Robots will even drive the trucks and fly the cargo planes with our packages, Christensen predicted, noting that Google has already demonstrated its driverless car, and that the same technology that powers military drones can just as well fly a FedEx jet. Robots will load and unload packages from delivery trucks without human assistance-as one company’s system demonstrated during the event.
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(It turns out that robots are not only better at many professional jobs than humans are, but they can best us in our hobbies, too.)ĭuring a keynote speech to kick off the trade show, Henrik Christensen, director of robotics at Georgia Tech, outlined a vision of a near future when we’ll see robots and autonomous devices everywhere, working side by side with humans and taking on a surprisingly diverse set of roles. Simply by guiding his hands and pressing a few buttons, I programmed him to put objects in boxes I played blackjack against another robot that had been temporarily programmed to deal cards to show off its dexterity and I watched demonstration robots play flawless games of billiards on toy-sized tables. I wanted to meet this worker of the future and his robot siblings, so I spent a day at this year’s Automate trade show here, where Baxter was one of hundreds of new commercial robots on display. One computer scientist predicts that robots like Baxter will soon toil in fast-food restaurants topping pizzas, at bakeries sliding dough into hot ovens, and at a variety of other service-sector jobs, in addition to factories. It’s the brainchild of Rodney Brooks, who also designed the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, which succeeded in bringing at least a little bit of robotics into millions of homes. This robot comes at a price so low-starting at just $22,000-that even businesses that never thought of replacing people with machines may find that prospect irresistible. And he has a simulated face, displayed on a flat-panel computer monitor, so he can give a frown if he’s vexed or show a bored look if he’s waiting to be given more to do.īaxter is part of a new generation of machines that are changing the labor market worldwide-and raising a new round of debate about the meaning of work itself. His plastic-and-metal body consists of two arms loaded with sensors to keep his lifeless limbs from accidentally knocking over anyone nearby. And companies don’t hire him, they buy him-he even comes with a warranty.īaxter is a robot, not a human, though human workers in all kinds of industries may soon call him a colleague.
He’s a little slow, but he’s easy to train. Illustration by Coneyl Fay, Science Sourceīaxter is a new type of worker, who is having no trouble getting a job these days, even in a tight economy.
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