These days, the world is abuzz with robots and AI (Artificial Intelligence), which has become so advanced that it is doing jobs that humans used to do. The McKinsey Global Institute shows that by the year 2030, automation might be doing at least 30% of human worker jobs, leaving humans to do other more creative and managerial responsibilities.
To understand what robots are currently doing for us, and their impact, let us look at nine different jobs that robots and the industries they affect.
1. Long-Distance Truck Drivers
We do not have autonomous long-distance trucks yet, but the possibilities of us having driverless vehicles are real. Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, is testing autonomous trucks that will help transfer data center equipment from place to place.
These trucks make use of similar AI software that operates its autonomous fleet and incorporates 7 million miles of real driving with miles of virtual testing, which creates an advanced driving system. Autonomous vehicle technology is just starting to be tested in the public domain.
2. Taxi and delivery services
Nearly all top tech companies and auto manufacturers are testing autonomous driving. Autonomous vehicles are set to hit the market by 2021. Once in the market, sales are projected to shoot up, with the annual autonomous vehicle sales expected to shoot up to 33 million in 2040, which is equal to 26% of all new car sales. Autonomous vehicles will be a lot safer than human beings will, and able to run without breaks.
3. Healthcare Workers
Contrary to common belief, robots and Ai are not here to take our jobs, but to make them more manageable. An experiment recently by John Radcliffe hospital used a robot to help conduct eye surgery on a willing volunteer. The robot helped the doctor complete the operation at the same or even a better level than the human doctor would have. In the past several years, in 2016, robots assisted in over 700,000 operations.
Doctors and researchers tested AI for diagnosing patients. Some Harvard pathologists used AI to help them diagnose breast cancer.
Doctors are using AI to help them to diagnose patients. Harvard pathologists used AI to help diagnose breast cancer and discovered that their diagnosis precision rose from 96% to 99.5% using AI.
4. Warehouse Workers
The popularity of online shopping, fulfilling customer orders, and delivering as fast as possible means automation is welcome in such situations. Amazon has over 100,000 robots working round the clock in its warehouses for picking and sorting inventory. These robots do not take over human jobs; instead, they complement human efforts.
5. Assembly Line
Robots have a significant role in assembly lines in manufacturing plants. A small industrial robot can do the work humans can do in half the time and with better precision. The robots are assigned repetitive, dangerous, dirty, or heavy tasks that human workers might have trouble carrying out.
6. Customer Interaction in retail
Automated kiosks and self-checkout registers are some of the examples of robots in retail. Amazon has a grocery store, which is cashier-less, called Amazon Go. The customers walk into these stores, pick anything, and walk out with no checkout line. The stores use advanced logarithms, infrared cameras, and AI to keep track of what customers choose, then charge them automatically via an app on their cell phones.
7. Pilots and soldiers
Drones are not a new phenomenon, but more countries worldwide are starting to lean towards Lethal Autonomous Weapons (LAWs) that are intelligent enough to make decisions. There are no pilots or soldiers replaced by robots in the past, and the idea to integrate LAWs into warfare is underway.
Conclusion
Robots do a lot for, and with humans. Collaborative robots in assembly lines work alongside humans, as well as warehouses and retail. There is no end to what robots can do, and as technology advances, robots shall continue to exceed our expectations.
