A series of bricklaying robots designed by global companies could be harbingers of global unemployment. The prototype, made by a Perth-based robotics company, is on track for release by the end of 2017 and is already being touted as a possible future of construction.
Another product, called SAM or semi-automatic mason, developed by a New York-based company, has the ability to lay close to 3,000 bricks per day. That’s several times faster than humans who average 500 bricks per day.
In 2015, an Australian engineer designed Hadrian, a robot that is said to be able to build a house in two days.
Researchers in Switzerland, who worked on a similar project, suggest that these robotic bricklayers could be the industry norm over the next decade. Although for now, most of these products require human intervention to help set up the site, research is being conducted to develop independent models.
Robot bricklayers are already been used in building projects in the United States and will also begin to be used in the United Kingdom. And while such change will be slow to trickle into India, it could have huge implications for construction workers if it does. The construction business in India employs close to 33 million workers and is projected to be the world’s third biggest by 2025.
Robotic process automation could lead to the next wave of global unemployment, a scientist warned in 2016. More than half of the world’s jobs could be lost over the next 30 years as robots as capable as humans of doing a range of tasks are developed.
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