How robots replace humans

Main article: Robots (robotics)

How robots are turning the middle class into a precariat

• Precariate

Robots in medicine

• Robots in medicine

Robots in restaurants

• Robots in restaurants

Combat robots

• Combat robots and drones

2024

A robot is presented that unloads a thousand boxes per hour

In early March 2024, Anyware Robotics introduced a system called Pixmo for automated unloading of containers and semi-trailers. The new solution is expected to help reduce the burden on workers and increase the level of security when performing various tasks. Read more here.

Japan's biggest retailer 7-Eleven opens cashier-free stores on smartphone due to labor shortage

In early February 2024, it became known that 7-Eleven, the operator of Japan's largest chain of small stores, was opening automated points of sale without cashiers. This project is intended to partially solve the problem of labor shortages in the country. Read more here.

2023

In South Korea, robots began to teach schoolchildren English

At the end of November 2023, the Seoul Education Authority announced that robotic tutors would appear in South Korean primary and secondary schools to help students learn English. We are talking about the use of specially designed "electronic teachers" based on artificial intelligence. Read more here.

The world's first robot tattoo parlor has opened

On October 12, 2023, Austin-based American startup Blackdot announced the opening of the world's first automated tattoo salon. The drawings on the skin are performed by a high-precision robotic installation. Read more here.

Robotic guards appeared in American schools

In early July 2023, it became known that American schools began to use artificial intelligence-based security robots to patrol the territory, as well as increase the overall level of security. We are talking about the development of Team 1st Technologies. Read more here.

The world's first humanoid robot pilot has been created

In early August 2023, specialists from the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) presented the world's first humanoid robot pilot. A machine called Pibot is able to sit in the pilot's seat, control the steering wheel and press buttons. In addition, the robot, using artificial intelligence tools, remembers flight maps and instructions in case of emergency situations. Read more here.

Robots began to wash windows on skyscrapers. Video

In mid-August 2023, it became known that Skyline Robotics began using its Ozmo robotic system to wash windows on skyscrapers in Tel Aviv and New York. Read more here.

In Russia, presented robots that clean power lines from snow and find problems

Specialists of the St. Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation (GUAP) have developed a system for protecting and maintaining power lines (power lines) using small robots capable of moving on wires. The university spoke about the new technology in August 2023. Read more here.

Robots began conducting orchestras

On June 30, 2023, the EveR 6 robot conducted the National Orchestra of Korea. The audience was attended by 950 spectators. Read more here.

Technology for teaching robots about video at home has been developed

In mid-June 2023, a team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University unveiled the Visual-Robotics Bridge (VRB) model to train robots on household chores such as phone handsets, box openings, and more here.

Robot gardener who looks after garden better than professional goes on sale

At the end of May 2023, American specialists from the University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) presented a specialized robotic system called AlphaGarden, designed to care for plants. Experiments have shown that in some situations the device does its tasks even better than human gardeners. Read more here.

A robot for mounting roofing tiles is presented

On March 2, 2023, Renovate Robotics introduced a robot for roofing, including bitumen. In addition, the technology can be used to mount solar panels. Read more here.

2022

A retail store with avatar cashiers and barking robots has opened in Japan

At the end of November 2022, the Lawson chain opened the first store in Japan with remote cashiers. For buyers, they look like avatars on display screens. The new store is also unusual in that at the entrance, guests are greeted by robocalls. They will follow the actions of buyers and pay their attention to this or that position. Read more here.

San Francisco police allow robots to be used to eliminate criminals

On November 24, 2022, it became known that the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) announced that the robots it used would be able to eliminate criminals. The corresponding permission has been issued. Read more here.

Robot that probes sewer for leaks and blockages created

On November 16, 2022, it became known that British researchers from the University of Leeds developed a tiny robot capable of examining various pipelines, including sewer networks, and collecting data on problem places - for example, blockages and leaks. Read more here.

A hardware robot artist was presented in St. Petersburg for the restoration and copying of paintings

At the end of October 2022, LETI presented a hardware robot artist at St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University, which, according to the developers, can be used to restore and copy paintings of any complexity. Read more here.

Modular garden robot that mows grass, removes snow and deflates leaves introduced

In mid-September 2022, a modular robot Yarbo is presented, which can take care of both grass and snow, as well as blow away dead leaves and other garbage. Read more here.

The first robot for manicure presented

In early September 2022, the first manicure robot appeared in the United States. To use its services, you need to pay eight dollars, choose the color of the varnish and after a few minutes the manicure is ready. Read more here.

Robots have appeared in Japanese supermarkets that place goods on shelves and monitor their availability

In mid-August 2022, it became known about the appearance in FamilyMart stores in Japan of TX SCARA obots, which were created by Telexistence. They will be engaged in replenishing goods on shelves and monitoring their availability. Read more here.

2021

Creating a robot prosecutor

Chinese experts announced the creation of the world's first robotic prosecutor using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to bring charges in criminal cases. This became known on December 27, 2021. Read more here.

Sales of a robot that builds a house from bricks have begun

On November 26, 2021, the Australian robotic technology company Fastbrick Robotics (FBR) announced the raising of $10 million to organize mass sales of its Hadrian X robots, which can quickly and accurately build brick structures. Read more here.

Singapore's high streets began patrolling robot cops

In early September 2021, it became known that robots began to be used in Singapore to patrol public places and suppress bad social behavior. The robots were created by the Home Team Science and Technology Agency under the country's Ministry of the Interior. Read more here.

Amazon started using robots carrying objects without human intervention

In mid-June 2021, Amazon unveiled four autonomous robots that are designed to move items without human intervention. Robots are designed to improve the safety of employees and reduce their workload. Read more here.

Walmart has warehouses where robots process online orders

At the end of January 2021, Walmart announced the launch of small warehouses with robots located at the company's stores. The innovation should help with the processing of online pickup and delivery orders amid the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Read more here.

Samsung unveils home robot Bot Handy that cleans laundry, loads dishwasher and pours wine

As part of the CES 2021 exhibition in January, a presentation was held at home, robot Samsung Bot Handy which removes underwear, loads a dishwasher and pours wine. The functionality of the device is not limited to this, the South Korean manufacturer notes. More. here

2020

Moley Kitchen Kitchen Launch

In early December 2020, London-based robotics company Moley Robotics unveiled the world's first fully automated kitchen, estimated at $330,000. This kitchen was developed by Russian scientist and mathematician and computer scientist Mark Oleinik and will eventually be able to cook more than 5,000 meals from scratch. Read more here.

"Chocolate girl" began to use robot waiters from Pudu Robotics

On October 30, 2020, Shokoladnitsa began using robot waiters in two coffee shops in Moscow. The company received BellaBot and PuduBot robots manufactured by the Chinese Pudu Robotics.

Pumpkii Pet Robot, the world's first modular pet entertainment robot, is announced

In mid-August 2020, the market for robots that should entertain pets while their owners are at work was replenished with the Pumpkii Pet Robot model. It has a modular design that allows the device to perform many functions. The developers call their product the first in the world of its kind. Read more here.

The emergence of robots that serve power lines in the Chinese city

In mid-July 2020, dozens of robots serving power lines appeared in the North Chinese municipality of Tianjin. They replaced people in dangerous jobs related to high-voltage lines. Read more here.

