Main trends in the field of robotics
The forecast of the main trends in the field of robotics focuses on a significant increase in autonomous mobile robots (AMR -Autonomous Mobile Robots), collaborative robots (COBOT), and service robots (Service Robot) – robots with the ability to understand a changing environment and navigate it, while performing tasks for diverse uses. Another trend is an improvement in the vision capabilities of machines (Machine Vision) which allows to increase the cooperation between man and machine and also to increase the level of safety. Also, the expansion of the use of learning systems that adapt themselves and also to an integrated environment of humans and devices is expected. The expansion of connectivity between people and between systems will also be done over great distances. After the Corona era, connectivity has a lot of meaning, and in fact physical distance becomes less significant.
The combination of the physical capabilities of robotics, together with the use of artificial intelligence, provides the ability to analyze, predict and even simulate human behavior. Capabilities and outputs can be improved beyond human capabilities as they exist today. At the same time, streamlining the industry through robotics and automation will make it possible to return production from developing countries where labor is cheap, back to the developed countries. Germany, for example, has already started this trend.
The process described so far is gaining momentum following the demographic changes taking place in many countries. The decrease in the birth rate creates a situation where there are relatively few young people in the labor market, which together, with the aging of the population, results in a decrease in the number of working people per supported person. These data increase the importance of the field of robotics.
It seems that mechanical and structured jobs will increasingly be performed by robots. Some of them will be done in collaboration with workers and others – will be done independently by the robots. In various countries, there is a shortage of working hands in the fields of agriculture, construction, and health, for which a robot can provide an effective answer. On the other hand, when it comes to activities that require more creativity, high and complex behavioral and cognitive abilities, humans will still be required to perform the task. In these fields it will be more difficult to replace the worker with a robot.
Examining the history of the industrial revolutions shows that the technological changes indeed led to the elimination of certain professions and created changes in the workforce, however, in the long term, a variety of new professions and positions were created, productivity increased, the economic output increased as well as the level of general well-being.