According to TechCrunch, “We are at the cusp of the industrial-robot revolution.” They’re thinking of the new generation of robots with the fine motor skills required to thread needles, the collaborative robots that can work safely alongside humans. They’re thinking about robots that can learn how to do tasks. They’re thinking about the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0.
But they point out that there are still no robots smart enough to do laundry or clean a house. The processes involved in these tasks are too complex.
TechCrunch thinks this will be the year when AI, IoT, and the private corporate space race allow the machines to take over. They’ll outnumber the humans at the factory, certainly, and perhaps do more than that.
Self-driving cars are another harbinger, to TechCrunch, of the rise of the machine. Popular Mechanics featured a true confessions account of a race against a self-driving car. The car won.
There are some things that machines can do better than humans. Humans are tool-builders, clever enough to build tools — from atlatls to ladders to, yes, robots — that help us meet our goals better than we could without those tools.
2016 may be the year when we become so dependent on our machines that we will change the way we live.
Will the machines really take over? Only if we lose control of the power supply.
The feeling that the machines have the upper hand? That’s nothing new. When you get that feeling about your Rexroth electric motion control, call us. We’re specialists, with decades of experience with both legacy and new Rexroth electric motion control. We offer phone support, field support, factory repair, and emergency replacement components — and we have a charter plane handy if you need us really fast.
Call us now at 479-422-0390, or put our number into your phone so you’ll be able to call us quickly when you need us.