Wall Street Journal (July 1)
“The automation of Amazon facilities is approaching a new milestone: There will soon be as many robots as humans.” After years dedicated to “automating tasks previously done by humans in its facilities,” Amazon now has over “one million robots in those workplaces…. The most it has ever had and near the count of human workers at the facilities.” The shift “has helped Amazon improve productivity, while easing pressure on the company to solve problems such as heavy staff turnover at its fulfillment centers.” Currently, “some 75% of Amazon’s global deliveries are assisted in some way by robotics.”
Tags: Amazon, Automation, Deliveries, Facilities, Fulfillment centers, Humans, Milestone, Problems, Productivity, Robots, Staff turnover, Workplaces
Reuters (March 26)
“Thanks to advances in AI, chips and hardware, the United States and China are now racing to develop humanoid robots that can be deployed in factories, restaurants, hospitals and even households. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently declared that in less than five years, humanoid robots will be widely used in manufacturing.” At the moment, “China has shaky upper hand in battle of the robots” and tremendous motivation to succeed. The country faces a tremendous “labour crunch: in 2021 officials forecasted a shortage of nearly 30 million manufacturing workers by 2025” and this is projected to grow worse as China’s workforce continues to contract.
Tags: AI, Battle, China, Chips, Crunch, Factories, Hardware, Hospitals, Households, Huang, Humanoid, Labour, Manufacturing, Nvidia, Restaurants, Robots, Shortage, U.S.
INC. (July/August Issue)
“Fully autonomous–that is, self-driving–cars remain years away. But we may soon inhabit a world where 80 percent of all parcels are delivered by other autonomous vehicles. Pharmacy and cannabis orders, groceries, and on-demand entertainment could come to you not in full-size cars and trucks, but rather in robots, high-tech carriages, wagons (yep, just like the one you had as a kid), and drones.”
Tags: Autonomous, Cars, Delivery, Groceries, Parcels, Pharmacy, Robots, Self-driving
The Economist (February 16)
“Ageing and robots are more closely related than you might think. Young countries with many children have few robots. Ageing nations have lots.” South Korea, Singapore, Germany and Japan top the list, but there needs to be a shift in focus. “An ageing world needs more resourceful robots” that can help care for seniors “rather than take people’s jobs.”
1843 (July Issue)
“Legions of robots now carry out our instructions unreflectively. How do we ensure that these creatures, regardless of whether they’re built from clay or silicon, always work in our best interests? Should we teach them to think for themselves? And if so, how are we to teach them right from wrong?” Though “there are a number of competing ideas in circulation about how best to teach morality to machines” and so far no clear answers, “at the very least, we have a moral obligation to figure out what to teach our machines about the best way in which to live in the world.”
Tags: Machines, Morality, Obligation, Right, Robots, Think, Unreflectively, Wrong
Reuters (May 14)
“Desperate to overcome Japan’s growing shortage of labor, mid-sized companies are planning to buy robots and other equipment to automate a wide range of tasks, including manufacturing, earthmoving and hotel room service…. If the investment ambitions are fulfilled it would show there is a silver lining as Japan tries to cope with a shrinking and rapidly aging population. It could help equipment-makers, lift the country’s low productivity and boost economic growth.”
Tags: Aging, Automate, Desperate, Economic growth, Japan, Labor, Manufacturing, Productivity, Robots, Shortage, Silver lining
New York Times (February 21)
“While not as dangerous as protectionism and xenophobia,” blaming robots for job losses and economic disruption “is also a distraction from real problems and real solutions.” We’ve been through this before. “Automation is the hero of the story in good times and the villain in bad. Since today’s middle class is in the midst of a prolonged period of wage stagnation, it is especially vulnerable to blame-the-robot rhetoric.” Bad policies can result in disruption, but economic history has repeatedly shown “that automation not only substitutes for human labor, it complements it. The disappearance of some jobs and industries gives rise to others.”
Tags: Automation, Dangerous, Disruption, Jobs, Labor, Protectionism, Robots, Wage stagnation, Xenophobia
Wall Street Journal (August 23)
“Robots are coming. Don’t worry, be happy. It’s the path to growth and higher living standards.” Despite the gloom of some prognosticators, very few jobs can be entirely replaced by robots. Many, however, can be enhanced by robots, freeing humans up for higher level activities. “Workers are augmented, not replaced. Salesmen with Google Maps, realtors with 3-D home views, carpenters with laser tape measures. Doctors doing robot assisted minimally invasive surgery.”
Tags: Carpenters, Doctors, Gloom, Growth, Living standards, Prognosticators, Robots, Salesmen, Workers
Bloomberg (June 6)
Guandong province, “China’s factory to the world,” is now caught in “a race to survive” as rising costs shift production to cheaper countries. Automation is also taking a toll. “With the new robot-staffed factories, and startups that employ hundreds rather than thousands, many of the millions who came to make Guangdong an industrial superpower may have little choice but to return home.”
Tags: Automation, China, Costs, Factories, Guandong, Industry, Production, Robots
Los Angeles Times (December 16)
Consumer drones have taken off and already number over a million. It’s conceivable the day will come when every home has 2 or 3, just like TVs. “The key difference, though — and it is a big one — is that each one of these flying robots has outsized potential for mischief compared with other tech products like TVs, headphones and tablets.”
