6 ways robots will change your life in the near future - and 1 they won’t, according to NVIDIA executive

• Robots will bring major changes to the industrial world.
• But how could that impact ordinary people in Britain?
• A silicon valley executive has delivered his verdict - and revealed 6 ways they could change your lives.

A fourth industrial revolution is upon us and this time it will be televised. I jest, but I have been out at the 2024 World Congress on Innovation & Technology in Yerevan, Armenia and one of the big topics of discussion is the way that artificial intelligence will move beyond the digital world and into the real world.

Rev Lebaredian, NVIDIA’s vice president of Ominiverse and simulation technology, delivered a keynote speech on how physical AI will be the next big leap in the near future. Don’t worry if you are scratching your head at that term, I’ll get to it later in the article.

He has also shared his advice for parents and children who are starting to consider potential lines of work for the future.

But how will this fourth industrial revolution - driven by robotics - change your life? Here’s all you need to know:

What is a robot?

It sounds like a simple question, but a key part of understanding what’s to come in this article is getting a picture in your mind of what a robot actually is. You are probably thinking of something like C3PO, but according to Rev a robot can be almost anything.

A building with complex systems like facial recognition cameras, climate control, etc, is actually a robot - he told the conference. Even cities, if it was all run as a symbiotic entity - traffic lights, automated public services - could be a robot.

But the NVIDIA executive was at lengths to stress that it will be so-called ‘physical AI’ which will make this fourth industrial revolution possible. Now, you are probably scratching your head at this term - since AI-tools are usually limited to your phone or computer.

A physical AI is a robot, installed with advanced computing technology, which can learn and even anticipate. It will be key to things like self-driving cars. These robots will be trained in simulations before being loosed upon the real world.

But what benefits could this bring? How could this change your lives? Let’s take a look:

Supermarket shelves could be stocked by robots - and they could drive trucks as well

You may remember headlines from a couple of years ago about some industries in the UK struggling to fill jobs - particularly in the service industry, but there are problems in other areas like logistics and retail. These are important roles that need to be filled - and this is where robots could step in.

Rev explains: “[Industries] don't have enough people to hire to go stock shelves there just isn't. I was in Germany a few months back, we work closely with all the big auto manufacturers and I was talking to BMW and they have this problem that the most expert people who operate their factories, who work in them, are retiring and they don't have enough people to replace them.

“You go talk to people who are shipping and logistics, there's not enough truck drivers in the world. And that number is shrinking. The total number of actual people is shrinking.

“And so we have to get those things done somehow. Well, how are we going to do that? The only real solution to that is to go create these autonomous systems that can actually do that.”

Could robots take your jobs? Top exec delivers his verdict. Photo: stokkete - stock.adobe.com | stokkete - stock.adobe.com

Complex surgeries that humans can’t manage may become possible

The idea of a robot operating on you might sound extremely far-fetched and scary. But they could be deployed in hospitals for procedures that humans can’t possibly manage.

We are dexterous creatures but there are limits to what we can physically achieve. And this is where robots could come in, according to Rev.

He explains: “This is something that's taking off right now. There's surgical procedures you can't do with human hands the robots are doing currently.”

Obviously the robots will still be under the watchful eye of an experienced surgeon and medical team. So it’s not like you are being left alone with a roomba armed with a scalpel.

Robots could help to take care of the elderly

One potential application of robots would be to ease the burden in taking care of the elderly, according to Rev. Old people need a lot of support and resources when being cared for and younger people “don't want to do those things”, he explains, but could robots be the answer to this problem.

He told us: “I think it'll particularly be interesting in healthcare, in hospitals, in taking care of our elderly and whatnot. But I think it's going to be uneven how it's deployed and where.

“Some cultures are just more amenable to it. I think in Japan they'll be just fine with it. They consider robots just culturally as a good thing.

“In the West, particularly the U.S., our vision of a humanoid robot is Terminator. You know, that's just, there's cultural elements that play here. So we'll see how consumers react to this and how they adapt and whatnot, where they'll come in unevenly.”

Physical AI could help develop new drugs

The NVIDIA executive and other speakers at WCIT were eager to emphasis the important role that AI and robots (physical AI as it was referred to) could help innovate in the world of medicine. We have already seen above how they could be used to treat the elderly and even in making complex surgeries possible.

Rev added: “There's also drug creation that's physical AI as well understanding the world of chemicals and atoms and whatnot. Then once you actually design that drug, you have to actually go manufacture it and create it. And that's gonna require all kinds of robotics.”

Used to improve logistics - like your parcels from Amazon

The most likely area that mass-market robotics will first be seen will be in the world of industry. Robotic arms are already used in manufacturing of cars, but different forms of physical AI powered bots could be deployed in factories and warehouses in the near future.

The NVIDIA executive explained: “Our bet is that we're going to first apply it in industry, where we have this great demand. And these are great big industries with lots of money in the industry.

“There's a lot of need for it there's really no other solution anyway, so that's where I personally am hyper focused. I think they're going to show up in factories, in warehouses and you can see Amazon, the most advanced company in the world as far as logistics and shipping things around, they've been investing in they're the most advanced in robotics because of what they need to do.”

Will robots take our jobs?

The AI-boom has seen concerns about artificial intelligence replacing jobs - cough, in journalism, cough. An industrial revolution which saw humanoid robots arriving in factories and other workplaces may also have you sweating wondering if your job could be at risk in the future.

Rev attempted to calm those concerns, explaining: “Well, you know, I think nobody can say, of course, they're not. There's going to be some things that are going to be replaced.

“It's more like we're creating new jobs. All the assumptions we've made about the economy is growing, productivity is growing, that ends if the populations get smaller, so there's plenty of jobs for robots, there's already unfilled jobs that we need to put the robots on. We don't have to worry so much about them taking away other jobs.”

How long will this robotics revolution take?

If you are wondering whether we will have robots stamping around our house in the next 18 months or so, that is probably unlikely - as it will likely be in the world of manufacturing and logistics that will see it first, according to Rev. But in terms of how long that could take, it is hard to put a timeline on it, says the NVIDIA executive.

He explained: “We're at that inflection point. Can I predict it's going to be in one year versus four years? I don't know exactly.

“That's not how technology and markets and stuff work. But all the fundamental things in order to get there are in place, finally. And so we're going all in on this.”

I am at the World Congress on Innovation and Technology from 4 October to 7 October. You can find all my stories from the event here. You can get in touch with me by emailing: [email protected]