The humans behind the robots

That’s the question at the heart of my story for our magazine, published online today, about whether we’ll trust humanoid robots enough to welcome them into our most private spaces, especially if they’re part of an asymmetrical employment relationship in which low-wage workers perform physical tasks for us in our homes through robotic interfaces. In the article, I wrote about a robotics company called Prosper and its massive efforts—bringing in ex-Pixar designers and professional butlers—to design a reliable household robot named Alfie. It’s quite a ride. Read the story here.

However, there is one bigger question that the story raises, about how profound a change in the dynamics of work robotics could bring in the coming years.

For decades, robots have been successful on conveyor belts and in other somewhat predictable environments. Then, in the last few years, robots have begun to learn tasks faster thanks to artificial intelligence, and this has expanded their applications to tasks in more chaotic environments, such as picking orders in warehouses. But a growing number of well-funded companies are pushing for an even more monumental shift.

Prosper and others are betting that they don’t need to build a perfect robot that can do everything on its own. Instead, I can build one that is pretty good, but receives help from remote operators anywhere in the world. If it works well enough, they hope to bring robots into jobs that most of us would assume could not be automated: the work of hotel maids, hospital caregivers or domestic help. “Pretty much any manual labor indoors” is on the table, Prosper founder and CEO Shariq Hashme told me.

Until now, we’ve mostly thought of automation and outsourcing as two separate forces that can affect the labor market. Jobs can be outsourced or lost to automation, but not both. A job that could not be sent abroad and could not yet be fully automated by machines, such as cleaning a hotel room, was going nowhere. Now, advances in robotics promise that employers can outsource such work to low-wage countries without needing the technology to fully automate it.

It is a difficult task, to be clear. Robots, as advanced as they are, can find it difficult to navigate complex environments like hotels and hospitals, even with assistance. That will take years to change. However, robots will only become more agile, as will the systems that allow them to be controlled from halfway around the world. In the end, those companies’ bets could pay off.