Digital is the new trend now!
When the lockdown initially started, we all thought that it was just for a few weeks. After a while it turned out to be some months, we are about to complete a whole year facing the COVID 19 pandemic. This situation has made permanent changes in the way of working for employees and conducting business. With the changing work life some psychological changes like social distancing too happened. The online transaction and shopping have seen an exponential rise.
Increasing use of Robots
ROBOTS were designed to help humans, with the need to maintain social distancing
among employees their importance further increases. Robots can help by sharing the load of some employees. People who are not physically present in the office can do the work with help of emerging robotic equipment. With the changing perception of people for AI and chatbots, robotics is already booming out in the market. Chatbots integration is a very popular and essential feature we get to see in websites. Some of the basic help that a robot can do is disinfecting the office premises, delivering food, medicines and other essentials. Walmart is using robots to scrub floors. South Korea is using robots to measure temperatures and distribute hand sanitiser. Just name asector, and look at the use of robots in it. Logistics, cleaning, inspection, maintenanceand medical all sectors have utilized the robot technology.
Some permanent effects of Pandemic
There is a saying that if you practice anything for more than 21 days it become a habit. Eventually it’s been a year now. With the changing lifestyles people have accepted the addition of robots in their lives. Even when the pandemic is over somethings are not going to change. People will switch to telepresence wherever possible, will try to travel less and work from home is the new added feature in the companies. It is expected that passenger capacity of transportation system will be decreased permanently to maintain social distancing. By 2021 the robot workers will be in great demand. Fast-food chains like McDonald’s have been testing robots as cooks and servers.
Robots are not here to Replace
Let’s clear a misunderstanding first Robots are here to help not to replace. For example, robots are making the work of doctors easier by assisting them. Several models of robots are created during the pandemic one among them is Moxi, a nurse robot. Healthcare is one the sectors that has utilized the robot technology very well during the pandemic. When people want minimum human contact, robots are there helping the patients. When we see the numbers and data related to robotics, it has skyrocketed. Japan’s production of industrial robots has increased during the pandemic. China has also reported 14percent growth in production of robots. Logistics robots has the maximum share and are expected to double between 2019 to 2021.
With the increased use of robot people fear that there may be increase in unemployment. The fact is requirement of skilled employees will increase to maintain the pace of work with robots. This combination of skilled employee and robot will definitely reduce the production process and will introduce new industrial technology.
Robots in India
India is also adopting the latest trends and accepting the robots in workspaces especially healthcare centers. With the aim to reduce exposure between COVID patients and caretakers, hospitals are using various sorts of robot. Delhi AIIMS has deployed a humanoid robot for floor disinfectant in COVID 19 wards. Fortis Hospitals came up with intelligent robot at the entrance to screen the people entering the hospital premises. Some of the UK based data analytics firm stated that adoption of robots for the treatment of patients in India is predicted to rise as there is lack of personal protective equipment. Cobots that are called collaborative robots is already
in high demand for manufacturing supreme quality face masks in government run Assembly lines. R&D teams are trying to figure out the ways to use Cobots for remote testing of the patients. The market for autonomous mobile robots and autonomous ground vehicles is supposed to reach heights by 2023.
Conclusion
According to the surveys and expert reports, as more organizations re-open the
adoption of the technology is going to escalate. Consumer and employee safety and
wellbeing is the latest focus of the companies, to ensure soundness of laborers the
alignment will be towards automation. The increasing demand of bots, AI and ML
will increase the demand of skilled employees. Robots will see a huge demand in
education sector too in the coming years, as there are some courses that need practical trainings and robots will definitely help students gaining that experience while attending the online classes.
At the end it is dependent on people how they wish to add this innovation in their
lives and on the planet.
