robots > people

I can't wait until people aren't allowed anywhere near our products during manufacturing and assembly. Everybody will be better off.

Exhibit 1) People are lazy. This is an undeniable truth. We take shortcuts, we loaf, we do the bare minimum. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. Laziness can be managed. The problem is that we rarely educate people enough that they know where the 'bare minimum' bar is really set. Aim low, miss low.

Exhibit 2) People are independent. Nobody likes to be told what to do. Everybody who's ever been a kid should know this...

You think to yourself: Wow, my room is filthy.
Your mom walks in and says: Your room is filthy! Clean it, or no dessert.
You respond: You're not the boss of me! My room is just fine!!!1one

A similar problem exists in many manufacturing environments...

Office ppl: Please do such-and-such.
Shop ppl: Why?
Office ppl: We don't have time to explain, just do it. We know best.

Most times, the 'office ppl' really do know best. By refusing to acknowledge and consider the opinions and knowledge of 'shop ppl', however, they lose a tremendous amount of buy-in. Some companies, like Toyota, are legendary for breaking down these barriers. If only such a culture was more common...

Exhibit 3) People just. don't. care. If you finish building your Lego castle and you have 3 pieces left over, you throw them back in the box and pretend they are 'extras'. Riiight. Twenty minutes later, the main castle wall comes crashing down and buries your valiant defenders. Invaders 1, product quality 0.

Robots do not have any of these complications. Given a sufficiently clever software engineer and programmer, the robot will do exactly what you want. Which gets us to the crux of the matter... We go on and on about quality and customer satisfaction and market share and prestige and blah-de-blah-blah-blah, but all engineers really want is control. Trying to control people is nothing more than a sophisticated game of whack-a-mole. Those f$@king moles.