have snatched away jobs that are meant for humans.

It can be said that one of the distinguishing characteristic of the twenty-first century is that interaction between human beings and machines have increased and the interaction between human beings and the fellow creatures have decreased. This trend has indeed encouraged the phenomenon of technological unemployment i.e. The workers are losing their jobs because of the employment of machines in the workplace. The threatening fact is that this process is not stopping. This innovative wave of mechanization and computerization has the field of robotics at the front line (Kroft, 2013).

Every person thinks of a robot in his/her own way. However, the most common definition that prevails around is that a robot is a movable or motionless machine that is capable of doing the human job. In the previous times, robots were regarded as objects that serve human beings. However, the recent times are proving that these computerized beings are taking human jobs instead of serving them. Although, there has been a great investment trend in businesses dealing in hardware and software but at the same time, robots have taken jobs that are meant to be done by humans. The joblessness these days is an absolute outcome of the increased automation and technological advancement (Kroft, 2013).

A robot has been defined by the Robot Institute of America as a "reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools or specialized devices through variable programmed motion for the performance of a variety of tasks" (Pearson, 1990). If described in simple words, a robot is an automatic motorized operator/worker that is used for doing work is powered by electronic response and can be reprogrammed to a great extent (Pearson, 1990).

Thus, it can be said that the main distinguishing feature that makes hard automation and robots different from each other is the response power that enables a robot to perform intelligently and carry out the given tasks by employing its instinctive identification potential. To cut a long story short, every machine is a robot provided that can be reprogrammed, operates automatically on its own in an intelligent manner, perform a variety of tasks and can do a lot of other work than just move using the four axes (Pearson, 1990).

Robots are used for filling the gap between tough mechanization/computerization and flexible human manual labor as it turns tasks that are challenging and difficult over to machines and electronic equipments. With the usage of robots in the recent times, it has been observed that human productivity has increased considerably and safety has been improved as the human resources are put in control of the assignment/job more willingly than putting him/her forward as a chance of becoming a part of the assigned task (Pearson, 1990).

In the contemporary world of today, the industrial sector in particular, is using the computer-controlled machines i.e. The robot in an increasingly extensive manners. This use of robots has given rise to the concern that the factories that are using these modern technologies will not require human resources for the accomplishment of jobs. Thus, robots are considered to have a great impact on the employment trends. According to a majority of people that advocate the use of robotics in the industries, the automation in factories is exceedingly necessary for helping the bothered industrialists and manufacturers as it can result in more production and competitiveness. On the other hand, there are modification/regulation costs that are related with the automation of the factories as changing the conventional ways to become modernized requires capital (Bednarzik, 1985).

There are a number of issues that have been raised regarding the use of robots in the factories. Firstly, such technologies have caused unemployment for the human beings to a great extent as the manufacturers now prefer machines over human labor. Secondly, the workplace has been dehumanized with the introduction of the robotics. Thus, it has become rather a concern in the developed countries especially and the question before an industrialized country is how to "best prepare its education and training system to respond to the growing use of computerized manufacturing automation?" (Bednarzik, 1985). Till now, the countries were not giving particular consideration to the influence of hi-tech modernization on employment and careers of the human beings and the workplace environment. However, the deterioration of fiscal conditions in some countries has shifted attitudes toward alarm and unease. It is now widely acknowledged that the spread of technology in businesses and industries has impacted the employment and jobs greatly (Bednarzik, 1985).

One of the greatest impacts of robotic employment in the factories is crystal-clearly noticeable in America where the fraction of people with employment is at a twenty year low. The fact rather astonishes that travelling by air several years ago needed people to interact with a person who served as a ticket agent. The scenario is changed now as the robotic kiosks have replaced those jobs. ATMs have taken the place of bank cashiers; e-commerce has surrendered the sales clerks whereas voice recognition/facial recognition technologies have swallowed operators and secretaries. Thus, there are a number of daily, middle-skilled jobs that have been rapidly eliminated by the robotics. This is because the artificial intelligence community is rather efficient in designing software and physical robots that can handle such jobs easily (Kroft, 2013).

It is also astonishing that there are a number of warehouses that are extensively automated with few or no human workers. One of the best examples of such a warehouse is one located at "Devens, Mass., where roughly 100 employees work alongside 69 robots that do all the heavy lifting and navigate a warehouse maze the size of two football fields -- moving 10,000 pieces of merchandise a day from storage shelf to shipping point faster and more efficiently than human workers ever could" (Kroft, 2013). Thus, it is so obvious that the human workers are being pushed out from the workplace where they deserve to work with the increase in workplace automation and rise of machines that are smart enough to invade their jobs.

