Robotics in the workplace is an idea whose time has come hence it is inevitable, but it comes with several complex social and moral issues. By definition, robotics is a branch of engineering that involves the contemporaneous application of mechanics, electronics, and information technology. In the workplace, robotics are used to create mechanized alternatives for human labor (Siciliano & Khatib, 2016). On the other hand, social issues are those issues that affect a large cross-section of the community while moral issues are those that align with a community’s definition of right and wrong. As robotics continue to develop and replace human labor in the modern workplace, several social and moral issues have arisen resulting in ideological debate. Among the social issues is the erosion of job opportunities with many workers losing jobs to mechanized systems (Partington, 2018). There is also the issue of quality more so for personalized objects whose production processes have become mechanized. From a moral perspective, robotics have been involving in concepts such as machine learning and artificial intelligence which have raised a variety of moral issues. As this research paper will reveal, robotics is an idea whose time has come hence it is necessary to canvass the social and moral issues pertaining thereto to get unanimous support for robotics in the workplace.
Background Information
Robotics as a discipline may only be a few decades old but it falls within a technological tradition of making work easier that goes back thousands of years. It is the same concept of making work easier that has separated humans from other animals even as it makes the current generation among the most advanced in history (Siciliano & Khatib, 2016). It is a fact that making work easier reduces the availability of specific jobs. For example, one person with simple farm tools can achieve in a day what would take up to ten people without any tools at all. However, the presence of farm tools does not mean that the other nine people are not without a job, but they can engage in other activities which will result in all the ten people living a better life. It is in this same approach that the subject of robotics needs to be addressed. Whereas it is true that robotics has created massive changes in the workplace, these changes must not purely be looked at from a negative perspective as they might also be positive. The modern concept of robotics has three components; mechanics, electronics, and IT (Siciliano & Khatib, 2016). The first two components can be traced back to the industrial revolution where machines were created to ease human work in factories. The concept of modern robotics, however, envisage IT playing the part played by humans in the older systems, hence the social and moral issues canvassed herein (Marvel, 2017). As electronic engineering was improved, the less human inference was needed but machines still worked alongside humans.
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Loss of Jobs as a Social Impact
Among the common motifs in technological advancements is the loss of labor opportunities in the jobs prevalent as at the time of the advancements. The development of robotics has gradually been whittling a lot of labor opportunities and the next level of advancement is bound to eliminate more labor. For example, there is already a hotel in Japan that is experimenting with using robotic members of staff from signing in to room service (Rajesh, 2015). These major technological developments have, however, eliminated millions of traditional job opportunities when one or two computerized machines are able to do what would have been done by hundreds of human workers. Some of the laid-off workers who are unable to find similar jobs such as technicians and machinist have been left languishing in poverty, which is a major social issue. However, there is another way of looking at the issue based on the fact that robotics create more jobs than it eliminates (Partington, 2018). For example, robotics may eliminate tens of thousands of traditional jobs but it shall also create tens of millions of new technical jobs. Therefore, if the current trend in robotics was slowed down to protect jobs, the same will come at a direct cost of eliminating the many more jobs that would have been created with the advancement of robotics.
The Cost of Education
While robotics does create new working opportunities, these opportunities fall under professional and specialized labor which comes at an exponentially higher cost (Partington, 2018). The social issue of the cost of education is exacerbated by the fact that in the USA, a world leader in robotics, education is extremely expensive with very limited free programs. Before the current level of robotics, a hardworking person of average intelligence could still get artisan jobs and make a decent living. An ordinary working village would have a large collection of technicians and artisans then a lawyer or two, a doctor and a few other professionals that require a graduate degree. As robotics continue to take over the mundane job opportunities including technicians, artisans, switchboard operators, and even hotel attendants, the need for a higher education to make a living is enhanced (Sergeyev et al., 2018). Currently, even those who need to play the role of technicians in a robotics dominated workplace will still need some specialized studies (Partington, 2018). The need for education and the burden of academic fees is thus another major social problem caused by robotics and allied technology. This social problems then lead to other social problems like economic stratification and school loan burdens. To solve this problem, the government needs to invest more in education more so in availing free higher education to those who cannot afford it. Interest-free school loans can also help mitigate the problem.