Announcement of a robot independently winding fiber on a power line

On July 16, 2020, it became known about the release of a robot created by Facebook and ULC Robotics. The development can independently climb the power line supports and, overcoming various obstacles, wind fiber on power lines. It is assumed that the robot will reduce the cost of connecting to the Internet by 5 times. Read more here.

For the first time put a robot on the main role in the film

On June 24, 2020, when the world continues to fight the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, it became known about the emergence of a unique robotic actress with immunity to COVID-19. A robot named Erica, the creation of Japanese developers, will become the main character of a science fiction film under the short name B. The budget of the film is estimated at $70 million. This is the first time that a robot was first cast in the main role in the film. Read more here.

McKinsey: In the next 10 years, robots will take 50 million jobs from Europeans

On June 22, 20202, it became known that according to the forecast of the analytical company McKinsey, by 2030 automation from an auxiliary tool will turn into a serious competitor to man in Europe, fulfilling a significant part of work tasks. More than 90 million workers across Europe (about 40% of the total working-age population) over the next ten years will be forced to learn new skills so as not to lose their jobs. This is the conclusion reached by McKinsey analysts, according to whom the ongoing process of widespread automation threatens 51 million jobs in the region. The authors of the study believe that almost the entire able-bodied population of Europe will face certain changes due to the continuous development of technologies and their penetration into all spheres of human activity. However, widespread automation does not mean that millions of people will certainly be out of work, as rising employment in other sectors will offset overall job losses.

The shortage of personnel in these sectors in 2030 may reach 6 million man-places. As technology evolves, it will be difficult for employers to find enough skilled workers to take the jobs that are being created. This is especially true for metropolitan areas such as London or Paris, where a large number of vacancies will be concentrated, but too few residents will meet the requirements of employers. Less than 60% of new jobs will be employed in areas of dynamic growth, the report said.

McKinsey report author Susan Lund notes that advanced training and retraining of employees in the coming years will become very important for many enterprises in different industry areas. The development of this trend is becoming faster due to the coronavirus pandemic. The source believes that the workers most vulnerable to coronavirus infection are at greatest risk of automation. We are talking about three areas - sales and customer service, provision of catering services, as well as construction.

"Our report shows that job changes in Europe tend to be a transition from one profession whose numbers are declining, such as a retail cashier, to another disappearing profession. The important thing is that representatives of endangered professions, threatened by automation, seek to gain experience that will be in demand in prosperous professions. Indeed, there is a so-called "adjacency matrix" that can help career advancement, " 'noted Susan Lund, author of the McKinsey report'

So what are these thriving professions? Generally speaking, manufacturing and agriculture lose weight in favor of services, which is proof of a long-established trend. McKinsey analysts predict that the biggest growth will be in health and social work, followed by professional, scientific and technical services as well as education. Lund believes that this is good news: jobs will transform and people, instead of boring routine work, will perform more interesting tasks and move on to more active interpersonal interaction.

If she had been approached for advice by a 15-year-old girl to find out what the most important skills she needed to master at school and university, Lund would have advised her to choose a STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) curriculum, she said. But not only.

"People have some key skills that only they have, due to which they perform certain types of work much better than machines. This will become a personnel resource for many years. In particular, workers with social, emotional and cognitive skills will be more appreciated in the future. Possessing them means the ability to work well with others, train, train, manage, deal with problems and think critically, " 'noted Susan Lund, author of the McKinsey report'

Demand for socio-emotional skills will increase by a third, the report said. This is because human workers will have to do work that machines cannot cope with and that requires the ability to interact, care, educate, and also manage other people.

However, this is not just about the workers of the future. As of June 2020, many work in workplaces that will also be affected by automation. According to McKinsey's forecast, about 22% of work tasks in the EU can be automated by 2030. To find their place in the robot-filled world and not get lost in new types of work, employees will need skills that they do not have. To acquire them, workers will have to learn new skills throughout their careers. Thus, the concept of lifelong learning will gain popularity. Employers will have to introduce retraining programs for their staff to work in an automated workplace.

Along with this, there may be new opportunities for a smoother transition to automation. For example, robotics manufacturer Universal Robots is introducing "cobots" (robots for collaboration) at enterprises, which are designed to simplify automation for employees. The company has developed online courses that allow workers without an engineering degree to program a "kobota" in just an hour and a half. According to Universal Robots, this training method refutes the idea that automation takes away work from people and gives employees the tools to better control their daily activities. Lund is sure that people will easily acquire new skills, especially since they already have them.

"In recent years, professional skills have evolved in many professions. The advent of digital technology has only accelerated this process. As trains in Europe became automated, subway drivers became route optimizers. In many mines, miners no longer descend into the face - cars are engaged in coal mining, while the miners themselves operate electronic equipment. And so on. Humans and robots are increasingly working side by side, " 'noted Susan Lund, author of the McKinsey report'

This, according to the researchers, gives reason to believe that robots are not going to take away work from humans, moreover, they can be considered as electronic colleagues.^[1]

Moscow rescuers have a robot diver

On June 15, 2020, it became known that the Moscow search and rescue service received new equipment, including a controlled robot diver. They intend to use it in saving people in urban reservoirs. It is capable of diving to a depth of 200 meters. Read more here.

Due to robotization during a pandemic in Britain, they propose the transition to a one-day working week

In early May 2020, many media outlets in the UK and the United States began to report the danger of job losses by people due to the fact that enterprises during the COVID-19 coronavirus epidemic decided to massively switch to automation of production.

The pandemic changes the preferences of people who, in order to avoid danger, have to keep social distance and communicate less. Consumers begin to use remote services as much as possible: online stores, online gas stations, ordering food. Employees are also advised to stay away from each other, observe safety measures. Many switched to remote work.

People usually say that they need a human element in their interactions, but Covid-19 will change consumer preferences and really open up new opportunities for automation Martin Ford, futurist

Large and small companies are expanding the use of robots to increase social distance and reduce the number of employees who must physically come to work. Robots are also used to perform roles that employees cannot perform from home.

, the Walmart USA largest at the retailer, uses robots to wash floors. Robots in South Korea have been used to measure temperature and distribute hand sanitizer.

Given the views of health experts warning that social distancing measures could last until 2021, working robots will become increasingly in demand.

Companies that produce cleaning products and disinfectants are growing rapidly. UVD Robots, a Danish manufacturer of ultraviolet disinfection robots, has sent hundreds of its machines to hospitals in China and Europe.

Grocery stores and restaurants offering food at home also use these machines. As new businesses open, experts say we can expect the technology to be further rolled out - you can see robots cleaning up your schools or offices.

Customers now care more about their safety as well as the safety and health of workers. Moving toward automation can make them all healthier, and customers will be willing to pay for such technology. Blake Morgan, author of "Client of the Future"

In warehouses like Amazon and Walmart, robots have been used to improve efficiency before. As a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, both companies are seeking to increase the use of robots for sorting, delivery and packaging. This could reduce complaints from warehouse workers who say they cannot distance themselves from their colleagues in the current environment. But some will be out of work, according to technical experts.

The way out, which can be found from this situation, was suggested by scientists from the UK. Sociologists argue that thanks to automation, it is possible to reduce the working week to one day without raising the unemployment rate. Scientists say that you cannot completely switch to remote work or refuse to work at all. The study found that the risk of mental health problems is reduced by 30 per cent if, people are in the workplace for eight hours a week.

