New Wave of Deft Robots Is Changing Global Industry: Are Robots Replacing Skilled Workers?

by Heisenberg Posted 2012/08/20 21:00:00

Related Topics: Robots, Jobs, Unemployment

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	Yes	241 votes	78%
	No	69 votes	22%

NYTIMES.COM reports:
A new wave of robots is replacing workers in both manufacturing and distribution.

nytimes reports wave robots replacing workers manufacturing distribution

+15

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Heisenberg 2012/08/20 08:38:40

Yes

+8
We live in scary times.
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American 2012/08/20 23:06:59
zapped 2012/08/20 23:04:00

Yes

+2
just now this has been discovered ?

wow ...some could see this ocuring for 30+ yrs ...

news flash ,,this is the the repub way of business ...then the dems is, everyone under communism !

and the people in servitude positions , but the masses allowed this to happen !

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ray 2012/08/20 22:58:13

No

+2
This story is as old as machinery.
Doesn't anybody remember John Henry ?

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Beat Ma... to ray 2012/08/21 08:36:12

+1
And he died trying to defeat the machine. Adapt or die people, it's how this world works.

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syamand 2012/08/20 22:51:55

Yes

+2
faster and faster making products..
faster and faster making money.. that is the only strategy of companies

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JH 2012/08/20 22:34:57

Yes

+1
Way to go! We are screwing ourselves over!

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Rebel Yell 2012/08/20 22:29:40

Yes

+2
Automation has killed many jobs. NASA has designed a very human-like robot that can perform intricate chores suitable for long distance travel to outer planets even futher than the buggy that recently landed on Mars. Now General Motors is looking at those same robots for replacing workers on assembly lines.

But at the same time, Houston... the energy capitol of the USA.. advertised for 72,000 jobs in engineering and technology in 2011. Most applicants were not educated enough, so those companies went overseas and hired.

Americans should insist that education in this country be a top priority as it once was. Now, it is too easy to blame teachers.

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sbtbill to Rebel Yell 2012/08/20 23:27:53

Lots of people want to be educated. They just can't afford it. At least the first 4 years of college should be public education and taxpayer paid.

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JeffZill to sbtbill 2012/08/21 02:16:06

yeah but what happens when we all go to college, then it's going to be oh we didn't hire you cause you have to much education, oh wait that already happens, if everyone has a degree no one will stand out, there's always going to be someone unemployed.

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zapped to JeffZill 2012/08/21 16:34:28

after 30 yrs of driving truck ..I instructed folks dis-placed from other skills from 2006 to 2011 to drive truck ( some were university grads ) but didnt want to flip burgers with masters degrees . this is the repub way ..huge labor pool ( low wages ) ..

dems want socialism // the rebubs / want corp control ...and for wealthy ...

I see what happening / and what has happened in past 40 yrs ..

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LarryStylinson 2012/08/20 22:22:18

Yes

+2
And one day they will rise up against us and take over the world

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zapped to LarrySt... 2012/08/20 23:07:15

when artifical intelligence is programmed in it's entirety !

and or a mass computer is controlled my an entity , and that controlls them !

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JeffZill to zapped 2012/08/21 02:17:18

I think he's right, how do I know, cause my name is john conner!!

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zapped to JeffZill 2012/08/21 16:30:21

we'll find out ..

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Aurora 2012/08/20 22:16:04

No

I think what is replacing the America Worker is the tax code and the governments regulation on business/corporations, this is why they move their factories to a different country. America is what made manufacturing and this globalization c'mon I cannot think of another country that is better than the American Work Force. So NO i do not believe it, but Obama thinks atm machines took away jobs so whatevs. Most countries work their people many long hours and for very little pay, with no regulations whatsoever and no benefits. So naa I am not believing this.

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GLaDOS 2012/08/20 21:52:07

Yes

+1
It's not surprising at all. However, I'd like to know how we're going to replace all of those jobs that are being destroyed. Yes, there can be engineers, but not everyone is cut out to be an engineer, and not many people try to become one, and while you do need people to take care of the machines, it takes a lot fewer than it does to replace the machines.

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sbtbill to GLaDOS 2012/08/20 23:29:22

We aren't going to replace them. The jobs we could replace them with are being automated, too. We just have to accept that a growing number of people will be on welfare for life.

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GLaDOS to sbtbill 2012/08/21 02:54:28

Pretty much. Or go back to an economy where it's possible to live in a one-paycheck household without making huge bucks.

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RENEGADE 34 2012/08/20 21:43:55

Yes

I would say its more lack of skilled workers that is making the new wave of robots. Every shop must have a level of efficiancy to make a profit to pay the workers. Sick calls, scrap, low efficiancy rates, lack of qualified workers. A trend away from working in factories has been going on for years. But people also feared the automatic screw machine over 100 years ago. It was the machine to kick start jobs. People also feared the new horseless buggy. Will you give yours up?

