Every productive invention in the history of man has created more jobs because they have created capital and more capital leads to economic expansion and that leads to increased human input.
If human demand were to decrease (i.e. no jobs, no money, no demand), the usefulness of robots and technology itself would end.
As an aside, welders, plumbers, oil field workers are presently in great demand, but liberal arts grads are jobless.
It matters what you train to do.
Not sure about that. Friend of mine got a degree in philosophy and started work immediately as a waitress...
--and this usually happened in the face of determined opposition from non-workers blaming innovation for their unemployment.
Jobs a robust robotics industry would create (preferably here in the USA) just off the top of my head :
Image processing experts/engineers/technicians
Power engineers/technicians
Electricians
Mechanical engineers of all sorts
Mechanics
QA engineers/techs
Assembly line employees
Assembly line technicians
Robotics technicians
Robotics assembly factory architects/designers
Robotics facility maintenance employees
You could see a lot of abandoned land/buildings in the rust belt get snatched up (so long as the sickening unions stay away).
That was after 1 minute of thinking :-). I’m sure there are a lot more. Opportunities can span all levels of education and expertise.
All in all, think of robotics as potential boom not unlike the automobile boom of the 20th century. Hopefully, there will be no equivalent of the UAW to come in a screw it all up (I work in this industry ... no joke, unions are my biggest fear based on the regions where a lot of “stuff” is happening in the industry).
Yes, robotics will make many jobs obsolete, but the transition will be over a relatively long period of time. Sure, liberals will whine as the equivalent of a cobbler loses his/her position and will use these people in their various political antics, but the benefits to the public at large will make those people look like the regressive thinkers that they are.