The Social Concept of Quality Changes Due to Robotics
Interpersonal relationships and human contact is another social issue created through the advent and proliferation of robotics alongside erosion of quality due to the lack of human touch in manufacturing. Whereas industrialization made work easier, it did not eliminate the human touch when it came to the making of products. Items for human use would be made by other humans who would take time to ensure that end users would enjoy the quality of finished goods. However, in modern research and development programs, consideration of quality of products by the end user is secondary to consideration for ease of manufacturing (Sergeyev et al., 2018). Many products have been changed, in most cases, exponentially reducing quality so that they can be manufactured in bulk using robotics. A common form of quality alteration to ensure ease of manufacturing is 3D printing where mediocre versions of normally high-quality gadgets are produced to facilitate manufacturing using robotics (CNN, 2018). Among the objects being developed for 3D printing are motorcycles which are objects that owners take great pride in more so in the USA. Replacing a prized Harley-Davidson hand-tooled motorcycle with a 3D printed version is clearly a major erosion of manufacturing standards. The same erosion of standards can be witnessed in the reduced level of interpersonal relationships in the service industry, a good example being the fully automated hotel in Japan.
The Morality of Robotics
The greatest moral debate about robotics lies in whether it is right to indulge in such technology and how far it should be taken (Bossmann, 2016). The moral issue never arose when the technology was limited to mechanics combined by electronics technology while under the full control of humans under the garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) concept. It is, however, when IT was added to the matrix to create modern robotics complete with an element of automation that the moral issues arose. Among the important moral issues is whether robotics amounts to playing God as they, to some extent, function like humans. The second moral issue is the impact of robotics on human dignity. For example, if humans are working alongside reasoning robots today, as technology continues to advance, there will come a time when humans may be subservient to reasoning robots. The morality of humans being the subject of machines in the workplace or even being at par is an important moral issue (Bossmann, 2016). However, as opposed to the social issues canvassed above, the moral issues pertaining to robotics do not have definitive answers and remain the subject of debate.
Conclusion
There are a lot of social and moral issues pertaining to the application of robotics at the workplace. The social issues can be solved with a change of attitude by the populace and assistance from the government, but the moral issue remains a major concern with no solution in sight hence might to some extent derails robotics-based programs. It must be noted that many issues relating to technology have had moral ambiguities and issues but have eventually been overcome due to the bare necessity of the technology. Based on the above, as the debate on the moral issues continues, the more important and substantive social issues should be canvassed and solutions offered.
References
Bossmann, J. (2016). Top 9 ethical issues in artificial intelligence. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/10/top-10-ethical-issues-in-artificial-intelligence/
CNN. (2018, December 20). Electric 3D-printed motorbike provides a glimpse into the future. Retrieved from https://edition.cnn.com/2018/12/20/motorsport/electric-motorbike-3d-printed-bigrep-nera-spt-intl/index.html
Marvel, J. (2017). Collaborative robotics enabling manufacturing workforce and productivity growth. Retrieved from https://www.nist.gov/blogs/manufacturing-innovation-blog/authors/jeremy-marvel
Partington, R. (2018, September 16). Robots in workplace 'could create double the jobs they destroy'. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/sep/17/robots-in-workplace-could-create-double-the-jobs-they-destroy
Rajesh, M. (2015, August 14). Inside Japan's first robot-staffed hotel. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/aug/14/japan-henn-na-hotel-staffed-by-robots
Sergeyev, A., Alaraje, N., Kuhl, S., Hooker, J., Druschke, V., Kinney, M., & Highum, M. (2018). Revamping robotics education to meet 21st century workforce needs-years 1-2 progress reports. Proceedings of the 2018 Conference for Industry and Education Collaboration
Siciliano, B., & Khatib, O. (Eds.). (2016). Springer handbook of robotics . New York: Springer
