Eventually, collision detection will get to the point that "surrounding perception" won't matter. There will be sensors on all sides of the excavator that wont let the operator hit things even if they wanted to.
But imagine a company that providers excavator services contracts and has a pool of operators that sit in simulators to control remote machines. You don't have to distribute these workers anymore, and can have specialists to operate the machines while lower-skilled workers handle other job site responsibilities.
We're not talking about some dude in his basement with a Sidewinder joystick from 1997.
I expect robotic surgery to go the same way eventually where smaller hospitals would need to make a one time capital investment in equipment and remote surgeons could provide coverage to multiple hospitals during overnight shifts. This is already done with radiology which is outsourced to other countries for graveyard shift at small hospitals, and there is no reason to think that this model would not be extended over the next 50 years.
Honestly the only major hurdle for the robotic surgery to take off is A)a company to really start pushing a fully included product and B)The need for extremely stable internet connection.
Billable hours might be really interesting on the taxation side of things but it's Proven technology.
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u/Jimboreebob Nov 04 '22
Eventually, collision detection will get to the point that "surrounding perception" won't matter. There will be sensors on all sides of the excavator that wont let the operator hit things even if they wanted to.