Are the robots going to steal my job? | Uniwelco

New technological advances have historically been received by a certain amount of skepticism and the robots are no exception.

With the collaborative robots, which can work alongside their human coworkers, more and more businesses are realising the benefit of integrating the new technology in their production. For many, robots at their place of work also comes with an amount of fear: Are the robots going to steal my job? We examine if the fear is justified and what a collaborative welding robot can do for the workplace.

A myth

At Danish Technological Institute they are convinced, that there is no reason to fear anything. They actually argue, that it is a myth, that the robots will steal people's jobs:

"Even though the robots on one side can appear as a threat with their military work moral without coffee breaks or friendly discussions with the coworkers, you would largely be able to see, that an automated workspace is a competitive one. And a competitive one is a well populated workplace. So even though the myth is, that the robots will replace our paychecks, the robots can actually help ensure, that the money is going to continually roll into our bank accounts each month".
// Danish Technological Institute

Changed jobs

For a lot of workplaces a collaborative robot will not remove jobs, but it will rather change jobs. The internet pioneer Fred Baker says about automation:

"My observation of advances in automation has been that they change jobs, but they don’t reduce them".
// Fred Baker til Pew Research

The same is apparent for the collaborative welding robots. The welders will get to know new tools for handling the technology, and because the robot is collaborative, its entire purpose is to work together with the welders. In this way, the welder's job will change; it won't disappear.

Technological advances

The introduction of collaborative welding robots at the workplace also means, that the welders and the company will advance technologically. With a collaborative robot it is not necessary to hire a robot operator. It is going to be the welders themselves, who will control the welding robot. For a lot of companies, this is the main argument for getting a collaborative welding robot and not a shielded welding robot. The latter does require an operator, who can control the robot. This way, the responsibility only lies with one person; one that is often not a welding expert.

In short, there is going to be massive advantages to getting the welders to recognize the new technology, because they are much better at evaluating the robot's work from a professional point of view. If you train the welders, you will also discover, that they take a lot more ownership of the robot; and that is merely positive. First of all when it comes to the integration of the robot, but also because the responsibility only lies with one person.

The monotonous tasks

When the production is automated with a collaborative welding robot, it will be the monotonous tasks that the robot will take care of, while the welder is still going to do the more technically complicated jobs.

For the welder, a collaborative robot will be a relief in the production, when hundreds of items have to be welded.

Maybe a robot can steal your bowling career
- but can it steal your job? // GIPHY

A new set of tasks

So are the collaborative welding robots going to steal your job?

No. But you can expect to get new tasks, when you have to get your new coworker going. Someone has to show the robot, what it should do - and make sure, that it does that job properly.

If you would like to learn more about the collaborative welding robot, then check out our Five good reasons to invest in a collaborative welding robot and What does a welding robot cost?