Page 142 - The Fourth Industrial Revolution

Shift 15: Robotics and Services

The tipping point: The first robotic pharmacist in the US
By 2025: 86% of respondents expected this tipping point to have occurred
Robotics is beginning to influence many jobs, from manufacturing to agriculture, and retail to services.
According to the International Federation of Robotics, the world now includes 1.1 million working
robots, and machines account for 80% of the work in manufacturing a car. 93 Robots are streamlining
supply chains to deliver more efficient and predictable business results.

Positive impacts
– Supply chain and logistics, eliminations
– More leisure time
– Improved health outcomes (big data for pharmaceutical gains in research and development)
– Banking ATM as early adopter
– More access to materials
– Production “re-shoring” (i.e. replacing overseas workers with robots)

Negative impacts
– Job losses
– Liability, accountability
– Day-to-day social norms, end of 9-to-5 and 24-hour services
– Hacking and cyber-risk

The shift in action
An article from The Fiscal Times appearing on CNBC.com states that:
“Rethink Robotics released Baxter [in the fall of 2012] and received an overwhelming response from
the manufacturing industry, selling out of their production capacity through April …
[In April] Rethink launch[ed] a software platform that [allows] Baxter to do a more complex
sequencing of tasks – for example, picking up a part, holding it in front of an inspection station and
receiving a signal to place it in a ‘good’ or ‘not good’ pile. The company also [released] a software
development kit … that will allow third parties – like university robotics researchers – to create
applications for Baxter.”
In “The Robot Reality: Service Jobs Are Next to Go”, Blaire Briody, 26 March 2013, The Fiscal
Times, http://www.cnbc.com/id/100592545

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