replacing workers with smart machines

re:MARS Attendee Notes Future Job Loss from Automation and A.I.

There has been a lot of tech news coming out of Amazon’s inaugural re:MARS event in Las Vegas last week, some already noted here (Jeff Bezos Predicts Advanced Robot Hands in a Decade).

Below, billionaire Amazon owner Jeff Bezos chats up technology at his re:MARS conference.

Many reports from attendees centered around all the sparkly new automation […]

Jeff Bezos Predicts Advanced Robot Hands in a Decade

Amazon has presented its re:MARS conference in Las Vegas over the last few days, discussing new tech advances in robotics, AI and other topics. For example, actor Robert Downey Jr. announced a project to clean up the environment using robots which he thinks could largely do the job within ten years or so.

Jeff Bezos — […]

Women Face Job Loss from Automation

This is a somewhat curious article from the Wall Street Journal because of course women will lose employment when automation takes hold since many millions of women work. The piece uses a new McKinsey study, The Future of Women at Work, that specifically notes, “Women and men face a similar scale of potential job losses […]

Warehouse Work Is Increasingly Done by Robots

A major reason why Amazon honcho Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world ($132B in 2018) was his early adoption of robots in his warehouses — see my 2016 article Amazon Robotics in The Social Contract for background.

Below, the Kiva robots of Amazon scoot under the appropriate rack of merchandise and bring it […]

Fully Automated Package Delivery System Is Planned

Automation designers have a two-fer human job killer on the drawing boards — a combo self-driving van equipped with a separate robot that can deliver customers’ order mail-order boxes right to the door. The robot hops out of the van, grabs the package and carries it to the delivery point, even managing several stairs.

Navigating complicated […]

Farm Robots Advance in Technology with Increased Autonomy

Bloomberg reports that farm robots are coming on strong, and that assessment makes perfect sense. The tasks of smart agricultural machines are generally simple and distinct, like weeding, plowing, spraying and picking: unlike self-driving cars, safety issues are minimal because human workers have disappeared from automated fields.

In addition, recent robots have become increasingly autonomous, meaning […]

Robot Picker Sorts Tomatoes According to Ripeness

Do you still think of picking fruits and vegetables as an occupation that requires migrant workers to do the hard work? That industry, along with many others, is being transformed by the introduction of smart machines.

The latest in pickers can now detect degrees of ripeness to suit the market — more ripe for local and […]

Ford Robot Takes On Delivery Duties in Spain

Here’s a new robot from the Ford company designed to work in its factories. It’s basically a filing cabinet on wheels that delivers replacement parts on the floor.

Below, Ford’s Survival robot consists of cubby holes for parts — each with its own identifying number on the door.

Users in the Valencia, Spain, plant report success with […]

Truck Unloader Robots Attempt to Speed Package Delivery

Here’s a new robot the tech-whizzes have built that will further automate the Amazon-fueled mail-order economy — and eliminate jobs for humans. Apparently Fed-Ex and UPS are cranking up their services to keep up with the delivery business, and they think a truck unloader will be just the ticket to speed the process along.

The Honeywell […]

Tucker Carlson Sees Coming Automation Disruption Worsened by “Lunatic” Immigration

It’s a rare thing to hear anyone in politics discuss the threat of automation to the economy — certainly no candidates did in the 2016 presidential campaign, and I watched closely. You would think that a genuine leader would have a plan to lessen the shock of massive job loss when it becomes cheaper to […]

BBC: Third World Progress Is Endangered by Artificial Intelligence and Robots

There are two great social changes occurring on the planet now that are not getting the public debate they deserve — one is automation with its associated massive job loss, and the other is population growth in the Third World.

Regarding the latter, it is routinely overlooked in the current media coverage of the thousands of […]

The Automated Farm Is Getting Closer

The recent New Yorker Magazine has a thorough story about automated agriculture, with strawberry picking getting particular attention. The magazine does like its articles long and rambling, so the reader learns about assorted agro-facts like grower complaints about the H-2A visa, the manual skills required to pick delicate strawberries (“a wristy twist that prevents bruising […]

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