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The Roboticist Chronicles: Robots Aren’t Stealing Your Jobs, They’re Creating Them

As technology advances at an exponential rate, a common fearful sentiment among Americans is that robots are stealing human jobs. But, this long standing rumor couldn’t be farther from the truth. Robots actually create jobs, save humans from harm, and open up opportunities for new industry growth. The Roboticist Chronicles unpacks how robots are…

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The Roboticist Chronicles: Robots Aren’t Stealing Your Jobs, They’re Creating Them

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As technology advances at an exponential rate, a common fearful sentiment among Americans is that robots are stealing human jobs. But, this long standing rumor couldn’t be farther from the truth. Robots actually create jobs, save humans from harm, and open up opportunities for new industry growth. The Roboticist Chronicles unpacks how robots are helping humans and changing industries of all kinds in this episode with guest Dan Allford, President and Founder of ARC Specialties.

“Robots aren’t bad, bad integrators are bad,” Allford said, explaining how robots have gotten a bad rap in the past having been improperly assigned to ill-fitting jobs and tasks.

But robots have also found great success when assigned to tasks where they shine, like washing dishes or clothing, or crafting contact lenses. As a result, the life of humanity has changed for the better.

“There’s still a place in the world for people,” he said.

The robot is perhaps best glorified in their role of saving humans from harmful, dangerous tasks. Robots have replaced jobs where humans would have been exposed to extreme temperatures, dangerous chemicals, or harmful gases.

And robots are on the brink of another stage of evolution with the “collaborative robot,” that is, a robot that works side by side with humans.

“There are some things that people do better, and some things that robots do better,” Allford said. And when a symbiotic relationship is struck between the two parties, robotics don’t dampen human capabilities, they uplift them.

Be it medicine, oil drilling, aeronautics, plumbing, or space exploration, robotics have helped push industry forward by taking on tasks better suited for automation and precision. Robotics expert, Dan Allford, elaborates on why correctly identifying jobs where robots excel is the key to mechanization helping humanity move forward.

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