{{quote 'author = Brendan Burchell is a sociologist at the University of Cambridge|We have effective dosage guides for everything from vitamin C to hours of sleep to help us feel better, but this is the first time a question has been asked about paid work. We know that unemployment often damages people's well-being, negatively affecting personality, status, use of time and a sense of collective purpose. We now have an idea of how much paid work it takes to benefit psychosocially from the job, which is very little.}}

In Britain, dozens of robot couriers deliver hundreds of thousands of orders

By the end of April 2020, hundreds of thousands of orders in Britain began to be delivered by courier robots. Read more here.

In Ukraine, created a robot policeman who can catch criminals and release tear gas

In April 2020, Infocom LTD represented a police  officer with a setcomet intended for use by the police or peacekeeping forces to combat aggressive demonstrators and hooligans. The novelty was created on the basis of the Scorpion robotic platform, which the Ukrainian company, which is part of the League of Defense Enterprises, developed independently. Read more here.

Miso Robotics unveils kitchen robots for restaurants

In early April 2020, Miso Robotics introduced kitchen robots for fast food restaurants that are supposed to automate industrial kitchens. The decline in business activity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic negatively affects the service segment, but the company is confident that robots will help reduce costs and at the same time increase the efficiency of restaurants. Read more here.

Robots began patrolling the streets during quarantine

In early April 2020, a police robot developed by Enova Robotics began to patrol the streets in Tunisia. A nationwide quarantine has been rolled out in the country and everyone should stay in their homes, but some people should go to work or go out to buy essentials. Robots observe compliance with quarantine rules and, having found a person on deserted streets, approach him and ask what is the matter. A stopped person must show their ID and other documents on the robot's camera so that police officers monitoring them can check them. Read more here.

Chinese mass retailers launch robot couriers to deliver orders

At the end of February 2020, Chinese retailers began to massively launch order delivery robots to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Meituan Dianping, which initially launched a "contactless delivery" initiative across China, has already started using autonomous vehicles to supply products in Beijing's Shunyi district and plans to launch similar robot delivery services elsewhere in the capital. The company began testing robots and drones for delivery in 2019, but this is the first time autonomous delivery vehicles have been deployed on public roads. The autonomous robot is capable of carrying up to 100 kg of goods and delivering three to five orders per trip.

The company's contactless delivery initiatives allow customers not to be afraid of contact with couriers who may be carriers of the coronavirus. The outbreak of the virus unexpectedly became a help for the very rapid development of unmanned delivery projects, although they existed before the epidemic. Other platforms with unmanned delivery functions have also announced the use of new robots for additional deliveries, especially in quarantine zones.

Internet retailer JD.com has begun using autonomous vehicles to deliver medicines and groceries in Wuhan, which has been quarantined as the epicenter of the current coronavirus outbreak. The local hospital receives 10 to 20 orders daily, and 50% to 70% of them are delivered by robots.

The Ele.me food delivery service also said it had deployed a robotic delivery service to the rooms of the quarantined hotel. This platform has been experimenting with drones and robots for food delivery for several years.^[2]

Robots began to feed people

At the end of January 2020, a video appeared showing a robot called Little Peanut - it delivers food to people in quarantine due to the risk of contracting coronavirus. Read more here.

Robots began to sort all kinds of goods as well as humans

At the end of January 2020, the startup Covariant introduced a robotic manipulator capable of sorting all kinds of goods no worse than people. This equipment was first implemented by Knapp, a company specializing in warehouse logistics technologies. Read more here.

2019

Russia has created a robot to work with radioactive waste

On December 9, 2019, it became known about the creation of the, Russia robot which is intended to work with radioactive waste. This is a project. NPO "Android Technology" More. here

China trains courier robots moving underground

In late November 2019, the Chinese corporation JD.com announced that it was developing a concept for underground delivery systems that could be included in smart cities during the planning stage, as well as a system of polite ground robots. These plans were announced by the head of research JD.com Hui Cheng (Hui Cheng) at the East Tech West conference, which was held in the Nansha district of Guangzhou (China). Read more here.

How companies can adapt employees to robots

In September 2019, the consulting company McKinsey published a study on labor organization at enterprises in which the introduction of robots and other automated technologies is growing.

According to experts, the use of robotic tools in factories and factories is impossible without retraining the manpower. The fact is that workers often lack knowledge and skills to work together with robots. To address this issue, McKinsey recommends that businesses:

• identify the missing knowledge and skills that employees need to perform their usual functions;
• predict customer preferences and form a plan in this regard that will allow the company to meet demand in the future and follow new trends in the market;
• in accordance with the development of technology, it is necessary to propose the organization of production in such a way that it is possible to speed up the execution of work processes without compromising quality.

McKinsey conducted a study that showed that 82% of American companies with revenues of $100 million are confident in the need to retrain personnel to preserve jobs and increase the competitiveness of personnel. In this regard, analysts give companies the following advice.

1. Identify the skills of employees who will help them work in automation conditions.

This may require a personnel management strategy designed with personnel retraining in mind.

The competencies of specialists in the future may differ in two areas: hard skills (to make complex calculations and work with high-tech devices) and soft skills (to easily adapt to changes, use feedback channels to inform management about successes or failures in production).

2. Analysis of the need to transform production.

Improper organization of production can very negatively affect the company's ability to work effectively in the market and withstand competition. Experts recommend understanding as quickly as possible whether the enterprise needs a transformation of production, and immediately proceed with it if the answer is yes.

3. Assessment of opportunities in retraining specialists

Retraining staff during mass robotization of enterprises can be a difficult task, so it needs to pay increased attention. Companies need to determine what the retraining process should be: perhaps there will be enough advanced training courses within the company with the participation of invited specialists or internships, or programs will be required in specialized educational institutions, or they cannot do without attracting new employees.

Another important task is to assess the effectiveness of the retraining strategy, its scale, the timing of implementation and the funds that will be required.

Finally, according to McKinsey experts, managers need to adequately assess the stage at which the company is located in terms of developing the skills of its employees. This will allow you to make the right decisions and get the most out of changes in personnel strategy and the use of robots in production.

McKinsey warns that by 2030, 25% of US jobs will be at "high risk" of automation, and another 36% will be at average risk. But the market is not waiting for a sudden replacement of robots over humans, but "a period of constant and, possibly, accelerated changes in labor organization." Lifelong retraining is the only way to survive professionally, analysts say.^[3]

Huawei names four kinds of robots that will become family members

In August 2019, Huawei released a study by Global Industry Vision (GAVE), in which it predicts ways to develop technologies and industries. The report lists four types of robots that the company believes could become family members.

Robots butlers

They can perform household tasks such as folding clothes, vacuuming and making coffee. Such robots in different forms are used in 200 million homes around the world by August 2019, Huawei said.

Robots partners

They can be divided into three categories depending on the tasks: training, treatment and friendship. For example, such robots began to be used to interact with children with autism.

Robots nurses

They can constantly be with patients with limited mobility and promptly notify relatives and the hospital if the patient has a heart attack. To do this, robots collect data from sensors installed on a person and in different parts of the house.

Bionic robots

They will be presented in three forms: exoskeletons, prostheses and additional devices. According to Huawei forecasts, the global exoskeleton market will reach $2 billion by 2025.

