Cheap Robots will soon threaten human jobs

Robots are currently completing about 10 percent of manufacturing tasks with machines, and this percentage will rise in the next decade, threatening employment opportunities in certain fields and countries, according to a research.

New research reports that lower prices for robots in industry will allow manufacturers to use them as an alternative to hiring more factory workers over the next decade, to reduce production costs. The Boston Consultant Group, which works in the field of management consulting, said that the robot currently performs about 10 percent of the manufacturing tasks that can be accomplished with equipment, and the company expected this percentage to rise to about 25 percent by 2025.

In contrast, global labor costs will fall by an average of 16 percent during that period, the research said. The change means more demand for the skilled labor that operates the machines, said Hal Sirkin, a senior partner at the Boston Consultant Group. He added that factory workers "will receive higher salaries, but their number will be lower."

The research found a comparative advantage to using robots, as companies tend to start laying off workers when the cost of owning and operating an automated system is 15 percent lower than employing a worker. For example, in the auto industry in the United States, a spot welding machine costs eight dollars an hour, compared to 25 dollars an hour for a worker. Over the next decade, three-quarters of the robot's business is expected to be concentrated in four areas: transportation equipment - including the automotive sector - computer products, electronics, electrical equipment and machinery.

The study said that certain countries are expected to be more popular with robots, namely China, the United States, Japan, Germany and South Korea, which now represent about 80 percent of robot purchases. It is expected that these countries will maintain this ratio over the next decade.

The Japanese government has prepared an action plan calling for the expansion of robot technology to alleviate the labor shortage caused by the country's declining population.

It includes an action plan to counteract the declining population and labor shortage in Japan Investment of at least 100 billion yen (about 750 million euros) by the public and private sectors To develop the next generation of robot.

The government expects the use of the robot to increase productivity to help companies increase revenues and wages. To develop the next generation of the robot, the plan proposes setting up a base in Fukushima Prefecture in northeastern Japan to conduct tests and collect data. The plan emphasizes the importance of expanding the application of robot technology from the manufacturing sector to the service sector and disaster sites that humans cannot enter. The plan also proposes to speed up the authorization of medical devices that use robotic technology and to include nursing insurance coverage for robots.

Japan .. Robots with new capabilities in the field of patient care

In order to improve the ability of robots in nursing and to meet the huge shortage of nursing staff, Japanese researchers have developed a new method for controlling robots that allows them to imitate human movements in patient care.

Researchers in Japan see that robots have become a crucial role in nursing and patient care. In an attempt to improve this role, a research team has developed a new way to control the robot, which makes it able to imitate the movements of humans in different situations, such as moving patients and moving them from one place to another.

Researcher Changan Jiang, who specializes in mechanical engineering at Japan's Ritsumeikan University, pointed out the seriousness of the recent shortage of nursing staff, saying, "It has become a serious social problem caused by the decline in the number of births and the high level of population life."

And a website specialized in the field of technology stated that the research team succeeded in developing a new technology to control the movement of the robot arm specifically for the care of patients, so as not to lead to the occurrence of sharp movements or frictions that result from other traditional arms of robots.

Instead of the traditional friction caused by holding patients in preparation for transfer, the new arm moves patients in a way that reduces the suffering they can experience while moving them on the sick bed.