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Seth Henry
Ms. Wright
English 1103
2 December 2012
Downsides to Upgrading for the Future
During today's times, there seems to be one common goal between all of the people
within our world. For many years now, more and more scientists have been drafted for the cause
of robotics. They strive to make the world a simpler place through the use of their creations.
One of the main excelling aspects of the growing field of robotics is the building of robot
workers. These robot workers were created with the sole purpose to work every aspect of a
factory thus eliminating the use of human workers. It is easy to understand the positives of
switching to robot workers, however there are also many downsides.
The making of these industrial robots started back in 1954 by George Charles Devol. His
creation was none other than the Unimate. At first glance, this machine just looks like a big box.
Similar to the box shape of a computer. From this box, extends an arm. This machine's job was
simple, yet impressive. Being built for the GM plant in Ewing New Jersey, the job was that
which was hard and dangerous for human workers to do. Unimate was to move and weld the die
casts. (Ennis, 2012)
Since then, the world has further advanced the robots. The constant, however, is that
these robots are still majorly used for building vehicles. The reason for this was due to the
continuing modernization and increase of capacities in emerging markets. Using these robots for
this field would be obviously beneficial. If you were to build a car with only human workers, the
risk would be significantly higher. Cars are extremely heavy and the means of constructing such
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a car can be potentially hazardous to the health of employees for the factory. The other main
industry that jumps at the opportunity of industrial robots is metal workers. Doing this for them
serves a similar purpose to car factories. Working with metal is dangerous. With all the welding
and smelting, it becomes hazardous for humans to do some of the more precise jobs. While
these two fields use the industrial robots for good use, there are also negatives to investing in
industrial robots.
First aspect to focus on is one of the obvious benefits to getting these factory robots. One
of the main reasons to do so is for the item's quality. The factory robots have one main distinct
feature which factory owners look for. This quality would be a constant. Due to the fact that the
computer can be programmed to do the exact same thing over and over again, the item made
would also be the same every time. With human workers, there is no constant. They are
incapable of making the exact same thing every single time. In this way, the robots take away
one unique thing. Each and every product, when crafted by a human instead of a robot, is one of
a kind. This unique, human touch cannot be mimicked and therefore is a great aspect to have
when selling many different products.
For instance, if you were to own a factory to do with crafting something like a Christmas
nutcracker, the machines ruin the initial point of the factory. With the robots, the nutcracker
would end up exactly the same every time. This is not what people look for when shopping for
one. Customers want something unique. Something one of a kind. When made by human
hands, you get just that. Since it is completely impossible for someone to mimic the exact same
product more than once, each one would be even the slightest bit different.
The other benefit to which factory owners rely on when they get their robots is
production. These owners expect the production rate to increase so greatly that they would rely
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completely on this aspect as a purpose for modernizing the factory. This is however, much more
difficult than it sounds. Although the production rate would definitely increase, there is still the
factor of cost. These machines are ridiculously expensive ranging from one to two hundred
thousand dollars each. ("How Much do Industrial Robots Cost?") Knowing this, there is another
aspect you should greatly look at. Although the productivity is guaranteed to escalate, the
income may generate faster, however, will it be enough. After paying the initial price for the
machines in the first place, the robots have to first work to pay themselves off before it is
possible to continue making income. There is also the cost of workers hired with the special
capability of installing such a device. Any business looking to make the factory surroundings
produce more needs to strongly consider the fact of whether or not they can afford to take a
dramatic downfall before there is chance to earn more money.
With the machines, there is still a requirement for human workers. The machines are
incapable of their own upkeep and repair, so people must be trained with new skills of
programming and interaction with their new robot counterparts. Making this happens is a more
difficult aspect of installing the machines. Training people to complete these difficult tasks is a
long process. There are many different aspects to each individual robot which makes it difficult
to learn how each aspect works. To do so you would have to hire a professional who already
knows most of the machine's traits. This could get expensive due to the fact that it will take a
while for the employees that will do maintenance to learn the new skill set. After the training,
there are still employees to pay. Which makes it seem counterproductive to replace the human
workers with robot workers only to keep some of the human workers after it's all said and done.
