NRI: Workers, Firms, and Industries in Robotic Regions

这个研究项目的重点是美国机器人产业和机器人技术的经济影响。研究人员将生成新的数据，然后进行分析。该项目的目标是评估机器人对工作和经济的影响，随着机器人能力的重大飞跃，机器人与人类的合作成为可能。它将以研究小组以前的工作为基础，这些工作描述了美国机器人产业的特点，并确定了与机器人相关的相对密集的研究、开发和商业的地区。研究人员将使用一种混合方法，将机器人的使用和扩散置于区域背景下。他们将调查制造商的机器人使用情况和相关的就业模式，并调查系统集成商；他们之前的研究已经确定，系统集成商对美国机器人行业至关重要。他们还将分析新的劳动力市场数据，以评估与机器人相关的就业供需，并将对两个具有重要机器人相关就业的机器人区域进行跨案例比较。这项研究将使当前和未来的政策制定者、工人和企业领导人能够做出更明智的决定，以预测和应对机器人在整个经济中的扩散。随着机器人的扩散，它将揭示不断变化的就业结构、不断变化的工作性质、企业战略和区域经济演变。专业和贸易协会、区域规划、劳动力和经济发展机构以及大众媒体将成为传播努力的对象。鉴于协作机器人在制造业的兴起和预计向服务业的扩散，拟议的研究将促进对21世纪技术与工作之间关系的理解，满足评估机器人不仅仅是先进制造技术的需要。它采用综合方法来评估技术变革，将区域经济发展的理论观点和实证分析与机器人开发和生产采用的工程方法相结合。研究团队是多学科的，包括经济发展规划和机器人工程教授。这项提议的研究扩展了该团队的初步研究，该研究表明，在美国已经出现了不同的机器人区域。它通过使用行业调查和案例研究方法，以及通过大数据收集技术的进步对实时劳动力市场数据的分析，克服了国家和国家以下各级机器人使用和扩散的实际数据的严重不足。通过确定导致机器人技术创新和影响当地企业使用机器人决策的区域因素，本研究将为当地政策制定者提供知识，以在快速技术变革的背景下培育具有竞争力和弹性的地方。

This research project focuses on the U.S. robotics industry and the economic impacts of robotics technology. The researchers will generate new data and then analyze it. The goal of the project is to assess the impacts of robotics on work and the economy following a significant leap in robotic capabilities that has enabled robot-human collaboration. It will build on previous work of the research team, which characterized the U.S. robotics industry and identified regions that host relatively intense research, development, and commerce relating to robotics. The researchers will use a mixed methods approach that situates robot use and diffusion in a regional context. They will survey manufacturers about their robot use and associated employment patterns, and they survey of systems integrators; their prior research has determined that systems integrators are as a group crucial to the U.S. robotics industry. They will also analyze novel labor market data to assess robot-related employment supply and demand, and they will conduct a cross-case comparison of two robotic regions that have significant robotics-related employment. This research will enable current and future policy makers, workers, and corporate leaders to make more informed decisions in anticipation of-and in response to-the diffusion of robots throughout the economy. It will shed light on evolving employment structures, the changing nature of work, firm strategies, and regional economic evolution as robots diffuse. Professional and trade associations, regional planning, workforce and economic development agencies, and popular media will be targeted for dissemination efforts. The proposed research will advance understanding of the relationship between 21st century technology and work, meeting a need to assess robots as more than just advanced manufacturing technology, given the rise of collaborative robots in manufacturing and expected diffusion into the service sector. It employs a comprehensive approach to assessing technological change by combining theoretical perspectives and empirical analysis of regional economic development with engineering approaches to robot development and adoption in production. The research team is multidisciplinary, including professors of economic development planning and robotics engineering. The proposed research extends the team's preliminary research, which indicates that distinct robotic regions have emerged within the US. It overcomes the significant deficit of actual data on robot use and diffusion at the national and subnational levels through the use of industry survey and case study methodologies, and through an analysis of real time labor market data made possible through advances in big data collection. By identifying regional factors that lead to innovations in robotics technologies and influence local firm decisions to use robots, this research will equip local policy makers with knowledge to foster competitive and resilient places in the context of rapid technological change.