Will Robots Take within The Construction Industry?

How often have we heard politicians promising to bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States? Maybe I'm over thinking it, but unless you are making some quite expensive items it's going to be challenging to offer American workers minimum wage to stand on an assembly line and put together such and key chains. Come to think of it, there are a few really expensive items like all of Apple's products which sell for tens of thousands or hundreds of dollars and have low material cost. Those components could be great to fabricate in America and pay workers a decent wage. But, wait, why fabricate here when they can pay several hundred dollars per month to do it overseas? And and so the issue continues.

As sales manager for mill work facilities and Union store fixture I understand now more than ever important labor unions are to our work force. With many Americans working than we see many corporations cutting shifts -hours so they are ineligible for health benefits. We are learning to be a country of part time workers, which is not going to endure us to raise families and live the American dream.

Because of Labor Unions which we're members of, there are many safeguards.

We frequently sit about and talk about the future of our kids and the brand new generation to what types of jobs will soon be available to them when it comes. Technology comes up a lot. It's a growth industry, not only in the USA but overseas as well.

Many production jobs have been replaced by computers and robots. 100 workers that are human can be replaced by a bottling plant to get a beverage business using some robotic stations and just 2 human workers. More people unemployed by technology. Robotics have been studied by many young college graduates in the expectations to construct a lifetime career in that area. You can find businesses that are actually designing robots building robots that are capable of!

Now let's get onto construction! Well, I felt the same fashion until I found a startling new concept: Robotic construction workers and studied the robotics business!

Yes, it is authentic, based on Science Journal, an image of a fresh robot known as "termes" continues to be developed that may one day revolutionize the construction industry. Engineers provided construction patterns to the robots, and then left them alone. The TERMES built the structures by observing and responding to the other robots with no further instruction from humans -- around them. Because they function independently, exactly the same building plan may be carried out by a dozen TERMES or a hundred of them. Because their directives are so easy--put down a brick that fits in the building plan, where no one else has laid one down- little processing ability is required by them. Bricks that are specially built are used by the prototype TERMES to construct towers, castles, and pyramids. The researchers say they may also handle simple jobs like laying sandbags down before floodings.

Envision building sites where robotics replace human workers. Construction workers and carpenters can be displaced by the robots and also the websites requiring only minimum supervision.

The truth is the fact that they have successfully created the beginning stages of this technology's development while it is still in image. Future generations may well need to address this particular new technology that may threaten those of us middle-aged carpenters' livelihood while they may not have to contend with R2D2 taking over our jobs.

My guidance to those up-and-comers in the industry....become a shop steward so you can watch over the robot workers!

There is an interesting video put out by Harvard that shows these Termes in action: http://youtu.be/LFwk303p0zY

About the author: Martin Chase is National Sales Director at Store Force, Inc., leading Union store fixture installers providing clients with fixture and mill work installations around the country. Martin can be reached at 631-672-3150 or by email at: unioninstallers@gmail.com