According to Huawei experts, advances in materials science, artificial intelligence and network technology contribute to the spread of robotics for various home and personal needs. The penetration rate of domestic robots is expected to reach 14% by 2025.

By this time, robots will increasingly be used in the industrial sector: there will be 103 robots per 10 thousand employees. Intelligent automation tools that have already transformed many industries will solve more dangerous, repetitive and high-precision tasks for the benefit of humans, increasing security and productivity.^[4]

Police robots appeared on the roads. They are looking for wanted people, fining drivers and pedestrians

In August 2019, futuristic robot policemen equipped with the latest artificial intelligence and facial recognition technologies appeared in Handan City, Hebei Province of China. One of the three robots specializes in street patrolling, the second in traffic accidents, and the third serves as an information bureau.

Equipped with an automatic navigation system, the patrol robot can identify the license plates of the car, as well as take a picture of the vehicle. He is also able to verbally warn offenders who cross the road in the wrong place.

The second robot is called a traffic consultant. It must provide information to the public, answering questions from visitors to the bureau that deals with road accidents. In addition, it automatically reports any security threats or suspects to the police.

Although the three robots serve different purposes, they all use the same facial recognition software installed in the cameras. This robot has access to a database that allows you to recognize wanted persons. When resisting a criminal, this robot can even help police officers during an arrest.

The latest robot - the smallest of the three - helps police officers maintain order at the scene. Its activities, as in previous cases, are controlled by police officers and can be adjusted if necessary.

This is not the first attempt by the Chinese authorities to deploy a robot police system in the country. In 2016, AnBot, a police robot specializing in security, began conducting rounds at Shenzhen airport, and in 2017, the E-Patrol Sheriff robot began patrolling the streets.

^[5]

Demand for cashiers in Russia collapsed due to robots

In early August 2019, it became known about a tangible drop in demand for cashiers Russia due to implementation. In robots the first half of the year, the number of such vacancies decreased by 17.7% compared to January-June 2018 and amounted to 77.95 thousand, according to the data of the recruiting service. HeadHunter

SuperJob In confirmed this trend: for example, in July 2019, almost 3 thousand vacancies of cashiers in cities with a population of one million and small towns were posted on the site, which is almost half as much as in July 2018.

SuperJob spokesman Sergei Svetochenko attributes such a drop to the fact that at the beginning of 2018 retailers actively developed chains and recruited employees, and by August 2019 they had closed most positions. In addition, the fall in demand for the work of cashiers  in the retail and fast food segments is due to the development of self-service cash desks.

This is a global trend. For example, in the American Walmart, customers simply type the goods into the basket and leave the store, and the purchase amount is debited from the account automatically using special sensors. Most likely, we will see a further drop in demand for cashiers, but this fall will be moderate, - said Svetochenko.

However, representatives of the largest retailers claim that the introduction of automatic machines and self-service cash desks has not yet affected the number of employees in retail outlets, RBC reports.

X5 Group, Magnit and Auchan began introducing the first self-service ticket offices in Russia back in 2009, and the Moscow Metro - ticket machines. Fast food chains (McDonalds, KFC, Burger King) have been developing self-service checkouts since 2013.

In the summer of 2019, the app for facilitating self-service in stores launched. Yandex.Market The first partner of the service within the framework of this project was. "Alphabet of Taste"^[6]

IIDF: robots will destroy 6 million jobs in Russia

In mid-July 2019, Kirill Varlamov, director of the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF),  spoke about which professions, in his opinion, will disappear and how many people may lose their jobs due to the widespread use of robots.

Varlamov predicts that within 10 years about 90% of people's work will be automated, and 6 million jobs will disappear due to robotization.

The head of the IIDF believes that professions involving low-skilled intellectual activity will partially or completely disappear: lawyers, accountants, and personnel have such work processes.

In these areas, a lot will be reduced, this is already happening now. There will remain people who are engaged in organizing, planning, managing robots, but the technical workflow itself will disappear, - said Kirill Varlamov in a conversation with RIA Novosti.

At the same time, the released personnel will not be able to be fully involved in the new conditions, since they do not have enough skills and competencies. According to Varlamov, "the unemployed will become practically inoperable," since they will not have enough competencies and skills.

Moreover, in parallel, the process of digitalization of industries will be replaced by foreign services that will come to Russia, the head of the IIDF noted. The development of robotization leads to the emergence of new professions, but not in Russia, he stressed.

If earlier we bought tickets from a transagency, standing in queues, now we buy tickets online. And here the main question is - where are these jobs? The services we use are predominantly foreign. We, using them here, create jobs there. In fact, there is not a local redrawing of jobs, but their creation abroad, "Varlamov added.[7]

Trading robots that understand the statements of central banks have earned on the exchanges

At the end of June 2019 robots , companies appeared on the exchanges Prattle that understand the statements of central bank governors. In a matter of seconds, machines are able to process vague political statements and offer a forecast based on them. People who develop and use them say they are artificial intelligence more likely to produce the right predictions than the wrong ones. More. here

A robot is presented that climbs power lines and fixes problems

In late May 2019, Canadian energy company Hydro-Quebec developed the LineRanger robot, which climbs power lines and fixes problems. Such a robot can create serious competition for aerial drones, which are already used to test high-voltage power lines. Read more here.

IMF: because of robots, women will lose their jobs in the first place

In May 2019, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a study in which it reported that due to robotization, women risk losing their jobs in the first place, since they are more likely than men to perform routine tasks.

According to IMF experts, men are less likely to solve problems that do not require additional training, and more often do work in which analytical and communication skills are needed, as well as physical labor. In such circumstances, women are more vulnerable to the massive introduction of technology into human workflows.

The study covers 28 countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), as well as Cyprus and Singapore. This survey was not conducted in Russia - PIAAC (Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies), which identifies the key competencies of people aged 16 to 65 years, their application at work and in everyday life.

According to the information collected, the likelihood of a woman being fired from her job, which the robot is capable of doing, is approximately 40%. In the case of men, this figure is estimated at 38%.

The degree of risk varies significantly depending on the country. For example, in Sweden and Finland, the risks are still higher in men than in women. In addition, this indicator is influenced by the structure of production in the country: whether industry dominates GDP, as well as the level of penetration of technology into the labor market.

If we take the professions that are most threatened with extinction due to the use of artificial intelligence, then here the risk of losing their jobs by women is about 1.2 times greater compared to men. In this category, 11% of women and 9% of men face at least a 70 percent chance of labor automation. Report Link

First lawsuit filed in history for robot's poor performance

In early May 2019, for the first time in history, a lawsuit was filed in connection with investment losses caused by a robot. Hong Kong tycoon Samathur Li Kin-kan went to court - he filed a lawsuit against Raffaele Costa, a seller who convinced Li Kin-kan to entrust part of his fortune to a supercomputer. Read more here.

Robot cop checking documents from drivers and issuing fines

In early May 2019, research company SRI International introduced a police robot that is capable of checking drivers' documents and issuing fines. Read more here.

Robots become driving instructors

At the end of April 2019, the Chinese company Beijing Yi Jia Jia Technology introduced an AI-based driving instructor called RoboCoach and has already introduced it to driving schools. Read more here.

Robots have started picking apples for export around the world

In March 2019, fruit and vegetable company T&G Global announced the start of using robots to harvest apples. To do this, an agreement was concluded with the California startup Absurd Robotics. Read more here.

