Are We Losing Our Jobs to Machines?

For some time now machines have been competing with blue-collar workers in the cosmetic industry in almost the same routine-picking up jars of hand lotion and putting them in cartons as they speed off the assembly line. Their delicate agility is also matching their human counterparts in testing tiny thermometers, a process that includes shaking almost microscopic gas bubbles from the fragile glass cylinders.

Machines have invaded the automotive and aviation industry, performing difficult tasks that, again, leave their human working companion shaking his head in disbelief. They have competed with the best welders and painters in the car industry.

Already great plans are under way to employ robots in ways ranging from the mundane to the sublime. According to some reports, the world population of robots stands at about 17,500. Other reports put it as high as 20,000, with Japan ranking number one in production and utilization, United States a trailing distant second, followed by the Federal Republic of Germany, Sweden, Poland, Great Britain, Norway, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands. However, these figures are changing almost daily. In the alone the production of robots has been climbing at the rate of 35 percent a year. One company boasts of robots walking off their assembly line at about 55 a month, and of selling them as fast as they can be produced. Other large companies, seeing the demand for these steel-collar workers in industry, are jumping on the bandwagon and are tooling up to produce robots.

To understand best this sudden invasion of robots into the work force in industry is to understand the difference between automated machines, which have been used in industry for generations, and machines that are called robots.

A simple automated machine is solely designed to do one thing. It cannot perform any other operation. A robot, on the other hand, can be programmed to do many things. It could clean windows, it could fry an egg, it could paint or weld, and much more. To the delight of their employer, all their movements are fully programmable-to do a job again and again or stop and do something else. They are designed to work with humans, at human tempos so as not to conflict with existing operations. Employers say that it saves time and money, and they never have to worry about lateness or complaining. They also never take a vacation, and are never sick.

General Motors has about 400 robots in their plants. These are used primarily for welding, painting and spraying, parts handling and die casting. One of the newest robots is being used for auto body inspection. Equipped with cameras, the robots have "seeing" ability that humans are not able to match. These robots can be operated at a cost of $5.50 () an hour. This includes purchase price and maintenance. Compare this with the $18.10 an hour paid the blue-collar auto worker in wages and benefits, and the lure of robots speaks for itself. Everyday more and more people are laid off from work because of these machines. For example, when an electric company in moved in a computer-robot to produce vacuum-cleaner parts, it was found that the robot and four people could do the work formerly done by 120 workers. If you were the owner of one of these companies what would you choose?