Robots Learning to Pick and Sort

December 13, 2022

Through gains in artificial intelligence, cameras, and engineering, roboticists are building robots capable of “seeing” objects of varying shapes and, by adjusting their mechanical grasp, picking up the objects and sorting them. This skill, the Washington Post reports, opens the door for robots to take over a variety of jobs long thought suitable only for humans. This is just what Stuart W. Elliott worries about. Writing in Issues, he calls for policymakers and researchers to regularly monitor the growing capabilities of information technology and robotics and how they might transform jobs and affect employment in coming decades.