Amazon recently showed how 15,000 robots processed a large proportion of orders ahead of the holidays. The video makes the discussion about robots in the warehouse more topical than ever. For ages, experts have argued that warehouse workers will not be needed in the future because robots will take their work off their hands. This is confirmed by an analysis by Deloitte, which claims that robots will take over the work of some 2-3 million Britons in the future. Social Affairs Minister Lodewijk Asscher added to this in September by saying that robots will cause paid work to disappear. Certainly warehouse workers must fear for their jobs. "Robots are more reliable and cheaper. They are fast, never sick, work 24 hours a day, never ask for wage increases and are not represented by unions," Asscher argued.
Unexpected circumstances and flexibility
One thing is certain: robots still have a long way to go if they are to take over the work of warehouse staff. This is because they are programmed to carry out a specific task and do not know how to react in unexpected situations. It will be difficult to get robots to adapt to the variety of conditions in the warehouse. Furthermore, robots lack flexibility, according to researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology. Robots would first need to be more agile if they are to move credibly amongst people. At present, they often spend several minutes calculating the movements of their limbs before they move. In humans, this process is much smoother.
Jobs disappearing
However, a great deal of work is going into the development of robots. By 2025, there will likely be robots on the market capable of matching human performance. Will there still be work left? In Amazon’s case, at least, there will be. The e-commerce giant deployed 15,000 robots, but did not make any staff redundant as a result. The company even claims to have taken on more staff since the introduction of the Kiva robot. Since 2011 – a year before Amazon acquired Kiva – 61,110 people have been hired. That is almost double the workforce, even though Amazon was still facing slowing growth last year. Amazon employees have therefore not yet had to make way for the Kiva robot. In fact, the robot serves as a tool to assist staff. Employees are still responsible for picking and packing orders; they simply no longer have to walk around to gather the items for an order.
Watchhere how Amazon's robots operate.
Evolution rather than revolution
The situation in Germany also shows that robots and unemployment do not necessarily go hand in hand. Our neighbours to the east are among the pioneers in the use of robots, particularly in the industrial sector (also known as Industry 4.0). According to Wolfran Lohse, an engineer at Aachen University of Technology, no workers in Germany have lost their jobs due to the introduction of new robots. The industrial revolution should be taken as an example here. At that time, too, there were fears that there would no longer be any work for less-skilled workers. “In Germany, workers are taking on different or more highly skilled roles within their companies,” Lohse states in the FD. New tasks and ways of working are also being devised for less-skilled workers. One example of this is the ‘maker movement’ from the US. This involves individuals getting to work at home using, for example, 3D printers. It would therefore be more accurate to speak of an evolution rather than a revolution.
What do you think? Will the warehouse worker still be needed in 2025? Which tasks can't, or can't, be taken over by robots?
Editorial LogistiekProfs
Photo: Van der Lande
