{"206291":{"#nid":"206291","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Robots Are Not Killing Jobs","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn a recent interview with Steven Cherry for IEEE Spectrum\u2019s \u201cTechwise Conversations,\u201d Henrik Christensen, director of the Robotics \u0026amp; Intelligent Machines Center (RIM) at Georgia Tech, dispels many of the myths surrounding the threat of automation to the American workforce.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccording to Christensen, machines are displacing some jobs that may be difficult for humans to perform alone because they require heavy lifting, high precision, or highly repetitive tasks, such as assembly in factories. Jobs in other industries that require minimal skills are also being replaced by automation. However, Christensen says, \u201cthe net number of jobs that have been created worldwide is actually going up; it\u2019s not going down.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the last year, the U.S. saw a growth in the robotics sector by 40 percent. As automation continues to evolve, manufacturing costs and waste will be significantly reduced, resulting in the ability to increase production volume and quality. Christensen says, \u201cAlthough some lower-skilled jobs will go away, an entire industry will blossom allowing the U.S. to build products that we can barely imagine today.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOther important sectors, especially the healthcare and service industries, are projected to rise, requiring innovative products and needs that can be met with robotics technology.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChristensen believes that educating and training workers is key to ensuring minimal displacement of jobs in all sectors but getting students interested in science, technology, engineering, and math is one of the big challenges. \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing,\u201d he says, \u201cis a shift away from unskilled labor to skilled labor, and that poses a challenge to make sure that we actually have the people that can do this.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the next 30-40 years machines will be able to perform many job functions that humans can do, but rather than eliminating the human job force, they will make the workplace safer and more efficient while creating entirely new professions that will lead to new jobs.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERead the transcript from the interview or listen to the podcast\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/spectrum.ieee.org\/podcast\/robotics\/industrial-robots\/robots-are-not-killing-jobs-says-a-roboticist\/\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn a recent interview with Steven Cherry for\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EIEEE Spectrum\u2019\u003C\/em\u003Es \u201cTechwise Conversations,\u201d In a recent interview with Steven Cherry for IEEE Spectrum\u2019s \u201cTechwise Conversations,\u201d Henrik Christensen, director of the Robotics \u0026amp; Intelligent Machines Center (RIM) at Georgia Tech, dispels many of the myths surrounding the threat of automation to the American workforce.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Henrik Christensen says automation is still creating more jobs than it destroys."}],"uid":"27255","created_gmt":"2013-04-12 19:37:10","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:14:04","author":"Josie Giles","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-04-12T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-04-12T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"66193":{"id":"66193","type":"image","title":"Henrik Christen with robot","body":null,"created":"1449176931","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:08:51","changed":"1475894587","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:07"}},"media_ids":["66193"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/robotics.gatech.edu\/","title":"Center for Robotics \u0026 Intelligent Machines"},{"url":"http:\/\/beta.spectrum.ieee.org\/podcast\/robotics\/industrial-robots\/robots-are-not-killing-jobs-says-a-roboticist\/?utm_campaign=fromlegacy\u0026utm_medium=widget\u0026utm_source=internaltoggle","title":"IEEE Spectrum\u2019s \u201cTechwise Conversations\u201d"}],"groups":[{"id":"142761","name":"IRIM"}],"categories":[{"id":"131","name":"Economic Development and Policy"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"55211","name":"Henrik Christensen; Robotics; Jobs; Workplace; Automation"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJosie Giles\u003Cbr \/\u003ERIM Communications Officer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:josie@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejosie@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}