Deep Shift Technology Tipping Points and Societal Impact

Shift 15: Robotics and Services
The tipping point: The first robotic pharmacist in the US
Expected date: 2021
By 2025: 86% of respondents expected this tipping point to have occurred
Robotics is beginning to influence many jobs, from manufacturing to agriculture, and retail to services. According to the
International Federation of Robotics, the world now includes 1.1 million working robots, and machines account for 80% of
the work in manufacturing a car. 22 Robots are streamlining supply chains to deliver more efficient and predictable business
results.
Positive impacts
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Supply chain and logistics, eliminations
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More leisure time
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Improved health outcomes (big data for
pharmaceutical gains in research and development)
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Banking ATM as early adopter
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More access to materials
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Production “re-shoring” (i.e. replacing overseas
workers with robots)
Negative impacts
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Job losses
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Liability, accountability
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Day-to-day social norms, end of 9-to-5 and 24-hour
services
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Hacking and cyber-risk
The shift in action
An article from The Fiscal Times appearing on CNBC.com states that:
Rethink Robotics released Baxter [in the fall of 2012] and received an overwhelming response
from the manufacturing industry, selling out of their production capacity through April …
[In April] Rethink launch[ed] a software platform that [allows] Baxter to do a more complex
sequencing of tasks – for example, picking up a part, holding it in front of an inspection station
and receiving a signal to place it in a ‘good’ or ‘not good’ pile. The company also [released] a
software development kit … that will allow third parties – like university robotics researchers –
to create applications for Baxter.
In “The Robot Reality: Service Jobs Are Next to Go”, Blaire Briody, 26 March 2013, The Fiscal Times, http://www.cnbc.com/id/100592545
Deep Shift - Technology Tipping Points and Societal Impact
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