Now rebranded as "collaborative machines," designed to work alongside their human counterparts in relatively close settings, millennial robots priced as low as $20,000 (most seem to be in the $40,000-$60,000 range) are being employed by toy manufacturers, jewelry makers and other, smaller shops.
Some newer models are equipped with advanced sensors to avoid collisions with their humanoid colleagues, and can be programmed to do different tasks on different days. While some floor supervisors now find themselves supervising robotic workers, human factory workers have not been made obsolete just yet.
While robots surely make certain labor-intensive tasks more cost-effective, one manufacturer dubs them the "equivalent of the iPhone1" – a good start to an exciting trend, but hardly the re-creation of an entire industry.