In my last video, several people mentioned possibly switching from traditional software development to robotics. In this video, we examine that proposition in more detail.
01:27 – LLM and robots?
02:04 – Human form robots?
03:24 – Industrial automation
06:05 – Productivity tension
06:36 – Retail and restaurants
07:30 – Agriculture robots
08:07 – Military robots
09:10 – Consumer robots
10:58 – Human-like robots
12:26 – Software engineering and robotics
13:37 – Software jobs and robotics
15:32 – Economic challenges
18:25 – Big problems
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You deleted my comment on your last video. Not sure what I said wrong…
Would you agree that it's a good thing that Earths population is on the decline, just as we enter the age of AGI powered androids and a decreasing need for workers?
I'm a robotics and AI engineer, with a background in Mechanical engineering and went to grad school for robotics and AI. It's not an easy pivot or a career to go and chill š . Robotics of previous decades is not the same as modern robotics. Before, you needed to understand electromechanical fundamentals and you could work your way through the rest. In today's robotics, you need to understand some new fundamentals you need to have development skills to start with then add on the fundamentals of AI and background knowledge in computer science. Then you need to choose your focus whether it's manipulators, Mobility locomotion, Sensing and perception, Operator interface, Manipulators, and effectors each of those requires programming skills. The same computer science fundamentals are required when building autonomous systems (could be vehicles or some other system). It's also not that easy for the companies building these systems to make them work and produce them in mass at a profitable cost and retain their staff. It's a long-term investment career and I would consider it as R&D. You can also go into automation & manufacturing which is more accessible and stable as a career since manufacturing plants use automation anyway.
Thank you for this sober and informed view of this topic. All the hypers, though they may attract many funds to the field right now, should be aware that hypes create expectation bubbles and when they burst, many times a big peroid of questioning and a big drawback can occur.
Hello I am a junior in college with no internships. Should I keep learning spring or jump to rust for now and the future?
Funny how you mention the investments going into 1X/Figure but leave Tesla's Optimus out lol.. Mass manufacturing is what matters and Tesla will own on that front
atleast i can say that i was 4Y ahead for getting in robotics .
Nah, better build out cognitive assistants. There is no shortage of physical workers, but cognitive workers are very rare. We got a lot of actors impersonating cognitive workers, but thatās quickly going away.
I refuse to program PLC tho
Robotics engineer here – labour cost alone is not a meaningful metric. Human presence reduces opportunities to automate (a lot of safety-related limitations). Even if cost is only 10% now, removing a human altogether can allow you to build cars a few times faster, so cost savings will be way above 10% that you'll shave off human labour.
And don't hold your breath on robots co-existing with humans. Even if technology will deliver (spoiler alert – it won't), the regulations will catch up years later. Large red e-stop buttons will be pervasive for years to come.
As for 3D-printing – not that useless, 3D-printing unlocked generative design. You cannot machine such shapes with the regular subtractive machining, but metal 3D-printing can do all those organic shapes easily. In prototypes or in scale – does not matter.
Hey Will, just dropped by to say that after watching your video, I'm convinced my toaster is plotting against me with the vacuum cleaner. But seriously, your dive into the robotics and AI world was as enlightening as it was entertaining! It's like we're living in a sci-fi movie, except the robots haven't taken over… yet. Thanks for making such a complex topic accessible and fun. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go reassure my household appliances that I still love them, despite my newfound fear of a robot uprising. Keep up the fantastic work, and I can't wait for your next video where you teach us how to negotiate peace treaties with our future robot overlords.
Quite insightful
Knew i wasnt dumb trying to figure out to to get into robotics. This feels like early internet era for robotics. No HTTPS standard for the internet
Really dig your content. Could you make a video talking about how you see Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) advancing with companies pursuing human integration, as well as some robotics companies developing prosthetics for human augmentation? I think I can see these two joining in the next 30 years.
I've been watching a lot of low-level programming channels lately and started dabbling with C. Systems engineering is a field that I would like to get into soon… sounds way cooler than building the 100th version of the same crud app.
Youāre obviously thoughtful. I liked your video about āwhen will the developer jobs come backā. Really put it into context why Iād had such a hard time getting my most recent position. Hm, robots, eh? Seems like an easy transition for some SWEās. I for one already know C++, thatās a start. Well, maybe if all the software gigs disappear, Iāll look into it. Iām still getting paid to push tickets through JIRA for nowā¦
I always wonder how a universal basic income would work considering things like debt, like certain people would have mortgages, student loans etc. Makes me wonder how that would all pan out.
You should directly link sites that you show in the description š
The movie "Hidden Figures" provided a good snap shot of what happened to mathematicians, that did hand calculations for NASA, during the 60's space program, when computers starting to pop-up at their facilities. I think we are at a similar inflection point now. And would venture to predict that coding tasks will predominantly be done by AI, by the end of this decade. The new human job will be something like AI-Agent Mentor. Someone who is effective at training, guiding, and achieve efficient output from custom AI-Agents.
Very informative; thank you.