Robots are going to turbo charge one of society's biggest problems

The greater adoption of robots in the workplace is heralded as a way to usher greater business efficiency, productivity, and better paid jobs, which in turn will boost the economy. However, the more jobs are automated, the more the gender wage gap will be exasperated, warns a think tank. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) laid out in a new report (pdf) the positive and negative effects of adding robots to the workplace. On the plus side, it estimates that robots could raise UK productivity growth by 0.8% to 1.4% each year and therefore help boost GDP by 10% by 2030. It also predicts that there is £290 billion ($390 billion) worth of wages associated with jobs that have the "technical potential" to become automated.