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Kigan 2012/08/20 21:43:49 (edited)

Yes

+1
Technology has been eliminating jobs for a long time.

Self-checkout
Automated tellers
Assembly lines
"Smart" meters which eliminate entire meter reading departments.

It is a continual creep, in which few things are guaranteed. Technicians are needed, and jobs like accounting will always need people. But how far will these things go? Can we continue to replace the jobs lost to machines in an already sinking economy? Can we do so, when unemployment is in a bad place and not getting better - where a store puts up a "Help Wanted" sign for 1 employee and gets several thousand desperate applicants?

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Grabitz 2012/08/20 21:43:25

Yes

+1
Yes as was meant to be for a long time now .

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Bob 2012/08/20 21:43:07 (edited)

No

No. We are being replaced by the New World Order crooked, greedy big businesses.

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bob 2012/08/20 21:41:51

Yes

+1
I worked on an automation process where you define the build on a database then send it to the control computers to execute it. The Techs been around for along time. nothing new

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bob to bob 2012/08/20 21:42:44

+1
There are jobs for engineers to program the robots.

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freedom 2012/08/20 21:26:32

No

+2
Somebody has to fix the robots.

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mae to freedom 2012/08/21 00:57:40

a point well made!

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alex 2012/08/20 21:20:30 (edited)

Yes

+1
HMMMM I wonder. Were replacing employees who pay bills and need income and, you know, create JOBS with machines that can save money for the company. It's just like replacing customer service people with automated machines or sending the jobs to a cheaper country, and itll bite America in the ass if they don't knock it off.

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Lakota ... to alex 2012/08/20 21:47:12

+1
Kind of like the industrial revolution. Stupid machines. Those damn steam engines leading up to the combustion engine really put a damper on America. Oh wait they didn't. Hey wonder who made these machines in the first place, up keeps them and does maintenance on them? Maybe other stilled workers? Wonder what those big companies will do with all that money they make? Maybe expand, grow, hire more people to make deliveries, marketing, R&D, PR, maintenance, sales while getting out a better product? Yeah America lets not use fast, precession, automated machines and watch as competition from other countries wipe us off the map.

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alex to Lakota ... 2012/08/21 01:01:21

Fair enough

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sbtbill to alex 2012/08/20 23:32:08

+1
We just have to change our values. More and more people will not have to work. Those that do will have to support the rest. Work will become and activity for those who like it.

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Professor Wizard 2012/08/20 21:20:23

Yes

+1
Now to exactly what extent, and what skill, is questionable. But YES.. machines are definitely replacing humans in the work place.

BUT, companies are getting considerable more done with machines then they do with humans, especially in the manufacturing world for.

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Rusty Shackleford 2012/08/20 21:17:39

No

They are replacing the stupid ones.

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Leprachaun999 2012/08/20 12:27:30

Yes

They have been for years. look at instant Tellers in Banks and Super markets.

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lucky 2012/08/20 11:37:59

Yes

Interesting article. we will adapt. Every time we start using technology we have an adaption phase, for every job loss we find more, just think how many new types of jobs were created because of computers and people said the same thing about them, that they would eventually phase out skilled workers.

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GLaDOS to lucky 2012/08/20 21:47:47 (edited)

Tell that to all of the traditional animators, cel painters, and whatnot who lost their jobs, whose jobs can now be performed by fewer people, or the SFX artists (tactile) who have been replaced with CGI ones (technological).

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lucky to GLaDOS 2012/08/21 22:26:17

Im not very familiar with your world but couldnt those people learn to use CGI or whatnot. My husband learned traditional old school drafting as an engineer, today he is an expert in various CAD software many self taught.

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GLaDOS to lucky 2012/08/22 02:42:35

Yes, but now a job that took four people might only take one. Or a job that took 100 (such as cel-painting) might not even be necessary anymore, because it can be done by the eight. How many people are out of a job, there, because there just aren't as many of them needed?

CGI is a technological job, whereas SFX artists work hands on. They cast, they paint, they actually build, it's not the same as drawing/drafting beyond the conceptual stage.

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lucky to GLaDOS 2012/08/22 14:28:36

Unless they are over the middle age range, they can adapt and train in new fields toward a career using the new technology, no one says its going to be easy but we cant refuse to move forward toward a more modern world just so people can continue doing the same job all of their lives. We have to stay modern to be competitive. The ones hardest hit will be the older generation because often they are too financially invested to just up and go to school all over again.

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GLaDOS to lucky 2012/08/22 14:56:43

And, again, how many jobs will replace how many that existed?

Five replacing fifty? There's no "adapting" for that.

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lucky to GLaDOS 2012/08/22 15:02:06

How many were created by the computer industry? Unless we have exact figures on losses vs. gains, there is no clear indication modernization is a problem.

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