Comment on Automated catalyst testing uses two coordinated robots, cutting 32 days of work to 17 hours
t3rmit3@beehaw.org 15 hours agoBut what’s newsworthy about this in 2026?
It’s about framing the debate of “robots doing work” in terms of being a positive thing (“see? they’re helping us do important SCIENCE!”) so that people will be just a little less combative when they get a BigMac handed to them by a robot arm.
hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 15 hours ago
Hehe. Sure. I mean it’s a blessing or can be problematic… I think most people appreciate a TV set is a few hundred bucks these days. Or the availability of smartphones and home computers. That’s only possible because of modern pick and place machines. I think our world would look a bit more like the victorian age if we didn’t have those modern perks. Each computer would be hand-soldered by a workforce of hundreds of people. Fill several rooms and be slow and unaffordable for anyone except the government…
But automation is problematic as well. I mean we’re arguing about it since the Industrial Revolution.
t3rmit3@beehaw.org 6 hours ago
I’m not arguing against the automation used in this particular case; that sounds perfectly reasonable.
I’m arguing that the only reason it’s newsworthy is because companies want to put a positive spin on automation right now, right as the majority of companies expanding automation aren’t doing it to benefit workers.
hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 6 hours ago
Ah, thx. Makes sense, now I get it.