Will Robots Take Over The Construction Industry?

How often have we heard politicians promising to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States? Perhaps I am over thinking it, but unless you're manufacturing some really expensive items it's going to be challenging to offer American workers minimum wage to stand on an assembly line and put key-chains and such together. Come to think about it, there are many quite expensive items like all of Apple's products which have low material cost and sell for tens of thousands or hundreds of dollars. Those elements would be excellent to fabricate in the us and pay a decent wage to workers. Wait, why make here when workers can pay a couple of hundred dollars per month to do it overseas? And so the problem continues.

As sales director for factory work facilities and Union store fixture I comprehend now more than ever how important labor unions are to our work force. With many Americans working harder than we see many corporations cutting on shifts to less than 30 -hours so they are ineligible for health benefits. We are becoming a nation of part time workers, which is not going to sustain us live the American dream and to raise families.

Thanks to Labor Unions like the International Brotherhood of Carpenters, which we are members of, there are some safeguards.

We frequently sit about and discuss the future of our kids and also the new generation as it pertains to what kinds of jobs will soon be available to them. Tech comes up a lot. Together with the world becoming smaller (thanks to the net) it also becomes more competitive and cost conscious.

Many production jobs have been replaced by computers and robots. 100 workers that are human can be replaced by a bottling plant to get a beverage business using a run of stations that are robotic and just 2 human workers to turn them on and off. More people unemployed by technology. Robotics have been studied by many young school grads in the hopes to develop a lifetime career in that field. Now, here is the kicker (and it truly is real)... There are companies that are really designing robots capable of building robots!

Now let's get onto building! Well, I felt the exact same manner until I researched the robotics business and discovered a startling new concept: Robotic construction workers!

Yes, it is accurate, according to Science Journal, a prototype of a new robot known as "termes" continues to be developed that may one day revolutionize the construction industry. Engineers provided the robots with construction patterns, and after that left them alone. The TERMES built the constructions by responding to the other robots around Engineers--with no additional instruction from humans and detecting. Because they operate alone, precisely the same construction plan could be executed by a dozen TERMES or a hundred of them. Because their directives are so simple--put a brick down that fits in the building plan, where no one has placed one down- they demand little processing power. The prototype TERMES use constructed bricks to assemble towers, castles, and pyramids. The researchers say they could also manage simple jobs like laying sandbags down before floodings.

Visualize construction sites where human workers are replaced by robotics. Construction workers and carpenters can be displaced by the robots and the sites requiring only minimum supervision.

While this technology is still in image, the reality is the fact that they've created the beginning stages of its growth. While those of us middle-aged carpenters may not need to compete with R2D2 taking over our jobs, future generations may well need to deal with this particular new technology that may endanger their support.

My guidance to those up and comers in the business....become a shop steward in order to 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