
The Library
Cobots, “collaboration” and the replacement of human skill
Tools
Sorell, Tom (2022) Cobots, “collaboration” and the replacement of human skill. Ethics and Information Technology, 24 (44). doi:10.1007/s10676-022-09667-6 ISSN 1388-1957.
|
PDF
WRAP-Cobots-“collaboration”-replacement-human-skill-Sorell-2022.pdf - Published Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (647Kb) | Preview |
|
![]() |
PDF
WRAP-Cobots-“collaboration”-replacement-human-skill-Sorell-2022.pdf - Accepted Version Embargoed item. Restricted access to Repository staff only - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (587Kb) |
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-022-09667-6
Abstract
Automation does not always replace human labour altogether: there is an intermediate stage of human co-existence with machines, including robots, in a production process. Cobots are robots designed to participate at close quarters with humans in such a process. I shall discuss the possible role of cobots in facilitating the eventual total elimination of human operators from production in which co-bots are initially involved. This issue is complicated by another: cobots are often introduced to workplaces with the message (from managers) that they will not replace human operators but will rather assist human operators and make their jobs more interesting and responsible. If, in the process of learning to assist human operators, robots acquire the skills of human operators, then the promise of avoiding replacement can turn out to be false, and if a human operator loses his job, he has been harmed twice over: once by unemployment and once by deception. I shall suggest that this moral risk attends some cobots more than others.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | Q Science > Q Science (General) T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery |
||||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies | ||||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Automation, Human-robot interaction, Autonomous robots, Manufacturing processes -- Automation, Automation -- Social aspects, Labor supply -- Effect of automation on, Technological unemployment, Automation -- Economic aspects | ||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Ethics and Information Technology | ||||||
Publisher: | Springer Netherlands | ||||||
ISSN: | 1388-1957 | ||||||
Official Date: | 6 October 2022 | ||||||
Dates: |
|
||||||
Volume: | 24 | ||||||
Number: | 44 | ||||||
DOI: | 10.1007/s10676-022-09667-6 | ||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||
Reuse Statement (publisher, data, author rights): | This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-022-09667-6 | ||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 21 September 2022 | ||||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 13 October 2022 | ||||||
Related URLs: |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
![]() |
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year