Robots replace humans as labour shortages bite

A recent article in the Financial Times has highlighted the growing reliance that certain industrial sectors have on automated systems, including robots, to perform functions that were previously the domain of human beings.

This represents a growing trend for the technology sector, with advanced computer systems now running machines within the work space that interact with human co-workers.

There are, of course, wider socioeconomic issues than just the advance of technology at play here - how does a government plan to keep its population at work when smart robots can do their jobs more reliably and do not need rest or time off - but some old technology contracting issues remain as valid today as they always have.

How does a customer contract to get what it has been sold? How do pricing mechanisms work in this new area? What level of functionality and service should a hybrid system of computer hardware, software and robots actually provide?

These are not new topics for IT lawyers to deal with and so the rapid deployment of autonomous warehousing systems are examples of new technologies being rolled out but they remain subject to existing commercial disciplines which should be followed as best practice.