Have you seen a good drone show lately? Summertime means the skies usually light up with traditional fireworks for various celebrations, but those noisy pyrotechnics are giving way to aerial drones coordinated in intricate displays. For some, they’ve upped “ooh-ahh” factor considerably.
Of course, drones—the mobile kind you see on plant floors—sometimes invoke a different kind of emotion. Instead of canines feeling terror, humans may feel terrorized, or at least worried about being replaced. The oohs and aahs sometimes become much different types of exclamations.
Drones and robots are part of automation growth and, like it or not, they're increasing in value for process operators because safety, efficiency and sustainability are paramount. As pointed out by our newest columnist, Penny Chen, senior technology strategist at Yokogawa, process operators favorably compare the time and costs associated with robot deployments to preparing human workers with personal protective equipment such as fire suits.
Chen adds mobile drones and robots often do the “dirty and dangerous” work, freeing humans to perform much bigger, collaborative tasks. So, while fears understandably arise that humans will be replaced in plants like fireworks are being replaced at Independence Day celebrations, rest assured the technology is available to augment digitalized process control, not dominate it.
And there’s also the reality that there aren’t as many workers to replace. It’s no secret that next-generation process control engineers are hard to find. As Russ Rhinehart shows in his feature on scarce engineering graduates, the downward trend in interest in the discipline will soon make hiring entry-level employees very competitive. Having automated processes at the ready means those new hires can be used for more thought-provoking and collaborative ideation. It may actually be a more interesting and exciting way to begin their careers.
This discussion isn't new. The convergence of humans and automation is a debate happening in all walks of life. We’ll continue to explore how we’ll adapt to the influx of robots and drones in our lives, but it behooves us to remember that just as the drones in the sky aren’t destroying our summer nights, they aren’t destroying our work either.
