Much of the conversation around the increasing influence of AI and robotics in the workplace focuses on the threat to human employment many see as a direct consequence of the trend. A report published by the consultancy McKinsey and published by statistics company Statisa a few years ago estimated that 73 million jobs in the USA could be lost to automation by 2030.

Source: Statista

The figures are much higher in the largest developing economies like as China and India. But while every economy is likely to have to contend with significant workforce displacement over the next decade, the evidence suggests that it will be a positive, not a negative, for workforces.

In developed economies like the USA, Germany and here in the UK, future economic growth predictions indicate there will be more than enough jobs for the labour force. Germany’s workforce is also forecast to decline by 3 million by 2030, further easing the burden.

Rather than a negative scenario of mass unemployment, the rise of the robots is instead eliminating many of the most unattractive, repetitive jobs performed by human workers. Workers should, in fact, have more attractive job opportunities, rather than struggle to find a job.

And right now, the bigger problem is robotics and AI technology not having advanced quickly enough to make up for human labour shortfalls. Warehouses and many other businesses for which automation is not yet available, or involves the kind of capital investment only some companies can afford, are struggling to hire enough people.

That’s a situation that has been exacerbated by more people finding online employment opportunities over the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s less a case of robots taking jobs as automation being turned to more quickly because without it there are not enough people to do many jobs.

The future of robotics – they are getting better quickly

The good news is the kind of robotics and AI technology needed to remove the need for human labour to fulfil many repetitive and generally uninspiring jobs is progressing quickly. For example, warehouse automation that was until now limited to moving products around to be more conveniently accessible to human workers who prepare them for delivery will soon be able to do the whole job.

London-listed Ocado is the global market leader in warehouse automation and recently revealed its latest generation of robotics. The company builds warehouses organised in a metallic grid system that allows robots to criss-cross the premises and deliver products to human workers who bag them for delivery.

Recent advancements in the machine vision and AI powering these robots are making the automated system even more efficient. Ocado says it can lower labour costs by 40% and eliminate the most physically demanding jobs carried out by humans.

The latest generation of Ocado robots is, says the company 80% lighter thanks to half of their components being produced by 3D printing. Lighter robots will mean significant energy savings for warehouses as well as allowing for the grids to be smaller, lighter and fitted more quickly at less expense. Retrofitting existing warehouses with the new technology will take weeks rather than the months previously required.

The new, more dexterous robots will also, says Ocado, allow it to work with a broader range of ecommerce companies, not only online groceries orders.

Sectors that will see an increase in robotics and AI to support human workers

Almost every sector is likely to see an increased presence of machines over the next decade and longer. A few examples include:

Health care

Health care is one sector that almost always struggles to meet demand due to limited resources – both financial and human. Robotics will hopefully pick up some of the slack over the years ahead and help relieve the burden on overworked healthcare professionals.

For example, robots can help humn physiotherapists by exercising a patient’s limbs reliably and without them getting tired at the end of a long shift. The Economist quotes Dr Johnson, director of the Rehabilitation Robotics Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, who says of the need for medical professionals helping people recover from illness and injury, “there are just not enough clinicians to do the job.”

But robots will soon be helping in a way that, says Dr Johnson, will allow a single therapist aided by a technician, to look after up to 6 patients that would normally need one-to-one care.

Robotics and AI technology still has a long way to go before reaching its full potential in the workplace

But as much as robotics and AI automation has developed in recent years, there is still a long way for it to go to automate many of the tasks it would benefit. Most robots still perform narrowly defined tasks. However, that is changing and robots should soon be more adaptable and easier to teach how to apply their capabilities to a wide range of tasks by matching aspects to a new challenge with previous experience in a more human style.

Julie Shah, who heads up the Interactive Robotics Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is, alongside colleagues, developing AI systems that can teach a robot using natural-language commands.

That should mean less technical expertise is needed to train AI-powered robotics in future and open up a wide variety of new applications.

Most experts are convinced that robots will not replace but enhance human productivity, allowing one professional to produce much more output in the same amount of time. And that will be achieved by removing the need for human intervention in the most physical and time-consuming, often repetitive, tasks.

Most of us have elements to our jobs that we find turgid and suck up time without adding much genuine value but need to be done. Image how much more we would be able to achieve if those tasks were taken off our plate by a friendly robot?

Rocketing productivity, not mass unemployment, is what we can expect from the rise of the robots over the next decade or two.