Robot revolution – millions of low–paid workers replaced by robots

China and Japan will bring us the robot revolution. China as the world’s largest importer of robots and Japan, as the country with ability to replace half of the workforce by robots. Let’s how uture in the robotics will look like (according to World Robot Conference in Beijing, and iREX 2015 fair trade). 

China became the world’s largest importer of robots two years ago and by 2018 China will account for more than a third of all industrial robots installed worldwide. In spite of this, the number of robots per worker in China is far lower than in many industrially advanced countries. That’s why China is laying the groundwork for a robot revolution by planning to automate the work currently done by millions of low-paid workers.

From one point, China is going to develop more service or entertainment robots such as cheap drones, personal companions, automated vacuum cleaners and other stuff helping in everyday life. On the other, more robots can be deployed successfully in many manufacturing plants which would increase efficiency while also allowing some workers to be replaced. According to a statement of Li Yuanchao, vice president of the People’s Republic of China, during World Robot Conference in Beijing, robotics would be a major priority for the country’s economic future.

Of course, changes like this will require developing a range of robots designed to help factories automate more of their work. Some of the tasks currently done by humans cannot easily be automated at low cost while others, such as fine manipulation or visual inspection, will require sophisticated hardware and software to mechanize.

Quite similar point of view is seen in Japan. According to a recent study by Nomura Research Institute, nearly half the jobs in Japan – in decade or two – could be performed by robots. On the iREX – the International Robot Exhibition held in Tokyo (which is the biggest robot show in the world), robotic companies presented various types of robots designed to work close with humans in different fields of expertise. Let’s look on some ideas:

Collaborative Robots:

Humanoids:

source:technologyreview.com