That’s the query at the middle of my story for our magazine, published online today, on whether we are going to trust humanoid robots enough to welcome them into our most private spaces, particularly in the event that they’re a part of an asymmetric labor arrangement wherein employees in low-wage countries perform physical tasks for us in our homes through robot interfaces. Within the piece, I wrote about one robotics company called Prosper and its massive effort—bringing in former Pixar designers and skilled butlers—to design a trustworthy household robot named Alfie. It’s quite a ride. Read the story here.
There’s one larger query that the story raises, though, about just how profound a shift in labor dynamics robotics could herald the approaching years.
For a long time, robots have found success on assembly lines and in other somewhat predictable environments. Then, within the last couple of years, robots began with the ability to learn tasks more quickly due to AI, and that has broadened their applications to tasks in additional chaotic settings, like picking orders in warehouses. But a growing variety of well-funded firms are pushing for an excellent more monumental shift.
Prosper and others are betting that they don’t must construct an ideal robot that may do every part by itself. As an alternative, they will construct one which’s pretty good, but receives help from distant operators anywhere on this planet. If that works well enough, they’re hoping to bring robots into jobs that the majority of us would have guessed couldn’t be automated: the work of hotel housekeepers, care providers in hospitals, or domestic help. “Almost any indoor physical labor” is on the table, Prosper’s founder and CEO, Shariq Hashme, told me.
Until now, we’ve mostly considered automation and outsourcing as two separate forces that may affect the labor market. Jobs could be outsourced overseas or lost to automation, but not each. A job that couldn’t be sent offshore and couldn’t yet be fully automated by machines, like cleansing a hotel room, wasn’t going anywhere. Now, advancements in robotics are promising that employers can outsource such a job to low-wage countries without having the technology to totally automate it.
It’s a tall order, to be clear. Robots, as advanced as they’ve gotten, may find it difficult to maneuver around complex environments like hotels and hospitals, even with assistance. That may take years to vary. Nonetheless, robots will only get more nimble, as will the systems that enable them to be controlled from halfway world wide. Eventually, the bets made by these firms may repay.