Robot security guard in a residential complex

At the end of March 2019, a security robot appeared in a residential building in Beijing, patrolling the neighborhood at night. Its developers call their product the first of its kind - it combines face recognition functions, infrared thermal imagers and an interface for communicating with people. Read more here.

JPMorgan and Citigroup replace traders with robots

In mid-March 2019, Citigroup and JPMorgan dissolved teams working exclusively with corporate bonds in small deals known as the "incomplete lot." They were replaced by robots.

The dismissed specialists dealt mainly with retail customers. The profits from these deals were too small to form individual teams, and now computational algorithms will be involved in trading these bonds.

At Citi, the responsibilities of eight traders were incorporated into the bond e-trading platform. At JPMorgan, a team of fewer than five people who traded corporate bonds was taken over by a larger loan group. The management decided that thanks to the new technologies, the bank will still be able to serve customers, dismissed the team and directed the released funds to the development of electronic trading infrastructure. However, most traders on the dissolved team still work for JPMorgan. A spokesman for the bank declined to comment further.

The moves come as the big ones are banks trying to reduce costs and cut unprofitable business lines, especially in trading departments. JPMorgan and Citi are believed to have been the last dealers with separate teams for "incomplete lot" deals. If a financial institution is unable to make a large volume of small transactions, the profit margins are too small to support a large human team. And

it is known that from 75% to 80% of transactions with bonds worth less than $1 million are processed by machines. Experts believe that this share will only grow.

Although most algorithms run on bonds worth less than $1 million, machines are becoming more advanced. Experts believe that some dealers already have algorithms with permission to participate in transactions worth up to $2 million. Algorithms are completely excluded from operation only at the mark of $5 million.^[8]

How robots leave millions of Chinese out of work

Between 2015 and 2017, companies in the country cut an average of 30% to 40% of jobs due to the introduction of automation and robots, according to the China State Research Institute China Development Research Foundation. Such data in February 2019 was published by the South China Morning Post in an article on the problem of replacing people with machines.

This problem promises to become even more acute, given the growing penetration of robots in the manufacturing sector, which employs about 100 million Chinese and accounts for about 30% of the country's GDP (data from the National Bureau of Statistics for the first three quarters of 2018).

Chinese authorities, unlike Western ones, do not call for restrained replacement of personnel with robotic mechanisms and, by contrast, invest huge funds in the automation of cities and industrial robots. Thus, the city of Dongguan in Guangdong province in 2018 alone allocated $56.8 million for the transformation of factories. In January 2019, the mayor of Xiao Yafei said that over the previous five years, Dongguan had reduced its labor force by 280 thousand people, starting to use 91 thousand robots.

In a conversation with the South China Morning Post, 34-year-old Xia Xiaobo said that he had to quit the electronics plant in Dongguani after the introduction of robots. Xia worked 10 hours a day, responsible for the functioning of 104 machines on the 13 of production lines, but only two people controlled the work of the lines themselves - there were fewer people at the facilities.

Large investments  in visceral intelligence and robotics are also observed in many other industrial areas of the PRC, including Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

The company, which Foxconn smartphones Apple makes most of it in Chinese factories, plans to fully automate about 30% of production by 2020. In the period from 2012 to 2016, the company has already reduced more than 400 thousand jobs, replacing them with tens of thousands of robots.^[9]

Replacing 120 robots with people in a hotel

In January 2019, it became known that the Henn-na hotel in the Japanese city of Sasebo in Nagasaki Prefecture removed half of the robots because they not only did not cope well with their duties, but also created additional work for the staff. Read more here.

Airport parking robots

In January 2019, it became known about the use of parking robots at airports. They have already found use in the air harbors of Paris, Lyon and Dusseldorf, and from August 2019 will be tested for the first time in Britain. Read more here.

2018

Drywall-mounting construction robot introduced

At the end of September 2018, the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) demonstrated a robot builder HPR-5P. Among other functions, it recognizes plasterboard sheets, picks them up and nails them accurately to the wall using self-screws. Read more here.

Robots replace English teachers in schools: Japan launches AI rollout

In August 2018, it became known about the plans of the Ministry of Education of Japan to launch a pilot program in 2019, under which English-speaking robots with artificial intelligence will be introduced in the country's schools. According to the calculations of the Japanese authorities, AI robots will help solve the problem of lack of teaching personnel and allow students to improve their speaking and writing skills in English.

It is not easy for Japanese schools to find qualified teachers to teach English, as this requires additional funds, which are often not available. The experience of some primary and secondary schools already using AI robots has shown that modern technology can help increase the level of teaching English.

According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), about 250 million yen (about $227 thousand) is planned for the project. It is assumed that robotic English teachers will appear in about 500 classes in the country.

AI robots already on the market have a variety of functions. For example, they can follow the correctness of the English pronunciation in each student, which is difficult for ordinary teachers, "an official in charge of international education told the publication, who asked not to disclose his name.[10]

According to the AFP interlocutor, in addition to AI robots, it is also planned to use tablets with specialized applications and conduct online classes with native speakers to improve the quality of teaching English in the country.

It is worth noting that these measures are being taken in anticipation of the upcoming changes in the national education program of Japan in two years. Currently, learning English is mandatory for students in Japanese schools between the ages of 12 and 15. From 2020, English should become a compulsory subject from primary school - children will learn it from the age of 10.

Disney robot to replace stuntmen in movies

In early July 2018, the company Disney presented, robot Stuntronics which, according to the developers, will be able to replace stuntmen who duplicate actors in dangerous episodes during the filming of films. More. here

Replacing high-paying employees with robots at Amazon

In June 2018, it became known that Amazon began replacing its highly paid employees with robots. Previously, automation in the company concerned only manual labor in warehouses and distribution centers. Read more here.

A robot window cleaner for commercial buildings has been created. Intel will make it massive

In May 2018, Australian Oliver Nicholls won the International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) competition organized by Intel, which was held in Pittsburgh, America. The award was presented for the creation of a robot for washing the windows of high-rise buildings. In addition to the cash prize, the winner got the opportunity to make his project massive thanks to Intel support.

At Intel ISEF, Oliver Nichols showed a prototype automated window cleaner for commercial buildings. The robot is equipped with eight rotary rotors installed in a 4 x 2 configuration and is attached to a winch on the roof of the building. Using lifting mechanisms, the robot moves up and down and right to left. When reaching the dirty glass, it supplies cleaning agents through the spray nozzle, after which the rotating gaskets wipe the foam. 

According to the developer, the system can work at wind speeds up to 45 km/h and is able to replace existing window cleaners, the cost of which can reach $11 thousand for each order, if we are talking about a large glass building. Oliver Nichols says the cost of his robot is about $2,300.

In addition to money savings, the advantage of an automatic glass cleaner is that you do not need to carry out traumatic work for people. 

Oliver Nichols received a grant from Intel in the amount of $75 thousand. In addition, the company will help developers implement the idea at the commercial level

The Intel ISEF World Science and Engineering Competition is held annually. Its goal is to identify and support talented young scientists, develop research in the field of applied and basic sciences, as well as technical creativity. This competition constantly gathers more than two thousand participants from 65 countries of the world.^[11]

Robots help reduce herbicide use

In Europe and the United States, they began to use new agricultural robots that, using AI technologies, are able to recognize weeds and selectively destroy them. The introduction of such robotic systems will dramatically reduce the use of herbicides and reduce the need for genetically modified cultures resistant to chemicals, Reuters reported on May 22, 2018.

