These days it is hard to read an article about the future of robots that does not include a reference to jobs. As a pure roboticist I object to the constant connection between the two, but as a concerned citizen I think it is a very worthwhile discussion. Since the year 2000, the US has lost more than 6 million manufacturing jobs — that is more than 1/3 of all direct manufacturing jobs in the US and the fastest drop in a single decade on record.
In an opinion piece in the NY Times, Paul Krugman cites a report about the growing evidence of “reshoring” of manufacturing. The principle reasons are rising wages in Asia; lower energy costs in the US; higher transportation costs; and robots. The report concludes that since labor costs don’t matter that much since most of the costly components are already robot-produced in the US, you might as well locate where the markets and infrastructure are.
February 24, 2021
Need help spreading the word?
Join the Robohub crowdfunding page and increase the visibility of your campaign
