Technological Unemployment News & Discussions

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

Now You Can Rent a Robot Worker—for Less Than Paying a Human

POLAR MANUFACTURING has been making ​metal ​hinges, locks, and brackets ​in south Chicago for more than 100 years. Some of the company’s metal presses—hulking great machines that loom over a worker—date from the 1950s. Last year, to meet rising demand amid a shortage of workers, Polar hired its first robot employee

I knew that was coming!

[raklian]

Now You Can Rent a Robot Worker—for Less Than Paying a Human

POLAR MANUFACTURING has been making ​metal ​hinges, locks, and brackets ​in south Chicago for more than 100 years. Some of the company’s metal presses—hulking great machines that loom over a worker—date from the 1950s. Last year, to meet rising demand amid a shortage of workers, Polar hired its first robot employee

I knew that was coming!

I also know that they will throw in few free robots if they rent them in bulk. Humans can't even beat that, can they?

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

Now You Can Rent a Robot Worker—for Less Than Paying a Human

I knew that was coming!

I also know that they will throw in few free robots if they rent them in bulk. Humans can't even beat that, can they?

With Ameca robot, or any future ones similar to it if created, showcasing how fluid it is and all on the forum wait until the cops start seeing the robots slowly moving to take their jobs. The effects of even a small technological unemployment are going to be a shocker. Its... troublesome to think about.

[Yuli Ban]

The most exciting gadget of the year isn’t a TV that displays NFTs or a foldable tablet computer or anything related to the metaverse. It’s an autonomous tractor.

More specifically, it’s the self-driving John Deere 8R tractor that can plow fields, avoid obstacles, and plant crops with minimal human intervention. It looks a lot like any other John Deere tractor — it’s green and yellow — but there are six pairs of stereo cameras that use artificial intelligence to scan the surroundings and maneuver accordingly. The farmer doesn’t need to be anywhere near the machine to operate it, either, as there’s a smartphone app that controls everything. The tractor goes on sale later this year, just in time for an extra special robotic harvest season.

“In my view, it’s a big deal,” Santosh Pitla, associate professor of advanced machinery systems at the University of Nebraska, told Recode. John Deere’s equipment accounts for more than half of all farm machinery sold in the United States, and even the simple fact that it’s putting an autonomous tractor on the market will change the way farming works. “That’s big news,” Pitla said, “and it’s good news.”

[wjfox]

[Yuli Ban]

These container-like kitchens are completely self-sufficient. They can store, prepare, cook, and clean without the help of a human.

Hyper Robotics cofounder and CEO Udi Shamai told Insider that it takes one month to produce one kitchen and the company is aiming to build ten a month. Production is still in the early stages.

"You can place it anywhere you want," Shamai said. "It's like a huge vending machine."

[Yuli Ban]

Before the pandemic started (ah, those glorious days…) a collective panic was mounting over automation and robots gradually replacing workers in various fields, or “stealing our jobs,” as the common refrain went. These worries haven’t subsided two years later, but they’re being countered by severe and largely unexpected labor shortages across multiple sectors of the economy. One of the industries that’s struggling most is restaurants. While we may still encounter automation-related unemployment problems down the road, right now it seems robots are lending a much-needed hand in food service.

One of these robots is none other than Flippy, initially debuted in 2017 to flip burgers at a California fast food chain. Since then Miso Robotics, Flippy’s maker, has expanded the bot’s capabilities, creating a version that can cook chicken wings, fries, and other greasy delights. This week also brought a significant expansion to Flippy’s presence as White Castle announced plans to install the robot at more than 100 restaurants this year.

White Castle was the first restaurant chain to significantly invest in Flippy, piloting the robotic assistant in 2020. The chain gave feedback about the robot to Miso, and the company put out a second iteration called Flippy 2 last November. This new robot can independently do the work of an entire fry station: its AI-enabled vision identifies foods, picks them up, and cooks them in fry baskets designated for that food specifically. The bot then moves cooked items to a hot-holding area.

[Yuli Ban]

^ Seriously, the world before the pandemic is an increasingly distant one. And the issue of automation is definitely one of the things that has had a tonal change ever since.