In Switzerland, a propeller robot developed by Ecorobotix is being tested in sugar beet fields. The solar-powered system looks like a table on wheels. Moving around the field, the robot uses a camera to scan shoots, identify weed grass among them and spray it with a small dose of herbicides.

The Swiss developer assures that thanks to a selective approach, his robot propeller is able to reduce the use of herbicides in farms by 20 times. The company says that in the near future they will conclude an agreement with investors on the allocation of funding. The Ecorobotix robotic system is planned to enter the mass market in 2019.

Meanwhile, in the US, US startup Blue River, acquired by agricultural machinery maker Deere & Company in 2017, is testing its weed control plant called See & Spray. The principle of operation is the same as that of the Swiss system - weed recognition and their point treatment with a herbicide, but the American installation moves not independently, but using a tractor. Blue River estimates that its technology can reduce the use of herbicides by 90%.

The See & Spray system has already been tested in cotton fields and the company plans to test on other crops such as soybeans. The installation is expected to be available on the market in 4-5 years.

Other companies are working on similar selective herbicide treatment systems, such as Germany's Robert Bosch and Denmark's Agrointelli. In an interview with the agency, Richard Lightbound, a representative of the Robo Global robotic exchange fund, said that point treatment with herbicides using robots will not only be in great demand among farmers, but at some stage it may become mandatory.^[12]

Robots start replacing builders at age

In Japan, the trend of replacing builders of age with robots is gaining momentum. However, creating such automated solutions is not easy.

According to Futurism in a publication dated April 25, 2018, people over 65 account for more than a quarter of the Japanese population and it is expected that over the next 40 years this figure will grow to 40%. This is a big problem for industries that will have to look for replacements for workers retiring. In construction, things are perhaps the worst, since here automation is not developing as quickly as in other areas.

According to Bloomberg, by April 2018, industrial robots plants are used in more than 2 million production facilities around the world. They are widely used in the automotive industry: in the process of assembling machines, an average of five workers account for one each, to the robot according to the International robotics Federation of Robotics.

The introduction of robots on construction sites is complicated by the unpredictability of the environment and the presence of large numbers of people. Therefore, automation in construction is often limited to solving peripheral problems, such as the use of drones to monitor the progress of construction of structures.

Several Japanese construction companies are developing a new class of robots designed for high-rise construction. So, the construction giant Shimizu is testing robots that can weld beams, transport cargo and install ceiling panels.

The head of Shimizu's construction technology division, Masahiro Indo, says that robots will save thousands of hours of human labor, but they will account for only about 1% of the work during the construction of high-rise buildings. Machines capable of working on the floor and walls may appear in the future, but it will be difficult to achieve a 10 percent indicator, given that the most time-consuming stages of construction are carried out inside the building, he stressed.

According to Quang-Cuong Pham, associate professor at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Nanyang University of Technology in Singapore, recent advances in deep learning have improved the ability of robots to determine the environment in which they operate, paving the way for the development of directions such as navigation in self-driving cars.

There will be more automation in the coming years, but its lion's share will take place outside construction sites, the expert predicts.

As Masahiro Indo notes, robots for factories are easier to create because they are in the same places, which is impossible in construction. Shimizu wanted robots to be installed on a moving platform, but most manufacturers say this is impossible, he said.

Construction bots are likely to operate predominantly at night and over the weekend, Indo said, as new technologies have yet to prove that humans can work comfortably and safely side by side with robots. Shimizu is set to launch its construction robots at the Osaka site by October 2018.

At the end of April, the company showed an automatic loader equipped with laser rangefinders for navigation in space. Moreover, the technology differs from that used in self-driving machines. Shimizu also demonstrated a robot that can install ceiling panels. It is capable of lifting objects weighing 30 kg.^[13]

The use of robots in the construction of ships

The two largest South Korean shipbuilding concerns Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering began using robots to build critical ship segments for container shipping. Automation helps reduce costs and speeds up ship production. This was reported in mid-April 2018 by Bloomberg.

Shipbuilding is one of the industries where human labor is more involved. About 200 people are involved in the production of one ship.

Hyundai Heavy created and began testing at its facilities a 670-kilogram industrial robot capable of bending and welding steel plates for the front and rear of ships. The robotic system, used in conjunction with CAD, is planned to be introduced in mass production from 2019. According to the company's calculations, this will reduce welding time by two-thirds and reduce the number of employed qualified employees, which, in turn, will provide annual savings of about 10 billion won ($9.4 million).

Hyundai Heavy also intends to build an automated plant that will use robotic manipulators to produce the mentioned steel parts for ships and supply them to two subsidiaries of Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries. In addition, the South Korean vendor plans to develop new robots for other types of welding and automatic painting of ships.

As for Daewoo Shipbuilding, since 2016 it has been using a 16-kilogram robotic manipulator called Caddy to weld steel parts of the company's ice-class gas carriers to transport liquefied natural gas. As of April 2018, five such vessels have already been produced. According to Daewoo Shipbuilding, the use of the robot helped save about 4.5 billion won ($4.2 million) on each ship. Based on successful experience, the South Korean shipbuilder is now developing a more compact 14.5kg robot welder model.^[14]

Robots threaten to eliminate 12% of jobs in Russia

In early April 2018, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a study stating that about 14% of jobs are in danger of being eliminated due to widespread adoption of robots. In Russia, this figure is slightly lower and is about 12%. That is, about 17.6 million Russians may be left without work due to new technologies.

The authors of the report, Ljubica Nedelkoska and Glenda Quintini, note that the degree of risk due to automation varies depending on the country. For example, Slovakia, where a third of work positions can replace computers, may be most affected. In Norway, the figure is lower than only - 6%.

In the United States, 10% of the working population falls into the risk group, which is significantly less than 47%, which researchers from the University of Oxford called in 2013. However, even a 10 percent indicator can result in large unemployment, as this corresponds to about 15 million jobs.

It could be several times worse than the collapse the economy experienced with Detroit's auto industry falling in the 1950s, when technological changes and increasing automation, among other things, led to huge layoffs, the report said.

According to experts, automation and artificial intelligence are able to make significant changes in the nature of the work performed for a much larger number of specialties compared to those that can be completely replaced by robots.

Nedelkoska and Quintini said their findings better reflect reality than studies from previous years, as the new report captured 4,656 separate observations of professional skills.

According to OECD researchers, jobs in Holland, as well as in Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian countries, can be less replaced by computers than in the states of Eastern and Southern Europe, Germany, Chile and Japan.

Robotization will have the most negative impact on the manufacturing industry and agriculture, as well as on some service areas. In the highest risk group are low qualified specialties, as well as young people.^[15]

A robot has appeared at Dubai airport reporting suspicious people

Main article: Neurototalitarianism

On February 27, 2018, it became known that a robot appeared at Dubai Airport, which can detect and report any suspicious people or activities. According to the Khaleej Times, Dubai Customs has already completed the experimental stage of the implementation of the robot, which will be installed in the airport arrival zone. For more details, see Neurototalitarianism.

