The Humans Behind The Robots

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Headlines:

• Innovators at Japan's SoftBank Corp. develop advanced humanoid robot to assist with caregiving (The Japan Times, March 2023)

• Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley create humanoid robot that performs tasks with unprecedented dexterity (Science Daily, February 2023)

• MIT professor develops AI-powered robot that can assist surgeons with precision and accuracy (MIT News, January 2023)

• Scientists from the University of Tokyo design humanoid robot kit for people with disabilities (The Korea Herald, December 2022)

• An AI-powered robot is being tested to help with search and rescue operations in disaster zones (BBC, November 2022)

• Engineers at Boston Dynamics unveil humanoid robot that can navigate complex environments (The Guardian... October 2022)

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Here's a question. Imagine that, for $15,000, you could purchase a robot to pitch in with all the mundane tasks in your household. The catch (aside from the price tag) is that for 80% of those tasks, the robot's AI training isn't good enough for it to act on its own. Instead, it's aided by a remote assistant working from the Philippines to help it navigate your home and clear your table or put away groceries. Would you want one?

That's the question at the center of my story for our magazine, published online today, on whether we will trust humanoid robots enough to welcome them into our most private spaces, particularly if they're part of an asymmetric labor arrangement in which workers in low-wage countries perform physical tasks for us in our homes through robot interfaces. In the piece, I wrote about one robotics company called Prosper and its massive effort—bringing in former Pixar designers and professional butlers—to design a trustworthy household robot named Alfie. It's quite a ride. Read the story here .

There's one larger question that the story raises, though, about just how profound a shift in labor dynamics robotics could bring in the coming years. 

For decades, robots have found success on assembly lines and in other somewhat predictable environments. Then, in the last couple of years, robots started being able to learn tasks more quickly thanks to AI, and that has broadened their applications to tasks in more chaotic settings, like picking orders in warehouses. But a growing number of well-funded companies are pushing for an even more monumental shift. 

Until now, we've mostly thought about automation and outsourcing as two separate forces that can affect the labor market. Jobs might be outsourced overseas or lost to automation, but not both. A job that couldn't be sent offshore and could not yet be fully automated by machines, like cleaning a hotel room, wasn't going anywhere. Now, advancements in robotics are promising that employers can outsource such a job to low-wage countries without needing the technology to fully automate it.