Before COVID-19, automation and technological unemployment was obviously a major issue that had to be addressed at some point. However, the framing of that issue was always countered by the reality on the ground. The status quo was simply too rigid for major upheaval. Discussions of when automation would seriously start affecting us in a tangible way usually began around 2025, a safe date that was far enough away to seem distant and up for change while still close enough so that there wouldn't be much of a wait.
But the cold fact is that the labor market was strong and not likely to see any real sea-changes for a good long time. Rather, automation would be gradual and in the background, opposed by social forces and denied by political ones.

Instead, the coronavirus accelerated everything by a decade, in fact so fast that a lot of technology wasn't even really ready for the upheaval. We're dealing with a late 2020s economy right now, and it remains to be seen how well we adapt...

[caltrek]

Not much that is new in the article below. For me, what is fun about it is that it is Jim Hightower that is writing the piece. A favorite.

Robots are Coming for White Collar Jobs
by Jim Hightower
March 16, 2022

https://otherwords.org/robots-are-comin ... llar-jobs/

Introduction:

(Other Words) In corporate speak, there are no “job cuts.”

Instead, firings are blandly referred to as “employment adjustments.” Now though, corporate wordsmiths will need a whole new thesaurus of euphemisms for the massive job cuts coming in the higher echelons of the corporate structure.

Don’t look now, but an unanticipated result of the ongoing pandemic is that it’s given cover for CEOs to speed up the adoption of highly-advanced “Robotic Process Automation,” or RPAs, to replace employees once assumed to be immune from displacement.

As one analyst told a New York Times reporter, “With RPA you can build a bot that costs $10,000 a year and take out two to four humans.”

Prior to the COVID crisis, many top executives feared a public backlash if they pushed automation too far too fast. But ironically, the economic backpedaling caused by the pandemic has so discombobulated the workplace and diverted public attention that corporate bosses have been emboldened to rush ahead.

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

Not much that is new in the article below. For me, what is fun about it is that it is Jim Hightower that is writing the piece. A favorite.

Robots are Coming for White Collar Jobs
by Jim Hightower
March 16, 2022

https://otherwords.org/robots-are-comin ... llar-jobs/

Introduction:

(Other Words) In corporate speak, there are no “job cuts.”

Instead, firings are blandly referred to as “employment adjustments.” Now though, corporate wordsmiths will need a whole new thesaurus of euphemisms for the massive job cuts coming in the higher echelons of the corporate structure.

Don’t look now, but an unanticipated result of the ongoing pandemic is that it’s given cover for CEOs to speed up the adoption of highly-advanced “Robotic Process Automation,” or RPAs, to replace employees once assumed to be immune from displacement.

As one analyst told a New York Times reporter, “With RPA you can build a bot that costs $10,000 a year and take out two to four humans.”

Prior to the COVID crisis, many top executives feared a public backlash if they pushed automation too far too fast. But ironically, the economic backpedaling caused by the pandemic has so discombobulated the workplace and diverted public attention that corporate bosses have been emboldened to rush ahead.

It was only a matter of time. Hell even engineer jobs are probably on the chopping block because what will they do when the robots can fix themselves even if rudimentary? I do not think people understand the absolutely massive disruption robots will have on the workforce.

[Yuli Ban]

Can you imagine a world where nobody has to work? A world in which people are free — really free, to pursue their hobbies and their interests. A world in which people don’t have to decide between watching their children grow up and working to provide for them. A world without poverty and the pressure to earn money. A world without bullshit jobs that have no use and purpose whatsoever. This vision, this utopia, is called fully automated luxury communism. What is it?

[raklian]

Can you imagine a world where nobody has to work? A world in which people are free — really free, to pursue their hobbies and their interests. A world in which people don’t have to decide between watching their children grow up and working to provide for them. A world without poverty and the pressure to earn money. A world without bullshit jobs that have no use and purpose whatsoever. This vision, this utopia, is called fully automated luxury communism. What is it?

A form of basic income scheme is a step toward that future. The question if the government is the appropriate vehicle to implement and fund it is a different topic.

[Member]

Can you imagine a world where nobody has to work? A world in which people are free — really free, to pursue their hobbies and their interests. A world in which people don’t have to decide between watching their children grow up and working to provide for them. A world without poverty and the pressure to earn money. A world without bullshit jobs that have no use and purpose whatsoever. This vision, this utopia, is called fully automated luxury communism. What is it?