This puts you more in debt than previously.
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While having to keep these people around, there is another problem that arises. These
robots, as advanced as they may be, are extremely dangerous. They are completely capable at
moving at inhuman speeds with force that no human can match. One hit from the machine could
cause dangerous injuries for any employee caught in its path. If something were to happen, the
aftereffects would be expensive and possibly life threatening.
The next aspect that needs to be considered is the lifespan. There is no true guarantee
that the machines will last for an extremely long time. This would, in turn, promote a new
problem that would be dangerous to the future of the business. If this machine were to break
down, it wouldn't be the same as if an employee got sick. There aren't replacement robots to fill
in for the broken one until it is able to function again. Production has to be completely shut
down until there is a solution to fix the given problem. The true problem, however, is how long
it could take to fix such a device. If one aspect of the machine breaks down, who is to say that it
didn't damage another aspect of itself through the first problem. This makes the repairs both
pricey and risky. The reason for it being pricey is due to the fact that an expert must be brought
in who has the appropriate knowledge as to how to fix the machine. Bringing in a professional
would obviously be expensive. This professional would be one of very few like him and
therefore his skills are rare. The expense comes in when the professional comes to fix it. There
is no say as to how long it would take to repair the machine. However one thing that can be
guaranteed is that the longer it takes the more it will cost to keep the professional there.
There is also a morality problem with getting these robots. This problem lies within the
old employees. If you were to completely remake the factory using these robots, you would in
turn be making many average people unemployed. This is a horrible aspect for factory workers
due to the fact that there is less required for previous education a therefore, many factory
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workers are somewhat uneducated. These people would be unemployed and would have a hard
time finding another job due to lack of previous experience within other aspects of the world.
These people, in turn, could potentially wind up homeless and broke with nowhere to turn.
Therein lies the morality issue. If you were to make these people unemployed they
would have no income. This would greatly limit their ability to provide for themselves, and in
some aspects for their families. There are already too many people in today's economy going
without food and shelter. Why add to the large mix? (Argote, 2)
With all of the previous aspects laid out, there are some definite exceptions. There are
some businesses that would definitely benefit, other than profit, from the newfound use of
machines. For instance, a nuclear plant. These plants have extremely dangerous traits that make
it difficult to employ a large number of employees and give them all health insurance. If these
factories were to use industrial robots it would entail a different story than if average factories
were to do so. Through upgrading to machines, the nuclear plant would thus become a safer
location where there is less risk for the employed people to be around the nuclear waste. There
is also the fact that there is not an overly large amount of people that work in a nuclear plant at
any given time. Therefore, if the plant was to be run by machines, most of the employees could
still work for the company in both maintenance and managing the plant.
If you were to keep the employees rather than integrate new machines, you may have less
productivity, but there will be no major spike within the budget drop that would happen if you
were to instate the use of industrial robots. The potential for many bad aspects is too great to
risk. Could you live with the fact that people would be jobless and unable to provide for both
themselves and their families because you disbanded him from his work in order to put a shiny
new toy in his place?
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Bibliography
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Argote, Linda, Paul S. Goodman, David Schkade. "The Human Side of Robotics: How Workers
React to a Robot."Tepper School of Business. Sloan Management Review, Spring 1983.
Article. 1 Dec. 2012.
Ennis, Jon. "The Unimate." Prezi. Prezi Transcript. 19 Nov. 2012. Web. 1 Dec. 2012.
"How much do Industrial Robots Cost." Robotworx. FAQ. 2010. Web. 1 Dec. 2012.
Kawamure K., D.M. Wilkes, T. Pack, M. Bishay, J. Barile. "Humanoids: Future Robots for
Home and Factory." Vanderbilt University. Intelligent Robotics Laboratory, 30 October
1996. Article. 1 Dec. 2012.
Schodt, Frederik L., "Inside the Robot Kingdom." Japan Mechatronics. 2006. Article. 1 Dec.
2012.
"The History and Benefits of Industrial Robots." Robotworx. Robot History. 2007. Web. 1 Dec.
2012.