15 ways the robot revolution is changing the world

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  • Robots are changing Earth forever

    Robots are changing Earth forever

    According to the director of engineering at Google, Ray Kurzweil, robots will reach a human level of intelligence by the year 2029. IBM's Watson computer has already won an episode of Jeopardy, computers can beat us at poker, and our phones can give us spoken advice on a wide array of topics.

    According to futurists and researchers, those trends are going to translate into a very different future, no matter what you do or how you live.

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • Bye-bye to the idea of full-time work

    Bye-bye to the idea of full-time work

    It's arguably the invention of the Industrial Revolution. Humans have only been used to a full-time work schedule for about 200 years. Once jobs begin to dwindle, we may need to find a different way to fill our days. Exactly who gets affected and how is still up for debate, but here are a few educated guesses by people who would know ...

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • And you will be fired

    And you will be fired

    A recent study by Oxford University found that 47 percent of jobs in the US are replaceable with technology within the next two decades. These include everything from service drivers to data analysts to warehouse workers.

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • You will drown your sorrows with a robot bartender

    You will drown your sorrows with a robot bartender

    So what will we do with all that leisure time? Going out to eat will be different. The restaurants of the future will look more like this one.

    Eatsa is a new completely automated San Francisco restaurant that uses iPads instead of waiters to order your food, and glass doors to serve it to you. There's the occasional magical elf mortal in the back to prep the food, but for the most part, this restaurant-of-the-future model is sans human.

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • You will amuse yourself via remote

    You will amuse yourself via remote

    Your non-working brain will still need entertainment, but even that's going to change. Telepresence robots are expected to allow people to work remotely more effectively and experience distant live events in a more personal way. For example, you could watch an opera performance from an actual seat in the auditorium without having to leave the house.

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • You will say goodbye to cashiers, retail salespeople and office clerks

    You will say goodbye to cashiers, retail salespeople and office clerks

    Assuming that we're still buying things, our shopping days will be very different. The three jobs mentioned above are the most common in the country and are also extremely vulnerable to full-throttle robotic takeover.

    All you have to do is look at all the self-checkout lines at your local grocery store and our online shopping habits (Amazon Prime anyone?) to see this is already happening. Currently 15.4 million people, nearly 10 percent of the US labor force, hold these jobs, according to the same Oxford study.

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • Skilled workers will go bye-bye, too

    Skilled workers will go bye-bye, too

    Highly skilled tasks, such as legal or marketing analysis, are withering away now that they can be achieved by the push of a computer button. As S.L. Mintz of Institutional Investor points out, computers and software have obvious advantages in tracking market patterns and creating algorithms--and they never have to stop to use the bathroom.

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • You'll go to parent-robot conferences

    You'll go to parent-robot conferences

    Robots are already in the classroom being used as teaching assistants. They can, after all, be programmed to teach just about any subject. Robots are also good for training and communicating with staff. Machines include the 4 foot tall robo-teacher, which features a video of a teacher's face, and a camera that allows the teacher to see what's going on in the classroom and communicate with people in other countries.

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • Wait, did we just fire ourselves?

    Wait, did we just fire ourselves?

    Business Insider's Kathleen Elkins points out that it won't be long before computers will be able to detect human emotions and humor, like sarcasm. Going forward, they will be able to manipulate human language patterns and write more like us. Soon you may be reading articles like these by a robot instead of a human. (Note from the human writing this article: That's a filthy, dirty lie.)

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • Your paid sick leave is going to look very different

    Your paid sick leave is going to look very different

    The RP-VITA, made by iRobot (makers of the Roomba vacuum cleaner) has been FDA-approved in just the past couple of years, and is being used to allow medical specialists to communicate remotely with their patients. The doctor controls the robot's movements with an iPad from their distant location.

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • If you have a job, you'll have to share it

    If you have a job, you'll have to share it

    Some countries already have put shared work into practice; some believe this is just another way of disguising unemployment. Workers simply spread out their hours and tasks among each other in countries such as India.

    As machines continue filling jobs, work-sharing is a sensible way to spread out what still must be done by humans. The Guardian's Robert Skidelsky points out, "If one machine can cut necessary human labour by half, why make half of the workforce redundant, rather than employing the same number for half the time?"

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • Depressed now? A robot can help

    Depressed now? A robot can help

    Research has suggested that we humans are not so keen on robots looking too much like us. Instead, we like our robots disguised as something artificial, or super cute. Japan's PARO seal robot, developed by AIST, is used as a therapeutic tool in hospitals and private homes throughout the country as a way to reduce a patient's stress and improve relaxation levels. It can detect light vs. dark, and also remember the way it was touched and replicate ways humans respond to it.

    Photo by: PARO Robots, Inc.

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • But at least you won't die on the battlefield

    But at least you won't die on the battlefield

    Robots are already relieving humans of heavy burdens in the military field, such as drones being sent into dangerous regions to make sure they are safe. Soon, full-bodied military robots could take the place of humans in wars. MAARS (Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System), which was designed by Foster-Miller, has provided armed robots that have served in Iraq. They come with a GPS monitor and can be programmed to open doors, drag out bodies and more.

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • Your road trips could get a little lonely

    Your road trips could get a little lonely

    Google and NASA have been working on self-driving vehicle models that will soon populate our streets. And thanks to Jeff Bezos, Amazon drones will also soon replace the need for delivery drivers. No more chatty taxi driver confessions, folks.

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

  • Do we need work to feel satisfied with our lives?

    Do we need work to feel satisfied with our lives?

    Hard to answer, but according to Derek Thompson, author of The Atlantic's "A World Without Work," there is plenty of evidence that shows when people lose their jobs, they fall into depression.

    But are they miserable because working is good, or because they are not earning enough money, or meeting cultural expectations? We may have to shift those expectations in the coming years. But on the upside, perhaps we will have more time to do other worthwhile things with our time here on Earth.

    Photo by: iStock by Getty Images

    Caption by: Gina Scanlon

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As computers grow stronger, human jobs continue to dwindle. What does the future hold for the workforce as we know it?

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Robots are changing Earth forever

According to the director of engineering at Google, Ray Kurzweil, robots will reach a human level of intelligence by the year 2029. IBM's Watson computer has already won an episode of Jeopardy, computers can beat us at poker, and our phones can give us spoken advice on a wide array of topics.

According to futurists and researchers, those trends are going to translate into a very different future, no matter what you do or how you live.

Caption by: Gina Scanlon

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