Electricity + Control April 2018

CONTROL SYSTEMS + AUTOMATION + SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

and crawler, it operates autonomously and is ex- plosion-proof, freeing up time and keeping human workers out of danger. High risk environments There are many other applications for robots in high-risk environments. Bomb disposal robots have been around for some time doing just that. Not only does their use take humans out of harm’s way, they can often dispose of bombs more ef- fectively. Similarly, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group’s new robots do jobs few firefighters would want to take on. They will go to sites which are difficult for human firefighters to access, such as fires in petrochemical facilities, or where flammable sub- stances have leaked. The Firefighting Robot System was being led by the National Research Institute of Fire and Disaster Japan and developed jointly by several companies and universities. It consists of a water-cannon ro- bot, which can extinguish fires where people can- not reach, and a supporting system which automat- ically lays out a fire hose of up to 300 m in length. They are designed to be installed on a fire en- gine so that they can be moved on-site easily and quickly. Automated reconnaissance and command systems ensure that both robots can work largely independently. In addition to reducing the risks to human lives, they have also been found to extin- guish flames more efficiently than a human team could in the circumstances. So robots and AI are already helping us in many ways. But should we worry about them taking our jobs? Conclusion According to a 2016 paper by James Bessen, an economist at Boston University, the relationship between technology and jobs does not have to be inversely proportional. Based on historical data, the paper concluded that occupations that use

computers grow faster than those that do not, and found no evidence of technology causing large scale unemployment. But, of course, history affords us no guarantees for the future, and the study makes it clear that to make the most of the opportunities these technol- ogies are bringing, we must be willing to adapt our businesses, retrain our workers and become used to constant evolution in the workplace. Acknowledgement This article – first published on spectra.mhi.com – has been published in Electricity+Control courtesy © Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.

We must be willing to adapt our businesses, retrain our workers and become used to constant evolution in the workplace.

Andrea Willige has spent many years creating content for the international business and technology press, working as a PR advisor to some of the world’s largest technology companies. Enquiries: Email mhi-pr@mhi.co.jp

Electricity + Control

APRIL 2018

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