Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Meet Flippy, the job-killing, burger flipping robot

Meet Flippy, the job-killing, burger flipping robot

The concern that robots will take jobs is thrust back into the spotlight after a California-based burger chain has "hired" Flippy to be its latest grill cook.

According to KTLA-5 , which was there for a preview event, Flippy is helping out Caliburger make California-style burgers and fries, providing a level of consistency to its cooked food.

"The key to success in the restaurant industry is consistency," said John Miller, CEO of Cali Group, the company that runs the chain. "So anytime you go to a Caliburger anywhere you know that the patty will be cooked exactly the same."The robot is […]

Opinion: Robots help close the gap between designing and making

Opinion: Robots help close the gap between designing and making

Andrew Watts, CEO Newtecnic , discusses the construction industry’s move towards robotics and mass-customization that brings designers and makers together for positive disruption within and beyond the industry

Digitalization, robotics and automation, have produced significant quality and productivity benefits in manufacturing over several decades.

In construction, however, while digitalization has very successfully automated design, the disconnect between designing and making is ripe for an industrial revolution.And while innovative product manufacturers use technology to move from mass-production to mass-customization, the construction industry is only just picking up on DfMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly) for repetitive mass production of […]

Robots, humans of the future

Robots, humans of the future

Ineffective and harmful policies

What, exactly, is robotics? For those unaware of the term, robotics is basically an interdisciplinary branch belonging to engineering and science inclusive of mechanics, electrical and computer science, etc. Robotics is concerned with the designing, construction, operations and the applicability of robots in the field. In addition to the above information, it manages computer systems for control purposes, sensory feedback and information processing of the robots.

The said technologies assist in developing machines to be substituted for humans and entirely replicate human actions respectively. Robots can be put into service for a multitude of situations […]

Tariffs: Trump’s Worst Idea Yet

Tariffs: Trump’s Worst Idea Yet

President Donald Trump speaks at CPAC 2017. Photo credit: Gage Skidmore Last Thursday Donald Trump announced an intention to slap a 25 % tariff on steel imports, as well as a 10 % tariff on aluminum imports. This may very well be his worst idea yet – and that’s saying something!

So why are these tariffs a bad idea? Comparative advantage is a real thing. I come from Sweden, a cold country in Scandinavia with a climate that most closely resembles that of Minnesota. Here’s the thing: If we really wanted to, we could grow watermelons. Sure, we’d need gigantic […]

Trump’s deplorable vision for US steel industry

Trump's deplorable vision for US steel industry

When US President Donald Trump met executives from US steel and aluminum industries last Thursday to announce his tariffs on imports, he said "we’re going to build our steel industry back and we’re going to build our aluminum industry back".

"I remember when I was growing up, US Steel, that was the ultimate company. And today, you have so many closed plants," said Trump, with David Burritt, president and chief executive officer of the US Steel sitting next to him.

Trump was right. US Steel, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was once the largest steel producer and the largest corporation in the […]

Disappearing Job

Disappearing Job

Bank was indeed one of the most popular job places for commercial high school graduates in the 1980s. Working for a bank meant a stable job and a good pay. In particular, honor students from women’s commercial high schools would apply for bank teller, which is a position that deals with deposits and withdrawals at the front line in a bank. The first ordeal for bank tellers was when the Asian financial crisis broke out in 1997. High school graduate workers were the first ones to be dismissed and were crowded out of the market by university graduates due […]

Adapting to excel amid rapid impermanence

Adapting to excel amid rapid impermanence

Robot vs humans. (Photo: SNS) A recent Price water house Cooper’s study of 200,000 jobs in 29 countries said evolving technology like automation and robotics could deliver good and bad news: predicted changes adding $US 15 trillion to global GDP, but also causing about 44 per cent of workers to lose their jobs within two decades.

India was not included in the PwC study released in February (probably due to the juicy reputation its accountants have in the country), with Japan, South Korea and Singapore being the only major Asian economies featured. PwC researchers estimated effects of three waves of […]

OPINION: No slave to the machine: AI to enable humans

OPINION: No slave to the machine: AI to enable humans

“A fundamental risk to the existence of human civilisation,” says Elon Musk. “Potentially the worst event in the history of our civilisation,” says Stephen Hawking.

CAPE TOWN – Despite the reservations of several leading technologists and scientists – most notably among them Messrs Musk and Hawking – Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most exciting and possibly useful technological developments in our history. It has the potential of driving productivity and economic growth by facilitating unprecedented human-machine collaboration.

There are hopes that AI will improve competitiveness and ensure citizen well being. It will liberate us from mundane, unfulfilling tasks and […]

Automation’s Impact On Employment Is Already Here

This was still two years before John Maynard Keynes would coin the term “technological unemployment” — but over a century after people had begun to fear the concept.

The most famous resisters, of course, were the Luddites. Ask 100 people what they know about Luddites, and you’ll get something along the lines of, “They smashed up machines because they didn’t like technology.”

It’s a tidy narrative. But the real world is rarely that tidy.According to Clive Thompson in Smithsonian magazine , at the turn of the 19th century, weavers, spinners and croppers were high-skilled workers who took pride in their products […]

Workforce Gap Grows as Boomers Retire

Workforce Gap Grows as Boomers Retire

Manufacturers are having difficulty finding skilled workers. Many are trying creative approaches to close the gap.

The manufacturing industry is experiencing growing pressure as it becomes more difficult to find available talent to run operations. A perfect storm of issues has formed, making it increasingly difficult to find skilled labor. One of the biggest challenges is the retirement of the Baby Boom generation. Many of the industry’s highest skilled workers are now beginning to leave. The number of Boomers retiring will increase precipitously over the next five years. Building the right team of skilled workers is a puzzle that is […]