Robots Welcome to Take Over, as Pandemic Accelerates Automation
Broad unease about losing jobs to machines could dissipate as people focus on the benefits of minimizing close human contact.
An AMP Robotics system sorting recyclable material at the company’s lab in Louisville, Colo.Credit...Benjamin Rasmussen for The New York Times
Broad unease about losing jobs to machines could dissipate as people focus on the benefits of minimizing close human contact.
The recycling industry was already struggling before the pandemic. Now, an increasing number of cities are suspending recycling services, partly out of fear that workers might contract the coronavirus from one another while sorting through used water bottles, food containers and boxes.
One solution: Let robots do the job.
Since the coronavirus took hold in the United States last month, AMP Robotics has seen a “significant” increase in orders for its robots that use artificial intelligence to sift through recycled material, weeding out trash.
“Some facilities that were looking at getting one or two robots are now saying, ‘We need quite a bit more,’” said the Colorado company’s chief executive, Matanya Horowitz. “It’s all moving quite fast.”
Broad unease about losing jobs to machines could dissipate as people focus on the benefits of minimizing close human contact.
An AMP Robotics system sorting recyclable material at the company’s lab in Louisville, Colo.Credit...Benjamin Rasmussen for The New York Times
Broad unease about losing jobs to machines could dissipate as people focus on the benefits of minimizing close human contact.
The recycling industry was already struggling before the pandemic. Now, an increasing number of cities are suspending recycling services, partly out of fear that workers might contract the coronavirus from one another while sorting through used water bottles, food containers and boxes.
One solution: Let robots do the job.
Since the coronavirus took hold in the United States last month, AMP Robotics has seen a “significant” increase in orders for its robots that use artificial intelligence to sift through recycled material, weeding out trash.
“Some facilities that were looking at getting one or two robots are now saying, ‘We need quite a bit more,’” said the Colorado company’s chief executive, Matanya Horowitz. “It’s all moving quite fast.”
Robots Welcome to Take Over, as Pandemic Accelerates Automation (Published 2020)
Broad unease about losing jobs to machines could dissipate as people focus on the benefits of minimizing close human contact.
www.nytimes.com