This week, I found myself in need of a new motorcycle helmet and so yesterday, I took a drive over to the nearest decent motorcycle shop, which is in Milton Keynes.

As I drove along the A421 in the rain – because it is seemingly going to rain for the rest of our lives – I spotted a little robot making its way along the pavement.  Like a large coolbox on wheels, it trundled along at a fair old pace, taking its package (or packages or whatever) from point A to point B.  “That could never happen in Luton”, I mused, “They’d nick it… or push it over and set fire to it”.

It was doing a mundane task (as robots are meant to do), but nonetheless, I couldn’t help thinking that someone, somewhere would be more than happy to do that delivery job.

Similarly, when the current Mrs M and I went to Prague, earlier in the year, we had an early flight from Heathrow and when we arrived at the airport it was almost deserted, save for a dozen or so passengers who were on the same flight as us.  As we stood, in an untidy line waiting for the Check-In desk to open, a robotic floor cleaner rounded the corner and headed in our direction.  Detecting something in the way, it stopped a few feet away from us. Several of us stepped aside and after a few seconds it continued on its journey.

It didn’t get far though, as a woman a little further along, hadn’t seen it, because she had her eyes glued to her phone screen.  The cleaner stopped a few feet away from her and waited.  After a minute, it started up again and turned its wheels to the left… its internal algorithm deciding that it could go around the obstacle in front of it.  At this point, the woman looked up and saw that she was in the way. She picked up her suitcase and stepped aside…. back into the path of the robot cleaner, which took evasive action and turned again.  Realising what she had done, the woman once again moved out of the way… straight back into its path.

At this point, the cleaner gave up and shut itself down and there it stayed, motionless in the middle of the gangway, until a human operative eventually came along and took it away.

I think we are still a long way from the rise of the machines.

And, as amusing as it had been, watching this lady dance with a robotic floor cleaner, again I couldn’t help but think that someone, somewhere would be appreciative of such a job… even if they didn’t get to tango with the passengers.

At our hotel in Prague, the restaurant had a robotic trolley, which would navigate its way around the tables at breakfast time, stopping for people to place empty plates etc onto it, which it would then take into the kitchen, emerging several minutes later, emptied and ready to collect some more. It was fun to watch this little motorised cart going about its business, but again, it was effectively taking someone’s job.

Robots have long been touted as being the future, of being able to free us all from the drudgery of having to do mundane jobs, but for some people, the chance to do a job – any job, no matter how mundane – is all that they want.

I’m all for technological advancement, but I do wonder if it should be at the cost of those who are already struggling to find any kind of gainful employment.