One thing that a lot of people tend to be worried about these days is the fact that there are so many problems that are occurring on a regular basis when it comes to the jobs that people can get and a big part of the reason why that is the case has to do with the fact that there is a lot of automation that is happening and this automation is making it so that traditional jobs are being rendered obsolete and the people that were working these jobs are being rendered redundant and thereby unemployed.
However, the news that Apple tried and failed for 8 years to develop robots that would be able to replace human workers, losing millions of dollars in the process, is the sort of thing that would most likely give quite a few people a lot of hope for obvious reasons. According to TheInformation, during this 8 year period, Apple has tried automating a wide variety of things, with Tim Cook inaugurating this program because of the fact that he was shown by Apple’s contractor Foxconn a machine that could supposedly automate a lot of the various aspects of iPad manufacturing process.
While the initial attempts look promising, there were a lot of roadblocks that were faced. Putting in screws that were this small was often quite difficult because of the fact that creating a machine with the dexterity of human fingers is obviously next to impossible, and there is also the fact that creating software that can govern this is also very difficult to do. The application of glue on the screens is also something that only humans can do efficiently, and malfunctions that occurred resulted in the closing down of assembly lines which caused even more financial losses.
What all of this means is that there are clearly some jobs that are better done by humans than machines, and Apple’s failure to secure any kind of success in spite of the fact that it invested so much might just discourage other companies from looking into automation as well which would be good news for workers.
Read next: Humans And Artificial Intelligence Systems Perform Better Together: Microsoft Chief Scientist Eric Horvitz
However, the news that Apple tried and failed for 8 years to develop robots that would be able to replace human workers, losing millions of dollars in the process, is the sort of thing that would most likely give quite a few people a lot of hope for obvious reasons. According to TheInformation, during this 8 year period, Apple has tried automating a wide variety of things, with Tim Cook inaugurating this program because of the fact that he was shown by Apple’s contractor Foxconn a machine that could supposedly automate a lot of the various aspects of iPad manufacturing process.
While the initial attempts look promising, there were a lot of roadblocks that were faced. Putting in screws that were this small was often quite difficult because of the fact that creating a machine with the dexterity of human fingers is obviously next to impossible, and there is also the fact that creating software that can govern this is also very difficult to do. The application of glue on the screens is also something that only humans can do efficiently, and malfunctions that occurred resulted in the closing down of assembly lines which caused even more financial losses.
What all of this means is that there are clearly some jobs that are better done by humans than machines, and Apple’s failure to secure any kind of success in spite of the fact that it invested so much might just discourage other companies from looking into automation as well which would be good news for workers.
Read next: Humans And Artificial Intelligence Systems Perform Better Together: Microsoft Chief Scientist Eric Horvitz
