A surprisingly positive attitude to robotics and artificial intelligence is revealed in a new international survey of workers in manufacturing – but training in the use of the new technology is seen as falling short.
Overall, 64% of respondents welcomed the prospect of collaborative robots or cobots taking over work that is potentially detrimental to health, or the handling or hazardous materials.
A total of 7,000 workers, 1,000 each in the UK, US, China, Japan, Germany, France and Italy, were questioned for the Automatica Trend Index 2018, conducted in advance of June’s Automatica trade exhibition in Munich.
Some 68% thought collaboration with robots would create opportunities to master higher-skilled work. Around a half in the UK, the rest of Europe and Japan expected the number of higher-skilled and better-paid jobs to rise alongside the introduction of human-robot teams, with the figure rising to over three-quarters in the US and China. In all, 73% thought artificial intelligence would make it easier for people to assign new tasks to robots.
In the UK, 41% agreed or strongly agreed with the proposition that human-robot teams would improve manufacturing by combining human talents (such as judgement and fine motor skills) with those of robots (such as force, precision).
However, concerning education and training for the digital world, only around 20% agreed that it “has already been successfully established by [my] employer” or was “being supported by public policies in my country” and a similar proportion thought the topic was “neglected” by ministers.
“As the survey shows, employees want more consistent commitments from politicians and industry as regards training and development for work 4.0,” said Falk Senger, managing director of technology fairs at Messe Munchen.
Automatica will be held at Messe Munchen from June 19-22.