Why robots won’t be putting us out of work

The rise of the machines is upon us, but while replacing humans our robotic workhorses will also create the need for more of us.

SMART robots don’t take the jobs of humans, they create more of them, according to one of Queensland’s leading robotics and new-tech manufacturing experts.

Dr Cori Stewart said the experience of the state’s revolutionary ARMHub – Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub – showed that when an artificial intelligence robot was brought in by industry, as many as eight new jobs were created.

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Dr Stewart said the latest generation of artificial intelligence-equipped robotics were more like tools for skilled workers, taking over the drudge work.

They were letting the humans get on with more productive and money-spinning tasks that helped the business expand and employ more workers.

Dr Stewart said ARMHub – which is set to expand to a new centre after raising $18 million in funding – was working to expand cutting-edge manufacturing in Queensland by helping solve problems and find new efficiencies and systems for businesses.

These included small and medium-sized operations that might not otherwise be able to fund research and development.

If manufacturing was allowed to disappear in Australia, other industries – from aerospace to health and medical equipment to food production – would be left completely reliant on imports to continue, and captive to catastrophic events like the Chinese and European coronavirus shutdowns.

Dr Cori Stewart posing at ArmHub, QUT Gardens Point Campus, Brisbane City, Brisbane, 13th of March 2020. (AAP Image/Attila Csaszar)

Dr Stewart, who is expected to present a talk to the QODE Brisbane event next week, said Australia could compete and indeed lead the world when it concentrated on bespoke, high-end manufacturing.

“Australia can secure high-value manufacturing,” she said.

“The risk is that if you don’t invest and fund that transition you will be losing out. It touches on every single sector.”

The Courier-Mail’s Innovation Queensland series, in partnership with QODE Brisbane, will showcase bright ideas and innovations emerging in the Sunshine State.

QODE Brisbane, Queensland’s largest innovation and technology conference, is on March 24-25.

In the wake of the coronavirus crisis, organisers have transformed QODE into an entirely virtual conference, which will be streamed live via YouTube to a global online audience.