Comments by "Vitaly L" (@vitalyl1327) on "Developers: Pivot to Robotics?" video.

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.
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@Blimzio Not sure I met any ageism, and I am a bit older than you. And most of people I work with are about my age. A lot of us are from different backgrounds - I am a former particle physycist, we have former game developers in our team, people with other STEM-related backgrounds, pure matematicians, mechanical engineers, etc. So I'd say - go for it, it won't hurt, this is the domain that will exist (and remain quite conservative) for quite a while.
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@jimj2683 firstly, this is wrong and depends on alloy (see the 3D-printed rocket engines for example). Secondly, you don't need stronger with a generative design, you can get away with weaker and less material.
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@cryora and this is an incredibly hard problem to solve. Soft robotics (e.g., pneumatic actuators) can be promising, but there is a lot of unsolved issues with it. The usual hydraulic or direct drive electric actuation is not yet suitable for operating in the same space as humans - even if sensing and control is solved, there is still a need to prove that it is 100% perfect and glitches won't happen. Regulators at the moment only accept the full shutdown, no actuators powered as a safety threshold for humans (e.g., in industrial robotic cells).
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@ChangeNode agree, 3D printing did mot become a consumer end product. Plastic 3D printing is now an indispensible tool in any engineering and design shop, but is still too conolicated to be delivered to the masses.
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@DensityMatrix1 for AMRs, even fork lifts - sure, problem is mostly solved. The moment any manipulation is added (arms and such), humans are out.
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@DensityMatrix1 exactly - humans and robots are separated, robots are in well defined cell boundaries and there are numerous e-stop triggers, including light fences and such. They cannot co-exist in the same reach space.
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@Blimzio with an experience in the other fields you're not starting as a junior. And it does not matter if the experience is not directly relevant.
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