It's A Team Effort Between Humans And The Robots: Amazon

Over the last few decades, the concept of Artificial Intelligence has been manifesting itself in the form of robots.  The speculation is that eventually these robots will take over jobs of humans.  In the video below from a 'New York Times' article titled "As Amazon Pushes Forward With Robots, Workers Find New Roles", each has their own role -- human and robot:

The introduction to the article states the benefits of incorporating robots (or automation) into the warehouse setting as stated below:

FLORENCE, N.J. — Nissa Scott started working at the cavernous Amazon warehouse in southern New Jersey late last year, stacking plastic bins the size of small ottomans. It was not, she says, the most stimulating activity. And lifting the bins, which often weigh 25 pounds each, was also tiring over 10-hour shifts.

Now Ms. Scott, 21, watches her replacement — a giant, bright yellow mechanical arm — do the stacking.

Her new job at Amazon is to babysit several robots at a time, troubleshooting them when necessary and making sure they have bins to load. On a recent afternoon, a claw at end of the arm grabbed a bin off a conveyor belt and stacked it on another bin, forming neat columns on wooden pallets surrounding the robot. It was the first time Amazon had shown the arm, the latest generation of robots in use at its warehouses, to a reporter. 

“For me, it’s the most mentally challenging thing we have here,” Ms. Scott said of her new job. “It’s not repetitive.”

One can immediately imagine the benefit of incorporating robots into the warehouse setting where large shipments of varying weight are being distributed.  First, the common workplace injury due to improper lifting of boxes is greatly reduced by incorporating a robot.  Second, now, a human is in charge of monitoring and figuring out (troubleshooting) what the robot is doing incorrectly.  That is if a problem exists.


Overall, the heavy lifting is done by the automation portion of the factory - which is great.  Workplace injuries are reduced.  The workforce (human) is elevated in responsibility by figuring out how to troubleshoot a machine - doing the job previously assigned to the person.  That seems to be educating the employee toward working at a higher level of skill.



Therefore, as a result, incorporating robotic automation into a warehouse (or industry) now results in a more intelligent and highly skilled workforce (with better health)!!!  Maybe those robots are not so bad after all?