The above discussion makes it understandable that jobs are not only lost due to outsourcing of people in other international markets but are also given to automated workers i.e. robots. It has been predicted by a number of futurists that robotics and intelligent computers will be taking up more white-collar jobs in the coming times. It is easily observable that automation has considerably affected the manufacturing sector and now artificial intelligence is impacting the traditional professions in a number of ways. The robotics has particularly impacted the financial services industry and this sector is going through a unique and contemporary industrialized revolution (Lee, 2012). As a consequence, middle-skilled jobs that require cognitive and productive competence have been lost. The robots are designed so that they can replace these jobs and perform the tasks clearly and easily.

Robots can also be described as electro-mechanical manipulators that are employed for carrying out a number of operations in the manufacturing industries. Human capabilities are mimicked by robots in a very exact fashion. This is the reason why a majority of manufacturing jobs that were performed by the humans previously are now replaced by robotics. The uses of robotics also have several advantages as they facilitate the automation of manufacturing procedures and consequently increasing the overall productivity that could not be achieved with the utilization of human resources only.

Not only does the costs are lessened with the use of robots in the industry but more production is done in lesser amount of time. Moreover, they contribute greatly by improving the quality. A broad range of industrial tasks are being done by robots in today's industries. They are taking up jobs meant for humans but are monotonous, tiresome and dangerous. The most general tasks performed by robots are picking and placing objects, painting, welding and spraying (Frenzel, 1996).

Mostly, the robots are used in areas where it's most commercially lucrative, particularly in areas where there is hazard. As mentioned above, in more or less ninety-nine percent of cars, the robots are the ones who weld the frames. Similarly, robots spray paint about eighty percent of the body of the car. This is because unlike humans, robots are not affected by combustion and poisonous smoke. Robots are also employed as the human errors are eradicated by them and they have a different style of performance that is more advanced. Their painting and welding patterns are same always. Whatever it is, the need for human workers can never be removed by the robots though these new technological innovation may perform a variety of jobs at the workplace (Ross, 1996).

As a result, it can be said that the workplace of the modern world has changed beyond recognition with the revolution brought by the technological advancements. The technological transformation in the last two decades has been drastic and this trend will continue for the next many decades as robots are increasing replacing jobs that require the engagement of repetitive, customized actions. There are a number of jobs that are at risk of being lost due to automation. The industry of call centers is likely to be impacted by the recent automation trends. Similarly, technological change is also affecting the roles of book-keepers and data processors (Boyle, 2010).

Hence, economic depression, colonization and the mortgage industry are not to be blamed for the loss of jobs. Instead, if truth be told, robots must be blamed for the whole unemployment scenario. Though the manufacturing sector is still playing a powerful role in increasing the GDP in most of the countries, the fact is that this strength is not because of human beings but because of robots. The reality is that automation has invaded workplace and if this remains the same in future, people with less educational aptitude will have to spend their lives sitting on the couch at home (Boyle, 2010).

And what's more, there are a number of particular professions that comprise of normal tasks making them defenseless against mechanization of robots. According to a renowned MIT economist, David Autor, "The middle class is disappearing in large part because technology is rendering middle-class skills obsolete" (as qtd. In Boyle, 2010). As already mentioned, bank cashiers, clerks and people at front desks do work that is greatly monotonous. This is the reason why their jobs are seen to be as the most susceptible to automation. As far as United States of America is concerned, there has been an increased polarization in the jobs from high-skilled and highly-paid against less experienced, less paid jobs. And this polarization is mainly due to automation, increased implementation of Information Technology and employment of robots at the workplace (Boyle, 2010).

As industries are becoming more hi-tech and digital, there is an increased demand for highly-competitive workers at the same time and thumbs down for those who are less educated or less skilled. Thus, robots can be regarded as a militia of domestic collaborators because of whom the requirement for low-skilled human resources has eliminated. It can be easily concluded then that ordinary jobs like that of dishwashers, hairdressers etc. have been taken by the robots so there is no place for ordinary workers in the market currently. This is the reason why industrial robots have been working as the huge mainstream of mechanical employees (Boyle, 2010).

Unfortunately, human beings are turning out as an obsolete fraction at the workplace due to the fact that robots have become smarter than them. Robots are the workers who never get tired or bored and make a less number of mistakes as compared to people. According to estimate, by the end of the current year, the world will have more or less 1.2 million industrial robots which mean that a single robot can do the work of five thousand individuals (Acquino).

At the present moment, documents are being analyzed, prescriptions are being filled and tasks that need picking, placing and handling are done by robots. These are the tasks that were once in need of manual labor. There are a number of jobs that will be replaced by the robots soon. However, the given nine jobs are more vulnerable to automation. Pharmacists are among those unfortunate workers that have the potential to be replaced by robots as robots not only work at the front desks in a pharmacy to fill up prescriptions but also pick and choose, box up, and hand out individual measured quantity of medications. Lawyers and paralegals are also seeing robots as a threat as there is software now that can review documents within seconds making it difficult for human to take up the job. The jobs related to driving vehicles is also at stake because automated transportation is being used now for safeguarding and helping people to reach at work at a faster. Android technology is also taking up jobs of astronauts as it makes cleaning the space station and backing up human beings in various functions in the space easier (Acquino).