The Lookout
Volume 7 Issue 1 | 2019
Can Humans Effectively Collaborate with Robots in the Workplace? Dawn Smith Two crucial aspects of manufacturing are
become cumbersome and, over an extended
wanting products to be better than a compet-
time, prove to be nonchallenging. Boredom
itor’s and producing those products as fast as
could have a negative effect on the employee’s
possible. A company must always search for
job performance and could end up costing the
ways to improve the quality of the product
company money in poor production. While
they’re producing and keep their workforce
some people may be fine performing the
trained on the latest innovations in order to
same tasks day after day, other workers want
reach and stay at the top of a certain industry.
to be a part of making improvements in the
There is a new generation of robots emerging
workplace. If your place of employment makes
in industry: collaborative robots. Any type of
reliable products in a timely manner, it’s only
improvement made to either a process or the
helping the workforce keep their jobs.
addition of machinery will cost the compa-
While robots can track production numbers
ny money. Collaborative robots are designed
and provide alerts for lower productivity,
to work alongside a human counterpart. The
it takes a human to take this data and use
prices for these types of robots are generally
it to apply changes to processes that need
thought to be high, but the collaborative robot
improvement. The thought process behind this
has a listing price averaging less than $30,000
is, “Workers with analytical skills will bring
per unit, with prices expected to drop to less
premium assets to manufacturers in multiple
than $18,000 by the year 2020 (Satyavolu,
ways, such as supply-chain optimization,
2017). With emerging technology, especially in
product quality, and asset optimization”
the manufacturing sector, utilizing robots may
(Satyavolu, 2017, p. 3).
be the answer to achieving both productivity
Pairing robots with humans can prove to
and the highest possible quality with limited
be a win-win for a company, as what one
cost to the company.
lacks in skill or knowledge, the other can
The idea behind pairing a robot with a
provide. Artificial intelligence (AI) can be
human counterpart is to increase productivity,
given the ability to learn, but a machine
as well as perform precise and/or repetitive
doesn’t understand human emotion or
tasks. Repetitive tasks to a human worker can
reasoning. Humans have an ingrained need
Page 80