The introduction of robots in factories in Eastern Europe

In February 2018, Reuters published an article on how robots are being introduced in Eastern Europe to improve production and compensate for personnel shortages. Read more here.

Russians believe in the favor of robots

In early February 2018, it became known that Russians are more optimistic than the world average about the introduction of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robots. At the same time, the Chinese have the most positive attitude towards such innovations in the digital economy, a survey by the British marketing agency Dentsu Aegis Network showed.

The study, which was conducted in the summer of 2017, involved about 20 thousand people from 10 countries: Australia,, China, France Germany,,,, Italy,, and Japan. Russia Spain Great Britain USA Excerpts from it are published by The South China Morning Post.^[16]

Around the world, people are rather pessimistic about the impact of future technologies on the labor market, and only 29% of respondents believe that technological advances will do more good than harm. At the same time, 33% of Russians believe that artificial intelligence and robotization will help create new jobs, instead of depriving people of work. Among the Chinese, there were even more such optimists - as much as 65%.

For comparison, in Germany and the UK, only 18% of respondents believe that the introduction of AI and robots will not negatively affect their employment prospects in the next 5-10 years.

People were also asked if they agreed that digital technology would help humanity solve global social problems such as poverty or environmental pollution.

Russia again turned out to be among the optimists, along with the Celestial Empire. Almost 50% of Russians surveyed pin their hopes on technology and believe that with their help they will live better, and among the inhabitants of the PRC there are more than 70% of them.

The most skeptical, unsurprisingly, were the Japanese: only 22% of them believe in technology's ability to solve global problems. The results are slightly higher in Germany, the UK and the US, where 37% and 38% of respondents agreed that technology would help society overcome difficulties.

Women more men at risk of being left out of work by robots

In January 2018, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is a division of the US Department of Labor, released the results of a study showing that women are more likely than men to be unemployed amid the growing replacement of human labor with robotic labor.

From a report compiled with  the support of the Boston Consulting Group and published at the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland), it follows that in the period from 2018 to 2026, about 1.4 million Americans may lose their jobs due to the introduction of human replacement technologies in organizations and enterprises. Moreover, about 57% of people at risk are women.

With proper retraining, most workers laid off due to the complete automation of their functions will be able to find new higher-paying jobs. Without retraining, which will require considerable effort and expense, this will not be easy to do, and in the case of the female sex, things will be even worse.

According to the authors of the study, on average , men have about 22 spare options for alternative career growth, while women have only 12. After retraining, representatives of the weaker sex can count on 49 positions, while men - on 80.

Organizers of the World Economic Forum predict that it will take 20 years more to achieve gender equality in the workplace than previously predicted.

There is also a positive trend for women: after retraining, their wages may increase by about 74% against 53% of the estimated growth in men.

Experts believe that retraining should include not only the courses themselves and assistance in finding a job, but also  financial support in the training process, and the main emphasis should be on hybrid skills.

Experts estimate that one industrial robot is capable of replacing six people, and 30% of banking jobs will simply disappear in five years due to the introduction of artificial intelligence.^[17]

2017

Advertisers can be replaced by robots

More than half of marketers are confident that artificial intelligence can cope with the work of advertisers and create high-quality advertising content. This is evidenced by research by Criteo and IDC^[18] by ^[19].

At the moment, machine learning is developing quite rapidly, its application in the creative industry has increased and further growth is predicted: IDC predicts average annual growth rates around the world at 54%, from about $360 million in 2016 to more than $2 billion in 2020. Already over 450 marketing executives use artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies in their work.

Machine learning, thanks to global personalization, will be able to improve advertising and creative tools. Therefore, marketers are gradually abandoning the creation of advertising content with human resources and increasingly trust this obligation to artificial intelligence.

Specialists also plan to use machines to automate a personalized approach to customers through online ads. By 2020, it is planned to peak the popularity of the use of machine learning.

Replacing 75,000 Amazon employees with robots in 2017

On December 4, 2017, Amazon said the company's headcount was up 40% year-over-year. At the end of 2016, Amazon was the eighth largest private employer in the United States. The Internet giant also announced plans to open a second headquarters in the United States, which will employ 50,000 employees.

According to Quartz, while maintaining the trend of replacing living people with robots, the number of Amazon employees involved in retail trade will decrease by about 1% in 2017 compared to 2016. Although this is a small percentage, 170 thousand people may lose their jobs.

American farmers are increasingly choosing robots

The fight against illegal migration, launched by the US president, has become a real headache for American agricultural producers. Only instead of solving the problem of a shortage of workers by hiring Americans, as Donald Trump (Donald Trump) expected, farmers began to more actively automate agricultural production and introduce robots, Reuters reported in November 2017.^[20]

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, 7 out of 10 local farm workers are in the country illegally. However, against the backdrop of Trump's tough migration policy, the number of illegal immigrants arriving in the country is decreasing. Moreover, Congress is considering a bill that would oblige all employers to check employees' Social Security numbers against a federal database to confirm the legality of their stay in the United States. So far, it is not necessary to comply with this rule, with the exception of several states.

Such measures exacerbate the already acute situation with the reduction and aging of the labor force in the American agricultural sector and push farmers to develop new technologies to reduce the need for human resources.

Farmers and food companies aim to automate literally everything from milking cows and processing chicken meat to crop production and harvesting, according to the agency. Some even want to mechanize the harvesting of delicate berries and fruits such as strawberries and peaches.

Today's motto in agriculture - automate everything that is possible, and pay more to those people who cannot be done without, - Paul Pittman, head of the US trust Farmland Partners, which invests in North American farmland, described the situation in the industry.

The words confirm the example of Pilgrim's Pride, one of the largest poultry farms in the United States. In 2017, due to a tough migration policy, the company decided to purchase robots and X-ray equipment for its slaughter shops. The salaries of workers were also increased.

Retailer Wal-Mart accelerates warehouse accounting with robots

American retail chain Walmart is introducing robots in its stores capable of scanning the contents of retail racks, Reuters reported in late October 2017.^[21]

Robotic systems help Wal-Mart quickly replenish stocks of goods and prevent their absence from warehouses, and also save time for employees of the retail chain.

The robots are equipped with a retractable tower with backlight and cameras for scanning barcodes and recognizing objects on shelves. Cruising along the racks, robots scan goods and check their stock, identify what is not available, and also find products out of place, incorrect price tags and labeling errors. Robots transfer all information to store employees, and they replenish the sold goods and correct errors.

It is extremely important for retailers to replenish the assortment in a timely manner, because every time a buyer does not find what he needs on the shelves, the store will miss the opportunity to sell the goods.

Wal-Mart is testing robots at several of its stores in Arkansas, Pennsylvania and California and announced its intention to equip more than 50 outlets across America with robotic scanning systems.^[22]

In an interview with Reuters, Jeremy King, Wal-Mart's chief technology and e-commerce officer, said that when performing monotonous tasks such as scanning shelves, robots are 50% more productive, more accurate and three times faster than human employees.

At the same time, Wal-Mart assured that they were not going to replace humans with robots, and that the introduction of such systems would not affect the number of staff in stores.

It is worth adding that the idea of ​ ​ automating retail with robots is far from new. Rival retailer Amazon.com uses Kiva robots in its warehouses to assemble and pack orders, allowing the company to reduce operating costs by nearly 20%.

