How Robots Are Taking on the Dirty, Dangerous, and Dull Jobs

When discussing the subject of automation, it’s common to hear someone say that robots will eventually take all the jobs. But is that true? Can robots do all the jobs? No, robots are only doing the jobs that humans shouldn’t have been working on in the first place.  These are known as the dirty, dangerous, and dull jobs.

Robots Take on the Dirty Jobs

Dirty jobs are often unsanitary or hazardous work that can impact human health. Even though these jobs are unfavorable, someone has to do them. They include waste management, livestock nurturing, and mine exploration. The robot can take away the risk from humans and keep them safe from harm.

One example is the need for sewer scrapers. When there is a problem with a sewer pipe, a crew shuts it off, digs to access the pipe, then fixes the infrastructure. But a robot can clean, map, and inspect pipes before the problems arise. Robots can also collect data like distance, pressure, temperature, and composition to get visibility of pollutants, infectious diseases, and drug use.

Robots Take on the Dangerous Jobs

Dangerous jobs put humans in harmful situations. To prevent the loss of human life, robots can be used. They are able to measure and detect variables beyond human perception. Robots can defuse bombs, traverse distant planets, and inspect unstable structures.

Robots are being used to inspect bridges. A high degree of expertise, risk, and cost is associated with manned bridge inspections. Multirotor drones are able to completely remove humans from dangerous situations. They inspect hard-to-access areas with advanced speed and maneuverability.

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Robots Take on the Dull Jobs

Dull, low-interaction, high-repetition jobs require very little human thought. They often include processes that have a sole objective of efficiency and output. Robots can work around the clock to streamline dull jobs. This saves businesses money and frees up human capital for tasks that have an element of variety and a need for critical thinking.

For example, with the growth of e-commerce, there’s an increasing need for fulfillment centers. These centers must move a high volume of small, multiline orders to turn a profit. Workers must walk long aisles, find an item, scan it, put the item in a cart, and push the item back to the staging area. But robots can be used to increase order-to-delivery times, reduce errors, and minimize the burden on human workers.

Humans still have plenty to do if robots take these dirty, dangerous, and dull jobs. Technology advances have brought change throughout the history of industry. Robots are no different.

Humans aren’t well-suited for these monotonous jobs. Humans are better off doing the variable, dexterous, and cognitive work. Humans will be able to choose the work they’d rather do. Workers can gain knowledge and skills. This increases their value so that they earn a higher income and can live a more rewarding life.

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