News of the week

• • Locus Robotics layoffs
    • The mobile robot maker last week confirmed that it had a “small, targeted RIF,” or reduction in force.
    • North American robot orders dropped last year, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). Warehouse construction also declined by 25% in 2023, reported Interact Analysis, but demand for mobile robots did increase.
    • While relatively few robot providers shut down last year, the AMR space faced challenges. For example, Shopify sold 6 River Systems to Ocado at a loss.
    • We’ve gotten confirmation of layoffs at more companies, and we wish the best to those affected by such actions. Resources for job seekers include RoboticsCareer.org, RoboticsJobs.com, Robots.Jobs, and The Apprenticeship Playbook.
  • Recent humanoid announcements 
    • BMW is testing a Figure 01 humanoid at a South Carolina automotive plant in another significant commercial trial after Agility Robotics’ announcements last year of Digit at Amazon and GXO Logistics
    • Elon Musk said 1 billion humanoids are coming soon, as Tesla continues developing Optimus and there is speculation about stock maneuvering.
  • General AgTech news in addition CNHI:
    • farm-ng raised $10 million in Series A funding to scale the Amiga robot and AI for small to midsize farms.
    • John Deere and SpaceX to bring satellite connectivity to farmers and robots.
  • New MIT CSAIL study
    • A new study from MIT CSAIL, MIT Sloan, The Productivity Institute, and IBM’s Institute for Business Value provided more insight into how artificial intelligence could affect the job market. Its findings challenge the common belief that AI will put vast numbers of people out of work.
      • The study found that only about 23% of wages paid for tasks involving vision systems are economically viable for AI automation.
      • If development, deployment, and running costs decline, and the industry transforms to provide AI systems as a service, businesses could adopt AI more quickly, the researchers noted. All of these things lower the cost of investment for companies to deploy AI, making the technology more financially viable. This could lead to more rapid changes in the job market.
      • With more AI systems in place in the workforce, jobs could open up to maintain those systems, it said. As some jobs are automated, businesses will need more people to manage, maintain, and improve AI and robotics. 

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