Robotics Revolution: A Look Back at the 18th Century - Essay Sample

Introduction

There is fear of the current century machines to replace factory workers jobs, but in reality, robots do and have changed their work. Back in the 18th century, there are resemblances to the present day. The gigantic Industrial Revolution was messy, but eventually, the transformation brought relative harmony. For centuries, people have fear for robots, but if today is compared to ten years ago, a vast number of technology jobs have been created that did not exist. Posts such as web security, data science, programming, sales, and marketing are in existence. The emerging fourth industrial revolution is creating businesses into reality; there is a critical play of robots and humans in manufacturing success.

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First, the truth is that robots are helping and generating more and routine factory jobs, even for intermediaries. They make employments by restoring more manufacturing work (Anderson & ccGartner u1985, p.74). Additionally, new jobs are opening in other parts of the factories. Germany can be an excellent example of this trend whereby they have three times robot manufacturing compared to United States companies, but still more humans are employed. German manufacturing workforce relative to the size of the economy is twice the size of the United States. Humans have created all artificial intelligence and robots, and with the right instructions, they become tools for factory workers (Fleming 2019, P.27). There has to be mutual work at a point where both need to work together. The workers have programmed the robots meaning that they are in control, and for this matter, the robots will do as instructed. It is fascinating with the idea that workers can leverage robots to provide a better working industry for all factory workers. China, for instance, on the global scale of the economy, has become a significant force through the automation of artificial intelligence and robots. Their focus on new technology and automation on the same has made China bear a massive impact on the global supply chain by factory workers working with fewer force efforts because of robots in their manufacturing. As a result, there are more exports for China than it imports. Factory jobs will and are always available; therefore, factory workers should be offered the right training to work with the robots and within an environment of artificial intelligence.

Secondly, robots do reduce work injuries for factory workers. An increase in productivity comes with intensive tasks, and robots assist factory workers in increasing the productivity, alleviating them from physically intensive tasks (Wisskirchen, Biacabe, Bormann, Muntz, Niehaus, Soler, & von Brauchitsch 2017). Robots reduce lifting injuries for workers where most of the works in factories include lifting materials by hand or using the equipment. There are common musculoskeletal related injuries even when factory workers receive proper training on lifting techniques. Many robots are designed to lift heavy objects helping workers from injuries initiated by physical fatigue. Accidents from high levels are less when robots are in use. Incidents commonly come from workers trying to reach items on higher levels such as shelves after using machines such as forklifts. As a way to maximize space, warehouses are constructed in a way that is organized by stacking items on higher levels. The levels beyond workers can cause accidents, and for this case, robots came in handy (Weng, Chen, & Sun 2009, p.267). The robots can bring down items for workers that are too high for humans. The help of the robots does not necessarily eliminate fall incidents such as trips or slips. However, there is the elimination of performance by factory employees at dangerous heights.

Thirdly, robots are highly flexible and can help factory workers have continuous production because they can operate for more than twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. Without discontinuing, robots are an advantage because of the long stretches they can work (Krar & Gill 2003, p.7). Robots do not get tired like the way factory workers do; therefore, there is no decline in workers' performance when they use robots, workers fatigue becomes less problematic. For instance, alongside collaboration of workers and robots can help in handling tasks that are physically demanding in the factory. The difference is that robots do not need rest like the way factory workers need, such as lunch breaks and rest breaks cutting down the often push on workers to their limits.

Robots are not taking over the jobs of factory workers; they play a critical role in manufacturing success. The help of robots can help factories boost their efficiency and safety of workers. It is no secret that serious safety risks are involved with manufacturing jobs and can intensify probabilities of complacency, injury, and long-term health complications. Robots will help solve safety issues for factory workers making positions in the factory to have more desire for new hires.

References

Anderson, R.L. and Gartner, W.B., 1985. When robots and people work together. Robotics, 1(2), pp.69-76.

Fleming, P., 2019. Robots and organization studies: Why robots might not want to steal your job. Organization Studies, 40(1), pp.23-38.

Kang, J.W., Kim, B.S. and Chung, M.J., 2008, October. Development of assistive mobile robots helping the disabled work in a factory environment. In 2008 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Mechtronic and Embedded Systems and Applications (pp. 426-431). IEEE.

Krar, S.F. and Gill, A., 2003. Exploring advanced manufacturing technologies. Industrial Press Inc.

Meneweger, T., Wurhofer, D., Fuchsberger, V. and Tscheligi, M., 2015, August. Working together with industrial robots: Experiencing robots in a production environment. In 2015 24th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) (pp. 833-838). IEEE.

Weng, Y.H., Chen, C.H. and Sun, C.T., 2009. Toward the human-robot co-existence society: On safety intelligence for next generation robots. International Journal of Social Robotics, 1(4), p.267.

Wisskirchen, G., Biacabe, B.T., Bormann, U., Muntz, A., Niehaus, G., Soler, G.J. and von Brauchitsch, B., 2017. Artificial intelligence and robotics and their impact on the workplace. IBA Global Employment Institute, pp.2012-2017.