There’s a 50-50 chance that one-day we will be replaced by robots. a recent study by Oxford University researchers found that 47% of the labor market in the US alone is at risk of being merchandised out of existence.

Some say there are human jobs technology can never replace –

CREATIVE ARTS – Even with all the technology to paint and design online, art is an expression of human creativity, imagination, improvisation and individuality, something computers will never have.

SPORTS – Are addictive because of the human narrative, more than the sport we are drawn to the players, rivalries, fitness and stakes a robot will never be able to replace that. Imagine robots playing football at Wembley!

MEDICAL – Although some aspects of medicine are based entirely on medical data and technical expertise a bot would never be capable of handling bedside manner, making decisions, compassion and intuition. Legal issues alone will ensure a bot doctor will never replace a human.

TEACHING – Online courses are increasing in popularity, but would a computer be able to understand objectives? Nature and math’s are not just based on knowledge. What about music, art and literature very doubtful let alone teach it with feeling. Computers will never be able to personalise on a student – teacher connection, for that a human hand will always be needed.

‘A teacher takes a hand opens a mind and touches a heart’

Then again there are times that connecting with a robotic hand could change the course of our lives –

CREATIVITY – We could work with a bot whereby they bring space awareness and solve problems on how to implement our creativity for example in architecture.

SPORTS – A robot could become a teammate learning the preferences, timing and body language of their human team members.

MEDICAL – Perhaps in a hospital nurses could have robots helping them where they are short staffed. So at night there could be two nurses with 6 robots assisting them.

TEACHING – Just as the personal computer has become acceptable in school perhaps robots may become the teachers’ assistant. A teacher with a robot assistant could be more successful than a teacher facing a class of 30 kids alone!

‘Two pairs of hands are better than one!’

MANUFACTURING – Leaps in machine intelligence could create space for people to specialise in more emotive occupations – a world of artists, therapists and educators, maybe a robots helping hand will actually give us more time to get in touch with each other.

We know that robots struggle with the essence of I, but robots working on the factory floor doing the heavy lifting may save injuries. There are definitely places where bots and the human hand can work together giving precision.

In the injured body, robotic hands are now being designed to work with the human body to lift weights, one day they could have a mind of their own to anticipate the wearers needs say researchers.

If a robot did the cooking at home we would have more time to spend with our families, and not having to clean up is definitely a plus!

FOOD PREPARATION – There’s now even a robotic burger flipper and pizza maker, a robot can now slice, grind and fry! Bots may soon be fitted with smell-o-meter sensors that can detect food going bad.

FEELING – Feelings can now be perceived through electrodes which means the robotic hand in 5 years time could be near natural. When you touch something you are doing more than feeling it, your hand emits heat and you are changing the surface, which means you are also feeling its reaction to your touch. With the development of SynTouch a robots hand can now be programmed to emulate this by radiating heat to know if the surface is rough, smooth, coarse, soft or hard.

One thing is sure the touch of a human hand-to-hand can never be replaced

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Karen J