Robots and AI
will play an important role in handling the personnel shortage problem; they
will help reduce the numbers of personnel working hazardous jobs and will
improve their safety. Even though Russia today has a shortage of manufacturers making
special-purpose robots, progress in developing sectoral robotic technologies
lays down the foundations for major reforms. The Federal Service for the
Supervision of Environment, Technology and Nuclear Management (Rostekhnadzor) actively supports
introducing new technologies and is working on developing safety methodologies
while simultaneously testing experimental legal regimes. Robotics promises to
improve productivity and ensure safer working conditions in the nearest future.
Such was the concerted opinion of the speakers at the “Will Robots Replace Humans?”
panel at the Russian Energy Week 2024 (REW).
KEY CONCLUSIONS
Businesses are ready to pool their resources and
efforts to achieve common goals in introducing robotic technologies and to share
the examples of their successes and failures
“Recently, both
fuel energy complex (FEC) and Russia’s economy have been manifesting a rather
low robotics levels, although everyone understands the promise these
technologies hold. At the same time, large companies are actively developing
robotics and are ready to pool their resources and efforts to achieve common
goals. We would like to discuss robotics at the workplace and the stories of
both successes and failures. How expedient do businesses find robotics and how
far should we go in introducing these systems? No matter how highly we think of
robots, there are areas where humans will be quite hard to replace in the nearest
future,” Eduard Sheremetsev, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.
Robots should not become a source of new workplace
accidents, we need to focus on safely integrating them in production
“Productivity can be driven to its peak. Yet
there still are some bottlenecks. Looking at production chains in various
sectors, be it extraction, production chain in petrochemistry or in other
sectors that have facilities with hazardous working condition, we can say that a chain is as strong as its weakest link.
Accidents happen everywhere, regardless of whether a facility has robotics or
not. And robots should not become a cause of accidents in their own right,” Stanislav Korchivoy, Deputy Head of the Federal Service for the
Supervision of Environment, Technology and Nuclear Management (Rostekhnadzor).
Combining robotics and AI will help reduce personnel
shortages
“We can definitely
win by combining two factors, robotics and AI. If we handle these two things right,
we can handle the personnel shortage,” Alisa Melnikova, Director of Digital and Information
Technology at SIBUR.
“Robotization
is a three-pronged task for us. First, safety. The fewer people work hazardous jobs,
the lower the workplace safety risks. Second, the numbers of blue collar
workers are not growing, and we need to somehow resolve the problem of their shortages.
Third, economic profits. This is not an inhumane matter, on the contrary, we do
have a human-centered view of the issue. We are not going to abolish human
employees, we want to have fewer humans in hazardous jobs,” Oleg Tretyak,
Head of the Digital Transformation Department at Gazprom Neft.
PROBLEMS
Personnel shortage in the sector
“We are going
to have a certain dip. A professional dip. If a country does not need human
resources, it means the country is not developing. Any country that is actively
developing its economy always has a shortage of human resources,” Eduard Sheremetsev, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.
Shortage of oil and gas robot manufacturers
“There are
virtually none special-purpose robots for the oil and gas sector, just as there
are no manufacturers making them. We are forced to develop our own competences
in making such robots,” Oleg Tretyak, Head of the Digital Transformation Department
at Gazprom Neft.
The problem of sanctions policy and the matter
of communications in a large territory
“We have two
major issues. The first is sanctions policy, it has recently dealt a major blow
to our production. And the second issue is the huge country. We have tremendous
distances, communications, etc.,” Eduard Sheremetsev, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.
SOLUTIONS
Using Russian-made robotics solutions and replacements
for imported equipment
“Today, we are
moving toward technological leadership and import substitution, therefore, robotization
should involve Russian-made solutions,” said Eduard Sheremetsev, Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation.
Developing new safety methodologies and using experimental
legal regimes
“We are ready
to consider experimental legal regimes. Robotization should be accompanied by corresponding
changes in attitudes to owner and operator responsibility. Facility owners and
operators are fully responsible for the use of new technologies. Rostekhnadzor as the regulator is ready
to release new regulations,” Stanislav Korchivoy, Deputy Head of the Federal
Service for the Supervision of Environment, Technology and Nuclear Management (Rostekhnadzor).
Using robots in production
“Robots for
packing, for sorting rubber blocks and pellet bags. Packing, loading, and unpacking
are certainly hard for humans. So now we have robots doing unpacking and
packing. Productivity is up ten times,” Alisa Melnikova, Director of Digital and Information
Technology, SIBUR.
* This is a
translation of material that was originally generated in Russian using
artificial intelligence.
For more
information, visit the Roscongress Foundation’s Information and Analytical
System at roscongress.org