Robots will replace up to 800 million workers around the world

Up to 800m workers around the world could lose their jobs with the introduction of robots and automation by 2030, the equivalent of more than one-fifth of the global workforce. Such data were provided in a report covering 46 countries and more than 800 professions, the research division of McKinsey & Co. at the end of November 2017.

According to experts, the problem concerns both developed and developing countries. Still, poor states with insufficient funds to invest in automation won't be as susceptible to change, and in wealthier ones like Germany and the United States, about a third of the entire employed population could face the need for retraining for new jobs. In developed countries, the need for university education will increase as the number of jobs available to people with lower levels of education decreases.

Machine operators, fast food workers, mortgage brokers, paraligals, accountants and back office employees are among those specialties that will be most affected by the changes if workplace automation gains momentum. Specialties that require personal human interaction, such as doctor, lawyer, teacher or bartender, will be less affected.

The positive for displaced workers, according to analysts at McKinsey & Co., is that there will be jobs they can switch to, though in many cases they will have to acquire additional skills. Similar jobs will be available to health workers for the elderly, technology professionals, plumbers and gardeners, the report said.

Even if the spread of robots is less rapid, about 400 million workers may still be replaced by automated systems and forced to look for new work in the period 2017-2030, the study notes.^[23]

5 dying professions in which technology will replace people

Back in the early 20th century, futurologists predicted that robots would displace humans from most professional fields. First, the mechanisms will master professions where work is carried out according to looped algorithms, and with the development of artificial intelligence, areas in which decisions are made based on the collection and analysis of information arrays will be captured. Despite bold forecasts and the growing pace of technological development, digitalization has not yet left any housewives, teachers, nannies, or even translators and residents without work.

This does not mean at all that the professional structure of society does not change. Futurologists were carried away by fantasies towards robot assistants, which were not so in demand in the short term. And technologies, meanwhile, were financed by big business, stimulated by its needs, and it was in the corporate segment that people caught up with the level of professional demand.

In October 2017, TAdviser tried to figure out which professions are indeed at the "extinction" stage and will be completely replaced by technology in the coming years. The good news is that those who develop and service technology are not in danger. The bad news is that cars are coming from not the lowest paid professions and at such a speed that people have very little time to retrain.

So, we have selected 5 areas in which very soon the staffing will replace the list of tangible assets:

• Driver of rail transport
• Recruitment Manager
• Bank Branch Employee
• Package Product/Service Sales Manager
• Call Center Employee

Read more here.

WEF: By 2020, robots will displace 7 million people from jobs

Experts at the World Economic Forum (WEF) said in April 2017 that robots will force about 7 million people out of jobs by 2020. The reason for this is the global automation of all workflows: production, maintenance, management, etc.

In connection with the active development of all kinds of systems based on artificial intelligence, experts have been predicting the fourth industrial revolution for several years, which will lead to a complete transformation of the economy. All professions related to data processing will soon be unclaimed: first of all, these are office workers, management personnel, cashiers, operators. Also, robots will get jobs at industrial enterprises. However, the number of robot workers is growing, and someone must manage them. Therefore, there will be new vacancies in areas related to mental labor.

A robot priest begins to work in the church of Wittenberg (Germany)

The functions of a clergyman in the evangelical church of the city of Wittenberg (Germany) will be performed by a robot BlessU-2. According to Sebastian von Geren, spokesman for the denomination in Hesse and Nassau, "this is an experiment that should give rise to a discussion (in the church)."^[24]

During the celebration of the anniversary of the Reformation (it was in Wittenberg 500 years ago that Martin Luther nailed his "95 theses" on the door of the castle church), the robot priest will begin to serve - he will communicate with parishioners and bless them.

BlessU-2 in design resembles a person. He has a head with eyes and a digital mouth, a metal box - "torso" with a touch screen and two arms on the sides. The robot priest will meet all visitors to the temple and be interested in whether they want to receive a blessing, specifying what kind of request for help they want to address to God. Then, addressing the heavens, he will read a passage from the Bible and say: "God will bless and protect you." The Bible quote read by the robot priest will be able to print out the parishioners.

Von Geren, notes that robots in any case will not completely replace priests and blessing parishioners BlessU-2 will not be present in every temple.

Robots will replace 250 thousand civil servants in the UK

In February 2017, the Reform think tank published a study according to which robots can replace up to 250 thousand employees in British government organizations.

According to experts, automation of workplaces in the civil service will improve the efficiency and quality of work when interacting with clients. Another plus from the introduction of AI is a £4bn-a-year cut to the UK public sector wage bill.

Reform calculated that IT systems are capable of replacing 248,860 public sector jobs in the UK within 15 years. In particular, the headcount of the central government could be reduced by 131,962 people.

In addition, you can replace 90 thousand administrators and 24 thousand registry workers, as well as automate 30% of the work of nurses and doctors in some areas, according to the Reform report.

Job cuts should be seen as an end in themselves. Technology should only replace people where they can provide better service and lower costs, experts say.

Much of Reform's research is built on the scientific work of the University of Oxford. In 2013, they examined more than 700 professions, applying the Gaussian process to study the impact of automation on these specialties. Scientists concluded that administrative positions could be replaced by computers with a 96 percent probability.

Later, the central bank of England, referring to research data from the University of Oxford, said that due to automation, about 15 million jobs in the British public sector are in danger of liquidation.^[25]

2016

Robotization will cut jobs in Russia

On December 22, 2016, Superjob published a report analyzing the labor market in 2016, according to which the market expects a significant drop in the number of vacancies in different industries in the medium term, as a result of the use of high technology.

According to the findings of HR analysts, in 2017, many Russian companies will introduce various automation tools that will help get rid of low-skilled employees by replacing them with robots. In 2018, this will be called a reduction in the number of vacancies^[26].

As the authors of the report noted, from 2017, Russian companies will begin to massively introduce various automation algorithms that will reduce the number of jobs.

The demand for contact and call centers employees is expected to decrease in this area of ​ ​ the market, automation will be introduced especially actively. Experts predict: in the coming years, the volume of employers' offers for information processing specialists (data entry operators, moderators, etc.) will decrease significantly. This will affect mainly the IT sector, where demand will decrease to 70%.

In 2017, the course towards cost efficiency will continue: companies will try to hire the best, and put existing employees in the conditions of "develop or leave."

Experts promised: 2017 will be the last year with a growing number of jobs in Russia. In 2018, automation will lead to a drop in the number of vacancies. In competitive industries, employer activity will grow, and the average monthly growth rate in the number of vacancies will be about 5%. At the same time, analysts predict that 2017 will be the last year when it will be possible to state the general growth in the number of real jobs.

In 2018, we expect to reduce offers for low-skill employees by 5% each year. Real unemployment will also grow at the same pace.

By 2022, the unemployment rate in Russia will grow to 20-25%.

With current trends, the overall level of real unemployment in Russia by 2022 will grow several times and reach 20-25%, the company's experts said. At the same time, the demand for highly qualified specialists will continue to grow. According to the authors of the study, it will not be possible to maintain employment of the population by existing methods of state support for employment.

It is expected that the recruitment process will become more accurate, companies will strive to hire employees who meet all the stated requirements as much as possible. To do this, many employers will allocate funds for the development or purchase of ready-made IT solutions for finding, evaluating, and managing communications with employees.