The Impact of the US Robotics Initiative on Global Economy

A recent television ad showed a woman who was worried about the price of day care for her children, and opted for a day care center run by robots…she said it was cheaper “because robots work for free.”  Funny because the ad showed inept robots dealing with toddlers, squirting them with juice, and not able to handle them… however, it wasn’t far off.

You might be surprised to learn that robots have been expanding rapidly and today, there are about 1 million active industrial robots working in the industrial world. The US employing nearly 200,000 of them, second only to Japan. If you count the non-industrial robots in use, that number jumps to about 8 million, worldwide.

They are being used in simple manufacturing settings, all the way to predicting your future and writing.  Yes, the future is going to see robots replacing human labor at some level, and in many different areas.

It’s been said that the National Robotics Initiative (NRI) in the U.S. is likely to put our country back on the map, so to speak.  The U.S. reputation has suffered humiliation and embarrassment in the midst of this economic crisis; however, this initiative is intended to put the US back into the ‘world leader’ role again.

Robotics and jobs:

Since robots are actually a fact of life, used in many areas of the world, the question remains – how will this affect our economy, with the lack of jobs and high unemployment rates?

Experts say there are positives and negatives to this scenario.  Technologically superior nations have been affected in a positive way, seeing development and growth of their economy.  The use of robots has helped them accomplish much higher productivity, thus boosting their economy by bringing in higher revenues. Robots counter balance the labor costs of out-sourcing to other countries as well, which means even more revenue.

Once the robotic system is fully set up, no wages will be paid to robots for jobs that were previously paid to human laborers.  This is going to affect available jobs in the world.  But perhaps in a positive way?

Aaron Saenz of Singularity Hub says:  “These robot-factories may not employ as many workers as ones in the past, but the maintenance, oversight, and sales jobs associated with them will stay in the country instead of leaving with the factories.”

Automation to come:

It is said that eventually, everyone in the world will be automated, using robots that replace human labor.  Some economists foresee a dangerous reduction in human employment, and possible catastrophic economic collapse if the nature of employment does not shift.

But, the Robotics industries are saying they are creating jobs and helping the economy.  Since 1974, about 225 companies have jumped on the robotics production bandwagon and they employ hundreds of thousands of employees.

According to Saenz, “Yes, as with the growth of any new industry, leaders of the robotics field are going to experience considerable financial gains that will translate into regional economic benefits. Those benefits will include new jobs, many at higher income brackets. But what about the global economy as a whole? And what about the far future?

Well this is going to be a tough one to predict.  It is the general consensus that robots can greatly benefit the world economy, and putting it into practice may have its bumps, but a clear understanding of the outcome is yet to be seen.

Tina writes about forex trading online for Forex Trading Finder you can compare foreign exchange brokers to get the best forex reviews.