機器人可能更擅于處理類似搬重設備和追蹤庫存情況等等，但并不意味著人類工作很快會被取代。

在某些情況下，機器人還能幫人保住飯碗。

機器人制造商Fetch Robotics的首席執行官麥羅尼·威瑟就這么認為。Fetch Robotics制造的機器人會跟在倉庫工人身后在設備周圍活動，就像自動移動的存儲容器。本周二彭博新聞社在舊金山舉辦了一場科技行業會議，威瑟和多位機器人專家共同出席，還在會上發表了講話。

威瑟承認“人們擔心”機器人興起可能會減少就業機會，但她認為這種想法“有失偏頗”。威瑟表示，如果機器人是她的公司生產的，機器人還能“保住人們的工作。”

機器人可以攜帶大量設備，比人類工人的負重能力強，跟在背部和膝蓋有不便的倉庫工人身邊，工人們就不必再圍著龐大的設備走來走去。由于機器人可以轉移倉庫的存貨，工人們也不用像過去一樣在倉庫里頻繁折返。

威瑟說，機器人能減少藍領倉庫工人身上經常出現的勞損，緩解疲勞，進而延長職業壽命。此外，采用機器人維護以后，設備的運行效率往往更高，也會因為生產力提高而降低了關停設備的概率。她解釋說，即使有一名工人因為機器人而失去工作，也好過倉庫關門大吉，40名工人失業。

當然，威瑟是機器人制造公司的負責人，不贊同機器人減少就業的觀點很正常。不過，機器人技術近些年已經非常先進，在許多工作上都比人類表現好，并且極大地改變了勞動力的格局，所以她的看法也值得注意。

隨著硬件成本下降，相關技術不斷問世，制造商和業內企業開發機器人的速度越來越快。另一機器人公司Savioke的聯合創始人泰莎·劉說，有了3D打印技術，只用幾天就能開發原型，過去需要幾個月。不過，機器人離全面普及還有些距離。

威瑟估計，目前全球可能僅有150萬左右機器人投入工作。她介紹，許多機器人公司在為“格局明確環境”開發機器人，比如適合倉庫之類環境簡單，機器人可以輕松辨別方向的場景。在城市街道等“格局不明環境”中，機器人周圍有眾多不同的參照物，了解周遭環境并高效運作的難度大得多。

谷歌之類科技巨頭正致力于研發無人駕駛汽車，對機器人制造商可能會有所推動，也可能掀起“更智能化”機器人的熱潮。威瑟解釋說，所謂“更智能化”，是指新型機器人能在復雜的環境和情況下應付更自如。

泰莎·劉指出，在《杰森一家》（The Jetsons）等熱門電影和電視節目中，制造真人一樣的機器人看上去“極其容易”。事實卻是，造機器人“其實真的很難”，遠沒有好萊塢編導們想象中那么簡單。劉說，我們不過是在機器人行業革新的初期，發展過程是“緩慢的，循序漸進的”。（財富中文網）

譯者：Pessy

審校：夏林

Robots might be getting better at performing tasks like carrying heavy equipment and tracking store inventory, but that doesn’t mean they will be replacing humans at work anytime soon.

In some cases, robots can help save jobs.

That’s the opinion of Melonee Wise, the CEO of Fetch Robotics, a company that builds robots that follow warehouse workers around facilities and act as autonomously moving storage containers. Wise spoke on Tuesday along with a panel of robotics experts at a Bloomberg technology conference in San Francisco.

Wise admitted that “people are concerned” the rise of robots could mean less jobs for humans, but she thinks that belief is a “misnomer.” In the case of her company’s warehouse robots, those devices “enable people to keep jobs longer,” she posited.

Warehouse workers with bad backs and knees don’t have to walk around huge facilities as much with robot helpers following them and carrying more supplies than what the workers can handle themselves. Because the robots carry warehouse inventory, the workers don’t need to zig-zag back and forth the warehouse as often as they would without them.

She said that the robots cut down on the wear and tear of the human body, which typically occurs for these blue-collar warehouse workers and thus prolongs their careers. Additionally, facilities that use robots tend to be more efficient and are less likely to get shut down because of their increased productivity. Even if one worker loses a job because of a robot, that’s better than 40 workers losing their jobs if a warehouse gets closed, she explained.

Of course, Wise runs a robot company, so it’s likely she disagrees with the notion that more robots mean less jobs. But her opinion is noteworthy given the perception that robots have become so advanced in recent years that they stand to outperform humans in many tasks and dramatically alter the workforce.

Cheaper hardware and emerging technologies have enabled manufacturers and companies to develop robots faster than ever. Tessa Lau, co-founder of robotics company Savioke, said 3D printing has allowed her company to develop prototypes in days as opposed to months. Still, robots are far from commonplace.

Wise said there are probably only around 1.5 millions robots that have been deployed and are active in the world. Many robotic companies are developing robots in “structured environments,” like warehouses in which the environments are more mapped out and easier for a robot to orient itself in, she said. Within “unstructured environments,” like city streets for example, it’s much harder for a robot to learn the surroundings amidst many different variables and operate efficiently.

However, the work that companies like Google GOOG -0.01% are doing on self-driving cars has the possibility to create a spill-over effect to robotic companies, and it could create a wave of “smarter” robots that can function better in environments and conditions that are less predictable, she explained.

Popular movies and television shows like The Jetsons portray human-like robots that look “deceptively easy” to create, suggested Lau. The reality is that “it is really, really hard” to make robots, much less the ones dreamed up by Hollywood executives. We are in the beginnings of a robotics revolution, Lau said, but it will be “slow and incremental.”