I'll be a skeleton by then

[Yuli Ban]

I will say that anyone who knows how to code or is learning how to, keep doing so. Navigate things well and you'll be the god of the new world for a good period of time as AI augments your abilities.

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

I will say that anyone who knows how to code or is learning how to, keep doing so. Navigate things well and you'll be the god of the new world for a good period of time as AI augments your abilities.

For now I see the cloud being a place for the workforce if you are not down to spend years of your life learning to be an engineer. I'm not down for that I, instead, want to have something chill while I build up a business and invest in these new crypto that is worth checking out per FT. I plan to get started in cloud work so as to get a chill job that lets me also analyze how everything is developing in our society. I'm not sure if anyone else sees other possible places that will become workforces as both white collar and blue collar get shaken up in this decade? There is bound to be some places that start having trends before they get announced to everyone as to where opportunities will lay for getting new age work.

[raklian]

as to where opportunities will lay for getting new age work.

Making sure the government sends us our weekly basic income check on time is the only "job" we'll have as citizens in society.

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

as to where opportunities will lay for getting new age work.

Making sure the government sends us our weekly basic income check on time is the only "job" we'll have as citizens in society.

Hell naw man lol. The US military was a great example of that sort of basic income check and I can say I want to never again be subject to such an experience. The problem with UBI is that it will come with stipulations and unlike the military there is not a very socialist or social program involved with it. At least in the military UBI was paired with dental, housing, etc though it was not the best of course. In the civilian world it won't make a damn difference if everything is so dang expensive. I prefer to have UBI be a source of income flow not income itself!

[Yuli Ban]

A robot will soon be making your tortilla chips at Chipotle.

Addressing his company's partnership with Chipotle, Miso Robotics CEO Michael Bell told "Cavuto: Coast to Coast," Friday the tortilla chip-making robot will combat the labor shortage in the U.S. and suggested that "automation is the solution."

"The restaurant industry had a labor gap before the pandemic… the pandemic just accelerated this big gap between the number of jobs and the available labor," he remarked.

Bell stressed that the labor shortage isn’t "going away soon," and mentioned that there is a big demand to automate tasks in restaurants.

[caltrek]

How to Compete with Robots
April 13, 2022

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/949485

Introduction:

(Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne via EurekAlert) When it comes to the future of intelligent robots, the first question people ask is often: how many jobs will they make disappear? Whatever the answer, the second question is likely to be: how can I make sure that my job is not among them?

In a study just published in Science Robotics, a team of roboticists from EPFL and economists from the University of Lausanne offers answers to both questions. By combining the scientific and technical literature on robotic abilities with employment and wage statistics, they have developed a method to calculate which of the currently existing jobs are more at risk of being performed by machines in the near future. Additionally, they have devised a method for suggesting career transitions to jobs that are less at risk and require smallest retraining efforts.

"There are several studies predicting how many jobs will be automated by robots, but they all focus on software robots, such as speech and image recognition, financial robo-advisers, chatbots, and so forth. Furthermore, those predictions wildly oscillate depending on how job requirements and software abilities are assessed. Here, we consider not only artificial intelligence software, but also real intelligent robots that perform physical work and we developed a method for a systematic comparison of human and robotic abilities used in hundreds of jobs", says Prof. Dario Floreano, Director of EPFL’s Laboratory of Intelligent System, who led the study at EPFL.

The key innovation of the study is a new mapping of robot capabilities onto job requirements. The team looked into the European H2020 Robotic Multi-Annual Roadmap (MAR), a strategy document by the European Commission that is periodically revised by robotics experts. The MAR describes dozens of abilities that are required from current robot or may be required by future ones, ranging, organised in categories such as manipulation, perception, sensing, interaction with humans. The researchers went through research papers, patents, and description of robotic products to assess the maturity level of robotic abilities, using a well-known scale for measuring the level of technology development, “technology readiness level” (TRL).

For human abilities, they relied on the O*net database, a widely-used resource database on the US job market, that classifies approximately 1,000 occupations and breaks down the skills and knowledge that are most crucial for each of them

[weatheriscool]

This is probably the main reason for a minimum income for all humans in our society. No one should be homeless! No one should be totally without the ability to eat either within my opinion...How does it benefit society to allow either? It simply doesn't. It cost more for people to be homeless in our society and they're less able to pay taxes and provide for the economy.