This document summarizes a conference held at Mount Holyoke College that discussed the challenges of technology and the future of jobs. Speakers included experts on robotics, AI, economics, and politics. They discussed how automation may impact jobs but noted cultural and other non-technological factors also influence employment. The conference highlighted how a liberal arts education can prepare students for a changing workforce by promoting creativity and diverse thinking. Attendees were advised to learn about and get involved in developing new technologies to actively shape the future.

1. Story and Photos By Siri Wheeler
A
n economist, a political scientist, an
entrepreneur and a robotics profes-
sor walk into a bar… If you don’t
think that sounds like a promising start to a
joke, you’re probably right. On the other
hand, if you would like to be a fly on the wall
for the unusual conversation that follows,
read on.
In the January/February 2016 issue of
Robot magazine, we published an interview
with author and software entrepreneur,
Martin Ford, about his book, Rise of the
Robots. The book presents a thought-provok-
ing ― you might be forgiven for calling it
chilling ― look at what lies ahead for a
human workforce facing growing competi-
tion from our own software and machines.
Not to give away any spoilers but the chal-
lenges inherent in this scenario will not be
easy to solve. This is where the above-men-
tioned cast of characters comes in.
Recently at Mount Holyoke College in
western Massachusetts, (a venerable institu-
tion not only with strong math and science
programs but also a long history of teaching
two things often cited as most lacking at the
highest levels of STEM
fields: women and liber-
al arts) I had a chance to
attend a conference
organized by Professor,
Eva Paus to discuss
“The Future of Jobs: The
Dual Challenges of
Globalization and
Robotization”. The con-
ference was held as part
of an interdisciplinary
course offered at the col-
lege and jointly taught
by faculty from Mount Holyoke’s depart-
ments of Economics, Computer Science,
Politics, Physics and Philosophy.
In addition to the Mount Holyoke faculty,
speakers brought to campus for the confer-
ence included Martin Ford who presented
his research on mechanization and jobs,
Manuela Veloso, Computer Science Professor
at Carnegie Mellon University, who works on
robotics and artificial intelligence, David
Rueda, Professor of Politics and International
Relations at Oxford University, Guy Standing,
Professor in Development
Studies at SOAS at the
University of London, Robert
Pollin, Professor of
Economics at the University
of Massachusetts, Irmgard
Nuebler, a Senior Economist
at the International Labour
Organization, and many
other experts on the econo-
my and labor markets world-
wide.
While all aspects of the
future of jobs and the econo-
my were under discussion, we at Robot were
particularly interested in how the panelists
and students, some who are science and math
majors and some who are majoring in eco-
nomics or politics, would respond to the
assertion that their economic future may be in
jeopardy thanks to sophisticated software,
artificial intelligence and robots. We wanted
to know what a roboticist, an economist, a
political scientist and a futurist would say to
each other and the rest of us about the future
of technology and jobs. The ability to synthe-
MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE
EXPLORES TECHNOLOGY
AND THE FUTURE OF
JOBSWITH AN
INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH
54 R OB OT MAGAZINE

2. M AY /JU NE 2 016 55
size knowledge from differ-
ing fields is the particular
strength of the liberal arts.
How does it apply to think-
ing about our future with
robotics?
CAN WE HOLD BACK
THE TECHNOLOGY?
Readers of Robot won’t
have to pause long to come
up with an answer to this
question which was raised
at the conference. “Buy a
Roomba,” was the half
tongue-in-cheek advice of
computer science and
robotics professor,
Manuela Veloso from
Carnegie Mellon, who
urges everyone to get used
to living and working alongside robots―
and enjoying the luxury of having a robot do
your vacuuming―because robots are not
going away. In her presentation, Dr. Veloso
helped ease any concern among the uniniti-
ated about the imminent replacement of
humans with machines by explaining how
the robots she and her students work with,
CoBots, rely on a mixture of programming,
machine learning and human help to func-
tion in human environments. The CoBot can
escort you to Dr. Veloso’s office, for example,
but it currently needs you to push the button
on the elevator and tell it when it has
reached the correct floor. Dr. Veloso provid-
ed insight into how her team has tackled
various challenges with their CoBots, such
as learning how to navigate through a build-
ing using a pre-loaded floorplan, Kinect
depth-sensing cameras and WiFi. How does
a robot use a depth sensing camera to navi-
gate across a bridge made entirely of glass?
It doesn’t unless you give it something that
isn’t transparent to “look” at, like a rail or a
radiator along the side of the glass wall. In
“learning” to work with
humans, the robot also relies
on many of the same strate-
gies we do, such as getting
input from other humans
and looking up information
on the internet when needed
a concept known as
“Symbiotic Autonomy”.
(Learn more about this
at: http://engineering.colum-
bia.edu/computer-science-
distinguished-lecture-series-
symbiotic-autonomy-robots-
humans-and-web-61333)
Symbiotic Autonomy accel-
erates the robot’s ability to
acclimate. Many challenges
remain to be overcome, as
anyone who follows robotics
development closely will
know, and understanding and overcoming
these are efforts that will certainly keep
developers and researchers employed for
quite some time. Professor Veloso urged the
students in the audience to get involved in
working on artificial intelligence, as rather
than being spectators to the evolution of
robots, it is best to be active in creating a
future in which robots are comfortably inte-
grated with humans.
Learn more about CoBots at http://www.
cs.cmu.edu/~coral/projects/cobot/

