Robots Could be NH Next New Industry

By Sheryl Rich-Kern on Monday, January 22, 2007.

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State officials say the manufacturing industry will lose around 2700 jobs by 2014.

The decline is felt around the country, as local businesses struggle to compete with foreign markets.

To stay afloat, many companies are replacing wage-earning humans with cost-efficient robots.

But, experts say, while technology eliminates some jobs, it may be making room for others.

NHPR Correspondent Sheryl Rich Kern reports.

The New Hampshire Labor Bureau says the state has lost more than 26,000 manufacturing jobs over the last six years.

Part of the reason, says State economist Peter Bartlett, is that our factories face stiff overseas competition.

But, says Bartlett, don’t blame foreign trade for all the job losses.

Bartlett: One of the factors is increasing automation, using computers, using machines that can increase the output of people, and very often allow tasks to be done with fewer people.

Part of that automation, says Bartlett, is robots.

According to the World Trade Organization – since 2001 -- three million people have lost their jobs to computers and robots.

Consider:

Foley: Anything a robot is doing, a human being has done before that.

That’s Edward Foley. He represents the Sheet Metal Workers Union in New Hampshire.

Foley says he doesn’t have his head in the sand.

He knows manufacturers need to automate in order to compete.

Yet, when it comes to robots:

Foley: You can program them, but ultimately they can not think.

At least not think the way humans think.

Professor Tom Goulding chairs the computer science and robotics department at Daniel Webster College in Nashua.

Goulding: Mobile robots tend to be very intelligent, because they’re navigating often on their own, so they need to avoid obstacles, they need to have sensors on them to tell them where to go.

And Goulding adds robots can travel places people may not want to go.

Goulding: If you’re looking at handling hazardous materials, if you’re looking at firefighting, these are things that are great opportunities for autonomous vehicle solutions that allow human beings to stand out of the danger.

New Hampshire companies are doing much of the innovative work behind what he calls intelligent mobile devices.

One company, MobileRobots, is headquartered off the beaten path in Amherst.

door opening and closing, ambient noise, sound of small motor machine - fade under

Enter this modest brick building, and you’re left wondering if anyone’s around --

Until what looks a round TV cart on wheels speaks and offers to lead you down the hall.

(computerized voice) Patty: hello, welcome to Mobilerobots, inc. my name is Patty, let me show you…

Like the robots in science fiction, Patty knows exactly where she’s going.

Patty is connected to the company’s wireless network, and she has her own internal GPS.

Jeanne Dietsch is MobileRobots’ CEO.

She explains that her customers use robots to increase their efficiencies. …and consequently save money.

Dietsch: Typically, the key reason people are adopting them in manufacturing is because there is some kind of bottleneck, some kind of reliability issue the robot needs to solve.

For example, at California Steel, quality control personnel used to wait for someone to deliver a steel sample every ten minutes. The samples never got there on time because…

DietschCalifSteel: it’s very difficult to get from one end of the building to the other with the steel sample at a regular basis. They’ve been doing it with golf carts, a person driving the golf cart over. Every ten minutes the person would like to be do something other than sit and wait for the steel sample in between. The robot’s perfect for that sort of application.

Deitsch admits that sometimes making a company more efficient means cutting jobs.

But she believes in the long run, her industry will help the economy.

Many More Jobs: You have to look at technology and how many jobs it creates versus how many jobs it changes, Robots, like computers, will make many more jobs than they replace.

Ambient sound under
To demonstrate her robots’ special talents, Dietsch goes out to her warehouse where engineers try out their prototypes.

She walks over to what she calls Seekur.

It's an indoor/outdoor security guard that can detect intruders and patrol property in all sorts of weather.

Dietsch: What else is unique about him is that he’s got omni-directional wheels, and that means he can drive suddenly sideways. He can be driving forward and all of a sudden go –vroop - which is very good for avoiding being hit.

Seekur doesn’t come with surprises. Of course, the same can’t be said of employees.

Daniel Webster College's Professor Tom Goulding.

Goulding: One thing you don’t want in a robot is the erratic behavior sometimes known in human beings. We want very predictable performance out of a robot. But if a robot is going to speak to you, it’s nice if it has a very pleasant voice.

And that’s why the company, MobileRobots, is currently programming personality into its synthesized voicing:

RobotVoice2: (pitch changes with each phrase) We can speak with several voices. Different voices make robots more expressive and unique. Robots can speak in a very fast voice. Or low and slow. Someday I hope to speak as well as the hosts on NPR. (laughter, fade under)

Programming computers to talk and serve as co-workers is a hot topic in the educational market.

At colleges, and even at the high school level, schools are fine-tuning their curriculum to include robotics.

For example, Worcester Polytech will offer the country’s first bachelors degree in robotics engineering.

Professor Goulding:

Goulding: Many colleges like Daniel Webster have growing departments in gaming and robotics. We’re expecting our enrollments to almost triple this fall because of our emphasis in this particular area.

Goulding also says the future will see more companies creating teams of robots that travel together and communicate intelligently with a leader.

Unlike humans, they don't call in sick.

And more like robots, they’ll come equipped with navigational devices, compasses, and wireless communications.

And like TVs and computers, prices will likely fall, making robots part of our everyday workplace.

For NHPR News, this is Sheryl Rich-Kern in Nashua.