by Stacey Wagner, Manager, Workforce Systems Development, NIST MEP
Rethink Robotics, the firm that designed and manufactured Baxter the famous industrial robot, has met its match. Robotis’ Bioloid, an educational DIY robotics set, has developed a new, hipper cousin to Baxter that dances – Gangnam Style. And no wonder. Baxter is a “serious robot” who has a job at Vanguard Plastics, a Connecticut manufacturer. He doesn’t have time to goof off.
But Baxter’s ability to work side by side with human counterparts has
many people worried. What if he and his robotic buddies stop dancing
and take over all the manufacturing jobs? What if people – and the
wonderful human qualities they bring to manufacturing – become passé?In last fall’s MIT Technology Review[1] Rodney Brooks, the CEO of Rethink Robotics and Baxter’s “father”, said he believes that the advent of sophisticated manufacturing automation will serve humans by making them more efficient, not replace them.
There are over one million robots engaged in work around the world, says the International Federation of Robotics, and approximately 80 percent of car manufacturing is now conducted through automation. And both small and large manufacturers can take advantage of automation, using machines that cost as little as $1,000 for a 3D printer, or sophisticated machines like Baxter that cost much more (Baxter costs $22,000).
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