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The Carbon Robotics CEO says robots will be today’s combine harvester

Founder and CEO Rosanna Myers sees a future for industrial automation and it looks a lot like 19th century farming.

At Recode’s Code Conference, founder and CEO Rosanna Myers busted the myths that robots are cheap and smart. But she predicts a future where robots will revolutionize work in the 21st century the way the combine harvester revolutionized farming in the 19th century.

Myers’s company, Carbon Robotics, has worked on developing an industrial-grade robotic arm for industrial automation.

Myers wants you to know that 90 percent of all tasks that could be automated are currently done by hand; by developing robotic tools we will no longer have to treat people like machines. However, the robotics industry has been blocked by what she describes as “design orthodoxy,” meaning that there haven’t been many major design breakthroughs in robotics in recent years that will make this future a reality.

But she has a few suggestions to bring us up to speed on industrial automation:

  • It’s important to focus on people rather than technology. In robotics, human users are often overlooked in favor of the tech.
  • Don’t shy away from talking about jobs in favor of only talking about tasks. Yes, talking about jobs and job loss is political, but it’s a conversation that should be had.

“This is a really special time for robots and for people. When we get there, just like the combine harvester, we will not look back.”

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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