From the dawn of mankind the use and advancement of tools and technology to better the standard of living for all humans has been growing. This blog will examine past and current situations where the machines we have created have either helped or hindered people and the way that they live.
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Sunday, September 23, 2012
Danger Will Robinson!
In the original Lost in Space, the robot would
scream “Danger Will Robinson!” when trouble abounded close to Will, the young
boy of the crew. But what if the robot was yelling at a different kind of
futuristic danger? A future where manufacturing world would need no human
manufacturers? Introducing from Rethink Robotics, a robot manufacturing that
has created a human like substitute, Baxter.
This new robot threat is just like Terminator,
only instead of eliminating the human race it is eliminating jobs. Baxter is
made to increase productivity and make America more competitive with
manufacturing giants like China. The price of this robot will only be 22,000$
American dollars. This cost will far undermine the American worker (your
average American worker will make around that much a year). Baxter is made with
75 percent American parts and is very easy to program. This is said to “unleash
a revolution in manufacturing with a friendly faced factory robot” from IEEE Spectrum article. What? This robot
can not only multitask but expresses emotions. These emotions are programed to
add feedback.
How will this affect the hardworking? When will they create a robot that can do everything a human can do minus the added cost? Danger Will Robinson, your job is not safe!
Aren't a large majority of manufacturing assembly lines already automated? Was Baxter designed to accompany these assembly lines or was it more likely created for smaller manufacturing companies?
In your opinion, could it be argued that this automation could have a minimal effect on jobs because of the maintenance and construction of these machines? Or do you expect this process to be automated in the future too (think of the infirmary in Wall-E)?
Increasing automation generally reduces cost, improving overall economics. Do you expect hat there is a limit to this? Essentially is there a point where automation will have a negative impact on the American economy and efficiency will decrease our economic value?
Thanks for the feedback! I'm am late on response, but I do appreciate your post;) Many manufacturing plants have automated machines, but this project was designed to replace the worker doing the tedious with a low budget firm. I think this will help small businesses grow, but at the costs of low education jobs. What this technology should accomplish is that humans will have more free time rather than do menial tasks. However, this never pans out quite like it should;) Thanks for the post! Yours, -Z
Aren't a large majority of manufacturing assembly lines already automated? Was Baxter designed to accompany these assembly lines or was it more likely created for smaller manufacturing companies?
ReplyDeleteIn your opinion, could it be argued that this automation could have a minimal effect on jobs because of the maintenance and construction of these machines? Or do you expect this process to be automated in the future too (think of the infirmary in Wall-E)?
Increasing automation generally reduces cost, improving overall economics. Do you expect hat there is a limit to this? Essentially is there a point where automation will have a negative impact on the American economy and efficiency will decrease our economic value?
-Kelsi Waite
Thanks for the feedback! I'm am late on response, but I do appreciate your post;)
ReplyDeleteMany manufacturing plants have automated machines, but this project was designed to replace the worker doing the tedious with a low budget firm. I think this will help small businesses grow, but at the costs of low education jobs. What this technology should accomplish is that humans will have more free time rather than do menial tasks. However, this never pans out quite like it should;)
Thanks for the post!
Yours, -Z