Robotics & Automation
Automation and robotics are increasingly becoming a staple in various industries as organisations recognise the potential for operational efficiency and cost savings.
Technology has always been a driver of change. In the last century, technology was a way to move materials more efficiently or to produce more cheaply than our competitors. Now, almost all of the work we do is supported by technology and in many instances what we offer are also technological services in the physical world (e.g Airbnb, Netflix, Amazon). For the first time, technology itself is the business and not just a small supporting part of the business.
Automation is common in many industries, but it is also infiltrating jobs that don’t necessarily seem susceptible to it. In the years ahead, more and more jobs are likely to be replaced by machines. There are some jobs that are particularly susceptible to automation—routine and predictable jobs that can be automated with increasing accuracy.
Most of the work that we do requires a combination of different skills and an awareness of context and interconnections. Automation has the potential to replace a subset of the tasks that one may carry out in their job. This means the emphasis on the rest of the tasks will be enhanced, as evidenced by the ATM revolutions. When people say that ‘all jobs will be done by robots’ they are ignoring the history of technology, which is in fact the story of automation, making ‘jobs’ more interesting and complex, not less.
However, I don’t believe in losing one’s job to a robot. I believe there are many opportunities on the horizon, especially for those who are willing to adapt to the change. If the history of technology is any indicator, those who embrace change will come out on top. For example, when cars were invented, the horse and cart business disappeared. Those cart owners didn’t just disappear, they made another living. But it took them a while. They had to learn new skills and find new jobs. It is the same today. I believe in the next ten years we will be forced to learn many skills we didn't know existed. We are all going to have to be cleverer, more adaptable and become more creative. We need to be able to look at problems from a fresh perspective and come up with new solutions. We need to understand the process better. We need to be experts at telling stories that can change hearts and minds and have empathy for those who are not as fortunate as we are. While we have long shed the belief around a ‘career for life’, we may now have to start imagining a career every decade or so making it even more imperative to cultivate resilience and adaptability.
As technology takes over routine jobs, the people who used to do those jobs will be forced to learn new skills and find new jobs. The trick is to recognize that the fields that will become available are likely to require different skill sets than the ones being automated. The question facing people who are afraid of being replaced by a computer or a robot is this: What kind of a person do you want to be? What kind of work adds meaning to your life? If you are good at what you do and wake up feeling happy and grateful for that work then automation will only make you stronger and better at the same.
We’re on the cusp of multiple technological shifts. But as with any powerful tool, it can be used for better or for worse. The fate of the human race will be determined by our collective choices. In order to adequately address the coming changes, we need to be in active learning mode and we need Persons of Substance at the helm. That is, we need to be augmenting our skills each and every day. We need to be actively learning and we need to be engaging in self-monitoring and honest feedback. We need to be forgiving and kind to ourselves and take personal responsibility. While we are ultimately responsible for our actions, we also need to be supportive of our peers and their efforts. This is also where having Persons of Substance at the helm comes to the fore. A Person of Substance will see the value in the person and the art of compassion and empathy will create an atmosphere of hope. It is easy for a CEO or manager to replace half their workforce with robots in the sole pursuit of profits. On the other hand, it takes foresight and compassion to ensure the replaced workers are coached in a complementary avenue of the business which needs more human-level skills.
Automation is not going to swoop overnight. It is a gradual process, and it has been happening for many years, if not decades. In fact, you may have interacted directly or indirectly with a robot when you placed an online order. It could have been an order for a book on Amazon, a lunch delivery from a restaurant, or even an advertisement that showed up on your Facebook timeline. For instance, here is an Intel report on Robotics in Healthcare:
"Robots in the medical field are transforming how surgeries are performed, streamlining supply delivery and disinfection, and freeing up time for providers to engage with patients. Intel offers a diverse portfolio of technology for the development of health robotics, including surgical assistance, modular, service, social, mobile, and autonomous robots. Emerging in the 1980s, the first robots in the medical field offered surgical assistance via robotic arm technologies. Over the years, artificial intelligence (AI)–enabled computer vision and data analytics have transformed health robotics, expanding capabilities into many other areas of healthcare."
Let us be in no doubt that in the post-pandemic world, robots in healthcare are going to be even more common. Robots including the humanoid Pepper, created by Softbank Robotics, may well be used to care for the ageing population, as well as being used in long-term care and home assistance.
Robots such as cobots – collaborative robots, or robots designed to work alongside a human, in this case, a nurse or carer—may be used to assist in providing busy nurses with a respite. Robotic surgery systems are already used to support surgeons with precision, dexterity and improved ergonomics. Advances in computer vision and machine learning have improved the positioning, navigation, and visualisation of surgical procedures. To date, the ethical debate has largely been focused on the safety and privacy of patients and the risks of robot-assisted procedures. In the past, robots have been used for tasks like conducting surveillance and taking out terrorists. Now, robots are heading into the operating theatre.
Certain industries will be more prone to automation. Another example is a high likelihood that in developed countries with good road infrastructure, long-haul trucks could be automated as soon as the end of this decade. It is important to note that even if they were to be automated, it would still require a human to step in when they have to navigate congested city roads or sharp curves. But for the vast majority of the journey along the highways, the likelihood of automation is very high. However, the actual effects will depend on several factors, and not all jobs are equally automatable.
The degree of automatability varies depending on the specific skills and tasks required by the job. There are two main factors that I think will determine the extent of the effect of automation on jobs. The first is how complicated the job is and how easily it can be broken down into specific tasks. The other factor is how much money is saved by automating the job. It’s not just the amount of money saved, but it is also the extent to which automation is more competitive than employing skilled workers. There are certain human jobs which are easier to automate, such as assembly line workers, long-haul trucking, cleaning, and fast food. There are even some jobs which are currently automated in certain parts of the world, such as automated checkouts or navigation systems. However, these jobs are not fully automated because of the cost and complexity of automating the entire job. This means that there is still a need for human workers to complete the job. It will be harder to automate jobs that require a high level of human interaction, such as a teacher or a counsellor. However, there are some jobs like customer service that both require a high level of human interaction and can be automated with current technology. This is possible in an environment which requires high levels of customer service, such as an e-commerce website.
Technology can change our lives for the better, but with it come many new challenges. Only by working together—governments, businesses and individuals—can we rise to the future and ensure everyone benefits from the opportunities that technology will bring. In short, this may be a problem of the future but one we should prepare for right now. As we have seen from the introduction of the steam engine to the introduction of computers, the economic and social consequences of technological change can be largely mitigated if we make the right choices.
The future is automation, and it is already here. What the past can tell us is that the future doesn’t have to be a jobless abyss of widespread poverty. There are countless stories of people who have found their calling after having their original dream of a stable job with a financial future replaced with a new way of life that is more fulfilling and rewarding. Technology has made them the perfect person for the job. We have long moved away from the concept of a career for life. I believe we are now entering the era where we will have multiple careers even within a decade. Those that will struggle will be the ones that remain in the zones of comfort, doing what they are told and repeating what they have been trained to do. Those that thrive will be the ones who are in active learning mode, across silos and have the ability to learn new things in new contexts. Ultimately, we have to remember that it is not the jobs that we have to save. It’s the humans doing the jobs that need to be saved from extinction. And for this, we need Persons of Substance at the helm.
“In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.”
― Eric Hoffer