Robot adoption in factories around the world continues at high speed: The new global average robot density reaches a record 162 units per 10,000 employees in 2023 - more than double the number measured only seven years ago (74 units). This is according to the World Robotics 2024 report, presented by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).
And what defines a unit of “workforce”? If a single person is replaced by 3 robots, did one unit of workforce get replaced, or do we now have two more “workers”? What if a robot replaces 3 laborers? Compounded by your question of what counts as a robot.
If a postal worker correcting unreadable addresses was replaced by a better OCR algorithm on a server somewhere, were they replaced by a robot or not? Are servers robots?
Exactly: A single worker can perform a great variety of “jobs” for their employer but a robot typically only does one thing. If you replace a human’s job with three robots it would throw these statistics way off.
Not only that but a bunch of robots could be enhancing or expanding a human’s productivity. So a single person could be performing the work of five by using the assistance of robots.
What defines a robot? Because from simple mechanisms to a fancy Kuka you have a lot of things.
And what defines a unit of “workforce”? If a single person is replaced by 3 robots, did one unit of workforce get replaced, or do we now have two more “workers”? What if a robot replaces 3 laborers? Compounded by your question of what counts as a robot.
If a postal worker correcting unreadable addresses was replaced by a better OCR algorithm on a server somewhere, were they replaced by a robot or not? Are servers robots?
Exactly: A single worker can perform a great variety of “jobs” for their employer but a robot typically only does one thing. If you replace a human’s job with three robots it would throw these statistics way off.
Not only that but a bunch of robots could be enhancing or expanding a human’s productivity. So a single person could be performing the work of five by using the assistance of robots.