Iván Hernández Dalas: Robots can enhance manufacturing workers rather than replace them
The Dawn cafe, in which people with disabilities teleoperate robots, shows the possibility of human-robot collaboration across industries. Source: OryLab In Japan, robot cafes remotely run by people with disabilities reveal a side to the automation story that is not often talked about: Robots can bring people into the workplace rather than replace them. We are now seeing this concept in manufacturing. This is an important counterpoint to the common misconception that robots will replace human workers. In 2024, 542,000 robots were installed, more than double the number 10 years prior, according to the International Federation of Robotics ( IFR ). Robots’ role is being increasingly viewed as a value generator beyond time efficiency. A little over half of global manufacturers are adopting robots for quality improvement. Manufacturers should not focus on whether AI will replace humans. The most important questions they should be asking are: Into which processes should AI be i...