Now you can rent a robot worker – cheaper than paying a human

Photo 129638501 © Sompong Sriphet | Dreamstime.com

The economics of automating warehouse operations are becoming increasingly plain – in the US, the minimum wage for a worker is $15 an hour, while leasing a robot (as opposed to purchasing one for around $100,000) comes in at around $8 an hour.

This feature from Wired explains how the pandemic-induced labour shortages in production and distribution facilities led to the emergence of a new breed of leasing companies building up fleets of robots and renting them out – a particular ...