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EU Launches World's Largest Civilian Robotics Program; 240,000 New Jobs Expected
Hallie Siegel writes: "The European Commission and 180 companies and research organizations (under the umbrella of euRobotics) have launched the world's largest civilian research and innovation program in robotics. Covering manufacturing, agriculture, health, transport, civil security and households, the initiative – called SPARC – is the E.U.'s industrial policy effort to strengthen Europe's position in the global robotics market (€60 billion a year by 2020). This initiative is expected to create over 240,000 jobs in Europe, and increase Europe's share of the global market to 42% (a boost of €4 billion per year). The European Commission will invest €700 million and euRobotics will invest €2.1 billion."
240,000 jobs for robots?
methinks there is registered trademark in the field of digital computing circuitry for that name, which is enforceable in the EU
240,000 jobs created to build robots, robots then take 24,000,000 jobs away.
I sure hope the little guys can pull it off!
Each worker builds own replacement
Can't we also be leaders in industry with public-private partnerships?
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
In capitalistic USA, owners keep 40 years of increasing productivity from automation for themselves.
In socialist EU, prosperity and leisure for everyone!
How horrible!
"$2.8 billion invested in robotics? That's nuts! We could invade a whole new country for that, and then suck ten times as much from taxes before we pull out!"
EU will cash in on US wage payers desire to remove the added costs associated with human employees who don't seem to get that the service they provide can and will be handled by someone else if they continue to make unreasonable demands. It's coming and the timing SHOULD be a wake up call... even if not actually related.
The public associates it with the failed Sun product line that is now being destroyed by Oracle. Everyone hates Oracle, especially now that they are working so hard to steal health insurance for the working poor. I live in Portland and was denied by Oracle. They fucked us all over by doing the Republican's bidding. They want the poor to die. They let us die untreated in the halls of the ER while the wealthy whites are given gold-plated service. That is the legacy of that failed CPU. By attempting to associate this new endeavour with that failed one, it proves that these CONservatives hate technology and want to fuck us all over. It's just a scam to line their pockets.
Is what this reminds me of.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Everyone speaks about a possible losss of jobs or trademark issues. Am I the only one thinking that robot technology is cool? This is the kind of shit that could allow exploration of the oceans and eventually space, prosthetic help for sick people, cheaper and more efficient mass production etc. Plus, it would probably generate some interesting by-products, like advanced algorithms, maybe a new programming language or new processor types. And it gives jobs to young people with PhDs.
PS Jobs are being lost and created all the time. Think robot maintainer, robot programmer, robot police (?) (the "Turing"?), robot designer. And, anyway, if a job can be taken by a robot it probably isn't very interesting or creative to begin with. If I had a choice, I'd rather be doing the creative stuff.
So the Wachowskis weren't quite as confused as they seemed? :p
I for one, welcome our robotic overlords and wish them luck in the human cloning of Apple's founder -- one Jobs wasn't enough we need 240K and that should be enough for anybody!
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
hiring Mexicans to build a fence to keep Mexicans in Mexico.
If each worker is truly building his own replacement, doesn't that mean that the replacement should also be able to build their own replacement?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V...
Robot minders: 75,000 : (job: When the robot repeated runs into the wall while making a beeping sound, turn it around and press the restart button)
Charge nurses: 65,000: Find the robots that have run out charge while trying to navigate their way back to charging stations and replace the limp-home battery with fresh fully charged ones.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
It's "I for one welcome our commissioner-overlords and their total detachment from reality" :) I have lived in the pre-1989 Eastern Bloc and I can spot a centralistic, ineffectual project intended to just shuffle money from the taxpayers to the Brussels bureaucracy and its friends in the industry.
This is another example of corporate welfare masquerading as a jobs plan, combined with protectionist sentiment. The central planners will take money out of the productive economy and spend it on a corporate giveaway to favoured interests. Jobs that otherwise would have been created in the productive sector will be lost, while only the 240,000 pork barrel jobs will be noticed by the superficial. Whether Europe is best positioned for the robotic industry will be ignored. Instead of this boondoggle, it would be better to leave well enough alone and let jobs be created where they are most needed, and let comparative advantage and the specialization of labor decide Europe's share of the robotics market.
Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
As a general note, it is easy to count and publicize jobs created by government spending. But it is hard to count the jobs that would have been created had the resources been left un-taxed.
Of course, politicians like to emphasize the easily seen "created" jobs, but never mention the opportunity cost (jobs destroyed are the unseen).
These comments are mine; I do not speak for my employer.
and a thundering herd of pork barrels rolled into the EU crying out with one voice.... "FEED ME EUROPE!!! "
You're underselling US awesomeness! Just look at the awesome degree of consistency! :-
Such awesome consistency, just one single metric of value (money) for the entirety of civilization. One must weep in admiration!
An agro-bot can quickly be updated to an AGGRO -bot with a single-character patch.
Seems to me the way to increase jobs is to outlaw all robots.
If we take an estimate of the revenue per employee at these robotic making companies, lets say €250,000, which is roughly what the average European automobile company is doing. With this assumption these 240,000 jobs will mean €60 billion in robotics revenue that wouldn't be there without this initiative. But that is what they expect the entire market to be. My reading is that this initiative is only expected to increase European sales by €4 billion. But somehow that piss trickle of money is supposed to lead to 240,000 new jobs.
If we add all the job creations and GDP increases that various EU projects claimed to induce, today we would have 400 million jobs filled and a 50% GDP growth per year. But the reality is that EU is in recession and unemployment is high.
our lame pols are whining about how EPA emission constraints are going to cost us the same amount of jobs even though there is around 78,000 coal miners. Where are the job creators? Are they indigenous to the EU or something? Why can't we create jobs by investing and installing clean energy products like scrubbers for coal-firepower plants?
Are the bots going to be running Solaris?
I know tobacco is bad for you, so I smoke weed with crack.
With the Baxter (base cost $22000- can work 3 shifts- no vacations, holidays, no social security tax, no employment law compliance costs, "never" sick with a good SLA) and the
Kiva ($30,000 per unit- same benefits)
Robotic hamburger makers, robotic drink dispensers, ordering kiosks...
Hilariously if this goes through these places will still need and pretty much only need janitors, maybe some security staff or basic human presence (like the franchisee owner and delegates or family). A robot won't be around people cleaning tables, taking garbage out, cleaning the shitter, mopping sticky sugary spills on the floor. Not only such a robot would be really expensive (a humanoid, even?) if it is to do all janitory tasks, which includes cleaning the vending robots and screens, but if you leave it alone unattended with dozen people and kids the people will just kick it, play games by putting obstacle in fronts of it or pile garbage and shit on a set of tables or whatever place.
If the restaurant is left unattended for whatever reason for a couple hours, or the janitor present doesn't care then why not come to the place with alcohol, your own food in addition to a Cheeseburger here and there, boom boxes and do whatever pleases you? Could be fun really. But then the place would have to be thoroughly watched by cameras and they send the cops or security guards and it goes even more downhill.