General Motors has about 400 robots in their plants. These are used primarily for welding, painting and spraying, parts handling and die casting. One of the newest robots is being used for auto body inspection. Equipped with cameras, the robots have “seeing” ability that humans are not able to match. Only 400 now, but General Motors predicts 5,000 will be installed by 1985. According to published reports, they plan to install more than 14,000 by 1990. A word to the wise: These robots can be operated at a cost of $5.50 (U.S.) an hour. This includes purchase price and maintenance. Compare this with the $18.10 an hour paid the blue-collar auto worker in wages and benefits, and the lure of robots speaks for itself.

While robots in the work force may be responsible for greater productivity and a higher quality of workmanship, at the same time they present problems for the displaced workers. Addressing the subject of automation, Robert T. Lund, assistant director of the Center for Policy Alternatives at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that there would be “problems across the board for everyone affected by new technologies in the factory and the office.” Then he added: “Workers will have to move, learn new skills, change jobs​—all these things produce hardships.” Who will be faced with the greatest hardships? The young blue-collar worker may accept the move, the learning of new skills, the change of jobs, as an adventurous challenge. But what about the middle-aged workers, and those who can look back on their middle age? Will the move and the change be welcomed by them?

At present, the greatest number of robots are being used in the automotive industry. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler all “hire” robots. Many European countries also employ robots in the manufacturing of autos. Business Week magazine of August 3, 1981, comments on a study conducted by Carnegie–Mellon University on the impact of robots. The study concludes “that robots, plus those being developed with crude sensory abilities, could perform about 7 million existing factory jobs, at least 45% of which are covered by union contracts.” Business Week adds: “The United Auto Workers, one of the few unions that tries to anticipate automation, expects its auto industry membership to drop to 800,000 from 1 million between 1978 and 1990, even assuming a 1.8% annual increase in domestic auto sales.”