CNBC Upstart 100

These robots handle dull and dangerous work humans do today — and can create new jobs

Key Points
  • Automation is expected to eliminate 73 million jobs in the U.S. alone by 2030, McKinsey Global Institute predicts — but robots can actually drive productivity and lead to the creation of new jobs, too.
  • Avidbots, iUNU and 6 River Systems are among the start-ups on CNBC's Upstart 100 list that are putting robots to work doing "dull, dirty and dangerous" jobs previously handled by humans.
  • According to forecasts from PwC, by 2030 automation is also likely to add $15.7 trillion to the global GDP, boosting it by about 14 percent.
Avidbots' Neo can clean up to four feet per second
Source: Avidbots 

Three Upstart 100 companies are aiming to transform their respective industries by handling the "dull, dirty and dangerous" tasks that human workers used to do, while boosting the productivity of the businesses who buy them.

While concerns remain that automation will eliminate jobs — as many as 73 million by 2030 in the U.S. alone, according to forecasts by McKinsey Global Institute — robots can also drive productivity, leading to the creation of new work for people.

One famous example of this is the spread of automated teller machines in banking. At first, ATMs reduced the average number of workers in a given bank branch. But they also made it more affordable for banks to open new branches, and drove up the number of overall banking transactions. According to research by Ravin Jesuthasan and John W. Boudreau, authors of "Reinventing Jobs," in 1985 the U.S. had 60,000 ATMs and 485,000 bank tellers. By 2002 the number of ATMs increased to 352,000 and the number of human bank tellers also spiked, to 527,000.

How much will automation help the economy, exactly? PwC predicts that by 2030 AI, including software and robotics, is likely to add $15.7 trillion to the global GDP, boosting it by about 14 percent.

Here's how these three are aiming to transform work.

This floor-washing robot is like a giant Roomba for commercial buildings
VIDEO1:1501:15
This robot cleans floors in airports and malls without the help of a custodian

Avidbots: This start-up's flagship robot, the Neo, is a "self-driving floor scrubber" used today in airports from Singapore to Paris and in stadiums, warehouses, retail facilities and universities. The robots can avoid obstacles and navigate within sprawling facilities, and companies can custom-paint them so they look like a janitor in uniform. This summer Avidbots struck a deal to put Neo robots to work at universities, cafeterias and restaurants serviced by Compass Group, the facilities management and food-service giant.

Private Quarterback Camp with Joe Montana
Source: Neiman Marcus

iUNU: Backed by Joe Montana, iUNU is bringing robots on rails to greenhouses growing high-value crops, including flowers, lettuce and berries. The company's LUNA system combines machine-learning algorithms, a rail network and autonomous cameras that drive around the greenhouse, capturing time-lapse images of plants as they grow. The system tells greenhouse operators what's working and helps them assign tasks that only humans can do and plan care for their crops. The company's mobile app lets farmers check in on their crops from afar, too.

The team who created Amazon's warehouse robots returns with a new robot named Chuck
VIDEO1:0401:04
The team who created Amazon's warehouse robots returns with a new robot named Chuck

6 River Systems: Before they started 6RS, Jerome Dubois and Rylan Hamilton were executives at Kiva Systems, the company Amazon bought in 2012 for its warehouse robots. Now they are bringing Amazon-grade tech to the broader warehouse and fulfillment industry. 6RS makes a self-driving cart named Chuck that leads workers around a facility to the items they need to pick off shelves to fulfill an order. Chuck can also help workers restock returned items. And the robotic cart directs itself to recharge throughout the workday, so it can operate around the clock.