Contemporary Robotics - Professional

We're moving towards a world full of robots, that's a fact. In this series, we're taking a break for a second to assess where Contemporary Robotics are at today and what the future looks like. For this third chapter, we're focusing on robots in the professional world.

Professional Robots are about to invade all the sectors

So far, robots have been limited to mostly industrial applications. Since the first Unimate in the 1960's, robots have invaded most of the factories around the world. From giant arms moving cars around the plant, to helpers like Baxter, they disrupted and drastically improved the industrial sector. Agriculture is already seeing drones and autonomous combines and tractors take over, and so is the rest of the primary sector. And now, they're about to bring the same disruption to many other fields. We can already foresee a future where the tertiary sector will also see the arrival of robots. From robot cashiers, to robot cooks (see Moley), a lot of jobs are about to be replaced by robots. We were wondering a couple of weeks ago about this: will a robot take your job?

Professional Robots will provide (autonomous) workers

We previously discussed how Artificial Intelligence will make robots better, and in a near future allow them to work autonomously. Uber for instance is currently working on autonomous vehicles, either for its ride-sharing service, or for freight with a line of autonomous trucks. A lot of tasks will soon be managed by robots which will achieve them autonomously. They will help us cope with the decreasing volume of available workforce by handling all the jobs they can.

Professional Robots will make working safer

Thanks to their development and improvement, robots will decrease the number of humans at risk as they will take their places in dangerous situations. We can think here of the example of the robots doing minesweeping, or the ones working in the Fukushima nuclear plant. An inspection job that would kill any human trying to achieve it, but a perfect one for small robots. And while we can only hope for the least possible amount of catastrophes, we can expect robots to assist us and protect us during the aftermath, and rescue the ones in need. Furthermore, they'll also make exploring the unknown safer. Whether in the oceans, or in dangerous corners of the earth, or in space, they will help us get a better understanding of what's out there. And support the inherent risks for us.