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3 Choosing between high turnover humans or slow robots in monotonous roles

CIPD Staff

12 Mar, 2018 14:51

A BBC News article about burger flipping robot Flippy, says that it has been switched off after one day of work - the robot did not flip burgers quickly enough. High turnover in monotonous restaurant jobs is the reason why a Cali Burger spokesman expects eateries of the future to be staffed by robots. (There's a video in the link below.)

Is this a job design issue? Is there a responsibility to make the job more interesting or rotate duties?

Does it suggest that robots are unlikely to overrun the world of work any time soon? Can people at work also be 'switched off' without proper support to meet objectives?

If you've experienced difficulty in hiring certain roles, what other options have you considered?(Assuming you didn't have a robot to turn to.)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-43343956

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Victoria Dmochowski | 0 Posts

CIPD Staff

29 May, 2018 14:31

Flippy the robot has been back at work for nearly a month and is pulling in queues of curious customers. USA Today reports that, "If the robots such as Flippy become more widespread, they risk cutting into one of the fastest growing job sectors." From 2007 to 2017 fast food jobs in the US rose 40% to 4.9 million; more rapidly than health care, construction or manufacturing.

Do you think UK fast food roles are next to be most augmented by technology? Will some sectors have more to invest than others? (For example healthcare – bearing in mind that in Japan, it's not uncommon for carer robots to assist the elderly.) If children already know how to operate touch screens, drones and robot toys, should we be training the current workforce to be ready to work alongside robots?
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Keith | 0 Posts

29 May, 2018 15:26

In reply to Victoria Dmochowski:
I wonder if the Luddites felt the same in 1811? Then it was the weaving machines now it burger flippers.... times change but things stay the same....
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Ray | 0 Posts

29 May, 2018 17:17

In reply to Keith:
@Keith :-)
"Ah, the good old days when you had to go down the pit at 5 in the morning and cut the pitface with a blunt pickaxe until 7 at night - those awful drilling machines took our jobs away"
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