On Sept. 20 on the Takeaway, John Hockenberry and Kara Miller spoke with Rodney Brooks and Andrew McAfee about innovations in robotics.
Robots are all around us — already you can find them in hospitals and at your local grocery store. If Rodney Brooks has anything to say about it, robots may soon become your co-workers as well.
Brooks, the founder of Rethink Robotics, believes that introducing robots to the workplace will prompt their human co-workers to be promoted to more skilled positions. Brooks also believes that the low price of manufacturing with robotics will allow businesses to bring manufacturing plants back to the US from overseas, where cost of manufacturing has traditionally been lower.
However, the increased use of robots is not without negative effects. Kara Miller noted that while robots may allow manufacturing plants to return to the United States, replacing workers with robots would doubtless decrease the total number of manufacturing jobs available. Hockenberry also steered the conversation towards the use of drones in the military, and the psychological lack of responsibility that arises from having attacks performed robotically.
But whatever the next phase in the robotics revolution may be, it's coming quickly. Andrew McAfee, the principal research scientist at the M.I.T. Center for Digital Business, aptly summarized the industry's development. “When I look at technological progress these days," McAffe said, "I’m reminded of the great Hemingway quote about how a man goes bankrupt — it’s slowly, and then all at once. I think we’re at the early stages of the all at once.”
Both Brooks and McAfee will be guests at next week'sInnovation Live event, hosted by Kara Miller.
To read the Takeaway's coverage of this segment, visit their website.
