Robots coming ... to steal jobs

New study suggests one in 16 workers will be replaced in five years |

Jobs computers are doing

McKinsey Global Institute has estimated that by 2025, robots could produce an output equivalent to 40-75 million workers in both industrial and service roles. Companies like Google, Apple, Foxconn and Amazon are investing heavily in robotics, and more will join them as technology advances. By 2017 there will be 2 million industrial robots in operation worldwide, according to one estimate. Robots are currently analysing documents, filling prescriptions, and handling other tasks that were once exclusively done by humans.

Pharmacists

The next time you drop off a prescription order, you might see a robot behind the counter.

The UCSF Medical Centre, San Francisco, launched an automated, robotics-controlled pharmacy at two UCSF hospitals. Once computers at the new pharmacy electronically receive medication orders from UCSF physicians and pharmacists, the robotics pick, package, and dispense individual doses of pills. Machines assemble doses onto a thin plastic ring that contains all the medications for a patient for a 12-hour period, which is bar-coded. The pharmacy system has prepared 350,000 doses of medication without error. Nurses at UCSF Medical Centre are also using bar code readers to scan the medication at patients’ bedsides, verifying it is the correct dosage for the patient. The automated system compounds sterile preparations of chemotherapy and non-chemotherapy doses and fills IV syringes or bags with the medications.

Lawyers and paralegals

Instead of paying an army of lawyers and paralegals to review documents, software can do the job in a fraction of the time for a fraction of the cost. The

New York Times reported that Blackstone Discovery of Palo Alto, California provided software that helped analyse 1.5 million documents for less than $100,000 (Dh367,000).

“From a legal staffing viewpoint, it means that a lot of people who used to be allocated to conduct document review are no longer able to be billed out,” Bill Herr, a lawyer, tells The New York

Times. “People get bored, people get headaches. Computers don’t.”

Astronauts

Through a partnership with General Motors, NASA’s Robonaut2 is the latest example of android technology. Equipped with a wide array of sensors and dexterous five-fingered hands, it will initially handle menial jobs such as cleaning the space station and assisting humans in space operations. However, it could one day venture outside the station to help spacewalkers make repairs or perform scientific work, according to Nasa.

Drivers

Since last week, a select group of Pittsburgh Uber can request a pickup with the option to ride in a self-driving car. The announcement comes a yearand-a-half after Uber hired dozens of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University’s robotics centre to develop the technology.

Store clerks

Companies are increasingly looking for ways to sell more products with fewer employees. ATM machines reduce the need for bank tellers, virtual assistants can answer the phone 24 hours a day, and self-service machines are reducing the need for checkout clerks. Retail employment has barely budged over the last year despite stronger sales at major chains.

Soldiers

Although soldiers have yet to be replaced by an army of robots, we seem to be moving in that direction as drones and other machines are increasingly being used in reconnaissance and combat missions. One example is the MAARS (Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System), made by Foster-Miller, which has provided armed robots in Iraq. According to Wired, the robot is equipped with a GPS monitor; it can be programmed to differentiate between fire and no-fire zones, to open doors, and even to drag out injured bodies.

Babysitters

If there’s anything we’ve learnt from Hollywood, it’s that robots are not only deadly weapons, they are also great for entertainment. Aeon Co., a major Japanese retailer, introduced a four-foottall yellow and white robot at a store whose job is to babysit children while the adults shop.

Other models include the Hello Kitty robot, which is perfect for “whoever does not have a lot time to stay with child,” according to a vendor and NEC’s PaPeRo robot, which tells jokes, gives quizzes, and can track kids using a radio-frequency identification chip.

Rescuers

Robots can reach areas that are inaccessible to humans and provide crucial help in rescuing victims from natural disasters. Scientists such as Satoshi Tadokoro of Tohoku University, based in Sendai, have offered the use of a snakelike robot that can enter tight spaces and use a camera to survey them, which could be helpful in collapsed buildings.

For now, the most useful robots could be aerial drones that can provide aerial inspections or ROVs, which can help locate underwater objects and determine the condition of bridges and pipelines, according to the Centre for RobotAssisted Search and Rescue at Texas A&M University.

Sportswriters and reporters

Using software developed by Northwestern University, Narrative Science specialises in machinegenerated stories. One of its customers, the Big Ten Network, which is partially owned by Fox Cable, says it uses the service for baseball and softball coverage because it’s cheaper.

“It’s considerably less expensive for us to go this route than for us to try to have our own beat reporters at each one of these games,” Michael Calderon, Big Ten’s director of new media, told Bloomberg. After a game, scorekeepers email game data to Narrative Science, which feeds it into a computer and spits out a story in minutes.