In ancient times, people used to design automatic devices for entertainment that resembled either humans or animals. With further development in the industrial age, these devices upgraded to automated machines for practical purposes. Today, they have replaced humans. Capable of performing dangerous or repetitive jobs at any place is what robots are — a computer programmable machine, driven externally or internally by a control device. A helping hand is always good but, advantages go hand in hand with disadvantages.
Advantages of robots
Peeping into the advantages of robots and robotic technology, we can see many areas where the robots are unbeatable. The purpose of their discovery justifies if we consider-
1. Money and time
Recruitment, training, and maintenance of manpower are time and money-consuming. Comparatively, robots save money in terms of training and the benefits given to employees, overtime charges, and many more. Robots promise no mistakes and continuous work, which saves time. Its effectiveness and efficiency help to meet the deadlines. Mistakes end in wastage and, robots save money with little wastage, making business eco-friendly.
2. Productivity and accuracy
Give a task to the robot, and it is done. Robots are unbeatable. They continue to work until we stop them, or it is over. Productivity is maximum. Humans have limited energy and fixed time but, robots are smashing. Accuracy is inbuilt in robots while computing it, so there are no chances of any errors. The higher standard of products leaving the industries brings new business, which adds in growth and expansion.
3. Surgery and research
There is yet another field where robots have proved to be amazing, and that is operation theater. Right from arranging things properly to helping the doctors in surgery are the tasks that robots do flawlessly. That assures patients faster recovery and lesser sufferance. Humans have limitations to work in extreme conditions, but robots don’t. Be it the depth of the ocean, hot deserts or, cold mountains, robots are ideal for working anywhere. Space exploration has been possible because of them. Humans follow their findings to explore the unknown. The knowledge of the universe, we have, is only because of robots.
4. Reliable and continuous
Roberts lack emotions, hence they become more reliable. It’s not an irony but, this feature makes them efficient. They don’t have the power to complain. No one can match their speed, still, the quality of work remains the same. Robots never get tired. They can work 24 /7 without any break. Humans get sick and enjoy holidays but, robots can work endlessly, till you want. Like, people get bored entering the data, so they take a break. Assign to robots, the same job gets done more precisely.
5. Warfare and accident
Another field where human’s life is at stake is war. With robots, human casualties and deaths get reduced. They can do any assigned job, even killing the people. But is it good? Doing mistakes is man’s birthright, but not robots. No mistake ends in no accidents. Robots are errorless so, the chances of accidents are less. Also, lifting heavy objects without any chance of mishap is what robots easily do.
6. Suitable for Hazardous Environments
Robots are expendable. Sure, they are costly and are the epitome of the latest technology on the face of the planet, but they do not compare to human life. As a result, robots are the most suitable when it comes to jobs requiring labor in a hazardous environment. These robots can efficiently handle themselves under the most negative atmosphere and also perform at their optimal best. As such, we can save human lives and operational costs by employing robots in places such as the North Pole or the belly of a volcano. These robots can also prove themselves in the face of natural calamities. Relief works during floods, tsunamis, wildfires, typhoons, and cyclones could get revolutionized using robots.
Disadvantages of robots
We justified certain areas where robots proved to be advantageous now, we shall see the areas where it has proved to be disadvantageous.
1. Robots are Expensive
Robots replace humans. Fast, errorless, accurate, and continuous working is possible if robots do the job. Businessman looks forward to maximizing profit in every possible way. Like for doing repetitive jobs, he prefers robots to men. But it is not feasible to have robots all the time because the upfront cost is very high. Not every company has high investment potential to fulfill the need. To run the robots’ expertise is a must, which again needs a skilled staff. That adds to the expense.
2. Maintenance and Security
The upfront cost is not the only aspect of making the robots expensive. The maintenance is also costly. You need an expert or engineer to fix the machine, which can be expensive. To this add the downtime cost. That sums up to be a big figure for a company to pay.
As computers are prone to cyber-attacks, so are robots. They don’t have the senses to judge right or wrong. It can be hacked and programmed to malfunction. Cybersecurity problems associated with robots can be dangerous.
3. Human capabilities and Emotionlessness
It is a challenge to human capabilities if robots take over the world. The internet has connected us worldwide and disconnected us from real life. The crowd staring at the screen can be seen everywhere. What if robots take over our daily routine or tasks. Many more problems will add to depression, loneliness, and isolation. Robots have no emotions, therefore they can run only in the way they are calibrated for. Like any other appliance, they can make your life easier but, you can’t sit and have a word to share your sorrows and happiness.
4. Power and Programming
Robots are power-driven so, they need lots of electricity. Hence, they are not eco-friendly. On the other hand, they add to global warming issues and greenhouse gases. To meet the growing demand for robots, we directly or indirectly harm the environment, which is not good for global health. In the absence of a brain, the robot only does the job for which it has been programmed. Thinking, creating and, molding as per needs is a human skill. Robots are incapable of doing any such actions. That limits their capability and ends up saying, after all, it is a machine. They have to depend on the clever minds of humans to show efficiency.
Developed from human brains, computers, tend to be more intelligent. Needless to say, if this happens, we will be in yet another new world where robots take over humans and, we, working as per their directions.
5. Increase in the rate of unemployment
Finally, the dark underbelly of the whole robot scenario is the concern surrounding the sharp increase in the rate of unemployment. While we do not deny that robots will boost economic development and open doors to newer job avenues, it is also true that the same robots will be the cause of a major wave of unemployment. Studies have shown that approximately 20 million manufacturing jobs will get automated by the fall of 2030. And another shows that a total of 30% of all jobs will employ robots shortly. With such numbers, it’s not surprising that many people feel apprehensive about the rise of robots.