Don’t be intimidated by what you don’t know. That can be your greatest strength and ensure you do things differently from everyone else.
Sara Blakely – Founder of Spanx

Robots are coming is a common refrain in Tech Futures. Robots and smart machines are doing a lot of our work and will do a lot more over the next few years. Take a look below:

• Robot revolution will create 97 million new jobs over the next several years.
• Machines will do 52% of worker tasks by 2025.
• Startups are re-visioning the entire food chain: food delivery services (drones), grocery stores (no VUCANs), packaging (3-D machines), and restaurants (food printing).
• People  print their food at home using 3-D food printers for dry food.
• Restaurants are using 3-D printers to prepare specialized food.
• Robot can peel a head of lettuce in 27 seconds.
• Tipsy Robot bartender can make 120 cocktails per hour in Las Vegas at $12 to $16 a drink.
• Robot can assemble a simple IKEA chair in 20 minutes, while a human takes 10 to 15 minutes to assemble the same chair (if ever).
• 94.5% of doctors have the same diagnosis and treatment as a machine learning eye disease program.
• Introduction of 1 factory (industrial) robot replaces 6 workers.
• Hiring Robot can do 50,000 interviews/day for 200 client companies.
• Beijing Robotics Industry produces 100,000 robots yearly by 2020.
• Da Vinci robotic surgeons have completed 50 million human surgeries.
• Universal Robots has produced 25,000 collaborative robots (cobots), which is 60% of the market.
• 50,000 Las Vegas casino workers went on strike in 2018 demanding greater job security in part from the coming automation.

Work Lesson Earned: Best case scenario, a robot is going to be your work collaborator. Worst case, well … A few questions to think about: What can a robot do that you can’t? What can you do that a robot can’t? How will these impact your work/career? What are your work Plan B’s and contingency plans?

BTW: The above robot statistics are from various issues of ‘Clocking In from MIT Technology’- a great Tech Futures magazine.