For manufacturing, the report compares current human labor with potential robot labor. The U.S. manufacturing sector currently employs 12 million people working 23 billion hours annually, producing $2.4 trillion in output. Arc Invest posits that just 5.9 million robots working 16-hour days could match this output, potentially doubling productivity.
Economic Viability and Productivity Gains
The report explores the economic viability of humanoid robots at different price points. At a cost of $116,000 per robot (comparable to an economy car), a mere 5% productivity gain over human workers would make the investment worthwhile. As robot prices increase, so does the required productivity uplift to justify the investment.