Now You Can Hire a Robotic Worker – Cheaper Than Hiring Humans

Polar Manufacturing We’ve been manufacturing metal hinges, locks and brackets in South Chicago for over 100 years. Some of the company’s metal presses—giant machines looming over workers—dating back to the 1950s.Last year, to meet growing demand amid worker shortages, Polar hired the first robot staff.

The robotic arm performs a simple repetitive job: lifts a piece of metal into the press, then bends the metal into a new shape. Like a human, robot workers are paid for the hours they work.

Jose Figueroa, who manages the Polar production line, said the robot was built from a company called Formic acid, the cost is equivalent to $8 per hour, while the minimum wage for human employees is $15 per hour. Deploying robots could allow human workers to do different jobs and increase production, Figueroa said.

Figueroa said: “Small companies sometimes suffer because they can’t put their money to invest in new technology. We’re just trying to raise the minimum wage.”

It’s critical that Polar doesn’t need to pay $100,000 up front to buy the robot and then spend more to program it. Figueroa said he hopes to see 25 robots come online within five years. He doesn’t plan to replace any of the company’s 70 employees, but said Polar may not need to hire new employees.

Formic buys standard robotic arms and rents them out with its own software. They are a minority but a growing number of robots entering the workplace on a pay-as-you-go basis.

caused by the epidemic worker shortage Across numerous industries, many small companies are reluctant to write big checks for automation.

“Anything that helps reduce labor numbers or labor needs is clearly an advantage during these extraordinary times,” said Chief Operating Officer Steve Chmura. Georgia Nuts, a candy company in Skokie, Illinois, has struggled to find employees and leased robots from Formic.

The robot-as-employee approach could help automation spread faster to small businesses by changing the economy. Companies such as Formic saw an opportunity to build large enterprises by serving many small companies. Many are mining the data they collect to help improve their products and improve their customers’ operations.

Shahan FalhiAs an investor in Formic, he likens the state of robotics today to computing before personal computers took off, when only wealthy companies could afford to invest in large computer systems that required a lot of expertise to program and maintain. Personal computing is provided by companies like Intel and Microsoft, which have made the technology cheap and easy to use. “We’re now using robots to get into the same time,” Farshchi said.

Robots have been taking on new jobs in recent years as technology has become more capable, easier and cheaper to deploy. Some hospitals use robots to deliver supplies, and some offices use robot security. The companies behind these robots usually offer them on a rental basis.

Jeff Bernstein, President Association for the Advancement of AutomationGrowing demand for automation from smaller companies is driving interest in robotics-as-a-service, an industry body said. This approach is especially popular among warehouse fulfillment companies, Burnstein said.