Help, Humanoids have taken over Amazon!

Amazon has just allowed Humanoid robot to take over their warehouse. The humanoid robot, which has arms and legs, moves, grasp and handle items just like you and I. This project, of course, has touched the nerves of many workers who are now worried that they might now lose their jobs. But Tye Brady, Amazon's chief technologist at Amazon Robotics , claims that although humanoids will render some jobs redundant, the deployment of robots would create many new ones. But how exactly does that work? And what does this phenomenon say about the future of our workforce? Are you next in line to be replaced?

Amazon exploration of humanoids in their warehouse

If you look at the Digit robot from behind, you might mistake it for a giant mutated grasshopper. With a green body and folded legs, the humanoid robot stands at 1.75m and weighs around 65kg. But unlike its predecessors, the Digit robot has literal legs instead of wheels for legs, allowing it to walk not just in any direction but also travel up and down stairs.

Another advancement we can see in these humanoid robots is their ability to understand and carry out more complicated tasks. The Digit robot, for example, is smart enough to interpret command from humans and make its own decisions on how to act. This means that you don't have to keep prompting the robot every time you need it to do something. Instead, you just tell it once, and it would be able to repeat and sustain the role over a prolonged period of time.

Companies leaning on Nvidia for AI resources

But Amazon is not the only company experimenting with humanoids. Big names such as Nvidia and Tesla are also onboard the humanoid bandwagon. Tesla especially has been a very strong proponent of this humanoid concept. Tesla has announced that they would be launching their Optimus robot next year, and Elon Musk has predicted that his project could very well propel Tesla into a $25 trillion company.

But these companies are at the mercy of big tech companies such as Nvidia, Google and Microsoft who have resources that no-one else has to create the next big thing.

Would this mean that people would lose their jobs

Amazon's bold experiment with humanoid in their warehouse has sparked fear in workers that their livelihood could be replaced by these humanoids. But Tye Brandy has claimed that the emergence of humanoid robots would create new jobs. So how does that work? Brandy clarified that just because these humanoids are now doing all the mundane and redundant tasks, this does not mean that the Amazon would require fewer workers.

But where would these replaced workers go then? I would assume that most of them would be transferred to a more managerial role, most likely overseeing the production of these humanoids. We can also assume that part of this labour force would also be transferred to work on a more strategic role, something that robots cannot do right at this moment.

What would the next thing the humanoid will takeover?

For now, humanoids are still at a very nascent stage and are working on tasks primarily surrounding hard labour and logistics. Experts are predicting that after this, humanoids might move on to the retail sector next, emerging from a more back end, logistics and inventory role to the a more customer facing role of interacting and assisting customers with their purchases.

But in the long run, of course, we can expect them to do much more advanced and harder tasks, such as those in healthcare. I would also foresee that robots would also take over jobs that humans would consider dangerous, for example the nuclear industry or construction work where workers are exposed to hazardous environments every day.