Toronto-based technology expert Avery Swartz spoke with CTV’s Your Friday Morning today. Swartz noted that we are on the cusp of the “next industrial revolution” of drones and robots. And in the case of robots, there has been a lot of discussion of them taking over jobs.
But she says that while it may be unclear what kind of impact drones will have on jobs, many economists and analysts think drones will transform jobs, instead of replacing jobs altogether. “Think about this as not being a complete threat to your livelihood,” Swartz said.
Dr. Catherine Ball, the founder of World of Drones Congress, spoke at the Vivid Ideas Exchange in Sydney, Australia last month. She said that the technological advances being made in robotics and autonomous or intelligent vehicles, and this can include drones, will not replace humans in the work arena.
Dr. Ball stressed that the technology will allow us to be “more human,” taking over the boring, monotonous tasks that most of us hate doing. Ball said this would “allow us to be more human; if we don’t have to do the dull, monotonous tasks, we can spend more time checking in with [people].”
Both Swartz and Ball seem to be on the same page when it comes to the new drone technology. Swartz cited the Seattle, Washington-based DroneSeed. The company is working with forestry companies to replant trees in deforested areas of the Pacific Northwest. With more than 300 million acres needing replanting, at today’s costs, it would take $100 billion to get the job done. She notes that a human tree planter can plant 800 trees on two acres a day. But that same person handling 15 drones can plant 800 seeds an hour.
Dr. Ball noted in her speech that “drone technology was about to do a flip.” She went on to say, “In 1982-83, when IBM started bringing out the first office computers, it was the time at which computers went from being games to being serious things. And drones are about at that now.” Dr. Ball pointed out that drones were already being used to monitor the Great Barrier Reef, delivering blood supplies in Rwanda, and assessing damage to infrastructure following Cyclone Debbie.
Even drones have their limitations
Some drone experts suggest that the best use of drones is in photography, along with agriculture, construction, inspection, and public safety and other civil government uses. However, they forget to mention the drone industry, itself. With the technological advancements being made today, the industry is wide-open.
And this revolution, if anyone wants to call it that, is something we should anticipate rather than wait for it to disrupt or change our lives and employment opportunities. Dr. Ball suggests that everyone should be pro-active in engaging these new technologies, setting up the rules-of-the-road that would allow it to meet our needs.
“We really need to take advantage of this technology, rather than wait for the next computer program or wait for the next software application or wait for the next drone to be developed. We need to start developing what we want to do with it.”