3. 56 R OB OT MAGAZINE
WHAT ABOUT JOBS?
The pressure on jobs that arises from mecha-
nization is well demonstrated and the econ-
omists and political scientists on hand for
this conference on The Future of Jobs were
able to present substantial data to that effect.
It’s hard to ignore the fact that an economic
powerhouse in today’s economy like Google
employs far fewer people than General
Motors did in its hay day. However, auto-
mation and artificial intelligence are not the
only pressures that challenge the job market
and our economic future. Climate change
and globalization present substantial chal-
lenges as well, some of which may be allevi-
ated by technology. Not only that but much
of the pressure on jobs that we sense in the
United States and specifically among tradi-
tionally middle class jobs and professions
has not been as dramatic in other parts of
the world. Cultural and social factors play a
significant role as well.
The Mount Holyoke audience will have
been relieved to hear the thoughts of Dr.
Irmgard Neubler of the International Labor
Organization on how to prepare to enter the
labor force in the coming years. Neubler
suggested that a liberal arts education,
which promotes the study of diverse sub-
jects and encourages creativity, is good
preparation to meet the needs of a rapidly
changing economy. The topic of liberal arts
education occasionally comes up in discus-
sions about the urgency of inspiring stu-
dents to pursue STEM subjects in their
schooling and providing sufficient opportu-
nities for them to do so. So to take the posi-
tions of Dr. Veloso and Dr. Nuebler and syn-
thesize their advice, learn how to think cre-
atively and get ready to be an active player
in developing the technology you will be
living and working with in the future! 
Link
Mount Holyoke College www.mtholyoke.edu/
For more information, please see our source guide
on page 65.
R
obotics has been part of the comput-
er science curriculum for a few years
at Mount Holyoke College, thanks in
part to the efforts of Dr. Audrey St. John
who came to Mount Holyoke in 2008 as a
visiting professor and joined the faculty in
2011. Professor St. John took us to meet
some of her students and one of their
robots in the college’s new Maker Space, a
large, sunny room equipped with a laser
cutter, 3D printer, vinyl cutters, soldering
irons and other tools, plenty of wires, com-
puters and enthusiasm. The fun these stu-
dents were having with the technology was
infectious. Here’s a look at how the stu-
dents are getting ready to meet the chal-
lenges of the technology economy.
ROBOTS AND MAKERS AT
MOUNT HOLYOKE
ABOVE LEFT: HELPING WITH ARDUINO
This student is working on connecting an Arduino unit to her Solar Clock project. For students who
haven’t worked with electronics and coding before, the learning curve can be intimidating. However,
according to faculty, many have found working with robots has been a “life changing experience.”
ABOVE RIGHT: STUDENTS WITH BOT
Shani Mensing, Maker Space Coordinator at Mount Holyoke (left) and Dr. Audrey St. John (right) make
minor repairs to a student project robot before demonstrating its obstacle avoidance capabilities.
Mount Holyoke’s Maker Space opened officially
in the fall of 2015. Shani Mensing, a recent
graduate of the college, works as the
Coordinator in the Maker Space, assisting stu-
dents with their projects and keeping the
equipment in working order.