03-03 Robotics - John Bulloch

Robotics is about reducing the labor content in manufacturing and distribution. It is helping industry focus on growing shortages of labor in all the industrialized nations of the world. In the military, robotics is about saving lives.

It is easy to understand robotics improving the quality of manufacturing processes. And industrial robots are now used everywhere where there are repetitive processes like cutting and welding.
But it is also important to appreciate that robotics is about reducing labor content. Japan, which was a world leader in robotics, was originally focused on reducing the need for workers because they were afraid that their shrinking population would means labor shortages.
Politicians are always talking about how their investments will create jobs, but companies large and small have a different focus. They are all facing shortages of skilled labor.
And, business leaders When they aren’t talking about immigration policies, are talking about robotics.
Another application of robotics is in warehousing. And in a world where traditional labor-intensive retailing is in decline and e-commerce in ascendancy, the big applications of robotics is all linked to ordering online without much human intervention of any kind.
The important issue associated with robotics in the private sector was never about reducing labor costs. So robotics is not about bringing manufacturing home.
Military applications of robotics is where the future action is. Not something governments want to talk about. But tanks without humans is about saving lives.
There is a public policy debate going on everywhere about the jobs of the future. Some see robotics as another threatening form of globalism. But robots like all forms of technology just ensure that the future of everything, including globalism, is changing.