Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1080, Automating Production.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 1080.
I'm your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan.
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This episode is a dialogue between Lauren and Eve about making or producing things automatically with machines.
Let's get started.
Wow, that was an impressive demonstration of how robots can be used in production.
I think that we need robots like those to automate some of the functions in our factories.
I admit the demonstration was eye-opening.
But I don't think the technology is there yet to allow us to replace people with robots.
No, not for many of the functions, but we could have them do some of the more routine and hazardous tasks.
You mean have them work alongside our current workers?
I'm not sure how our workers would take it.
Wouldn't the robots get in the way?
Not with their sophisticated sensors, which allow them to avoid other people or machines.
I don't know.
Introducing automation would be tricky.
What's important is that they'll increase production and reduce accidents.
The demonstration showed how easy it is to program one of those robots, even when fine calibration is required.
It's the wave of the future.
So you wouldn't object to a robot replacing you?
Me?
They'll never replace me with a robot.
I'm indispensable.
Just like the typewriter?
A dialogue begins with Lauren saying Wow, that was an impressive demonstration of of how robots can be used in production.
If something is impressive, it's something that we think is very good.
It makes an impression on us.
It makes us remember it.
A robot.
R-O-B-O-T is a machine that performs some action, often an action that a human being would do.
Robots are often associated with, oh, I don't know, characters such as R2-D2 in Star Wars.
That might be considered a robot.
The word production... means manufacturing, the process of making, building, or creating something.
Lawrence says.
I think that we need robots like those to automate some of the functions in our factories.
The verb to automate A-U-T-O-M-A-T-E means to do something that doesn't require your involvement or the involvement of a human being.
We have another very common term, automatically.
An adverb, meaning that something is done by a machine or by a computer that doesn't require anyone to go and do anything.
It just happens.
To automate is the verb from which we get the adverb automatically or the adjective automatic.
Lauren thinks that her company should get some of these robots automated to automate some of the functions, some of the things that are done in their factories.
A factory, F-A-C-T-O-R-Y, is a place where things are built.
Physical things, typically, like cars or, I don't know, computers, bookshelves.
Actually, I did my own bookshelves.
I ordered a set of bookshelves from a company, and they send you the wood, right?
And then you have to paint the wood yourself and then put them together.
And they look really nice, I think.
They're in my office.
You should come and see them someday.
Anyway, a factory is a place where things are made and then sold to people already put together, right.
Real men put their own bookshelves together, you see.
Eve, who is a man.
There's also an English name Eve E-V-E, which is a woman's name, but here it's a man's name because it's Y-V-E-S.
Eve says, I admit the demonstration was eye-opening.
When we say something is eye-opening, We mean that it provides you information, sometimes surprising information that you didn't know before.
Information that makes you realize the importance of something.
It could be something good or something bad.
Eve says this demonstration, whatever they saw, was eye-opening, but he doesn't think the technology is there yet to allow us to replace people with robots.
If we say something isn't there T-H-E-R-E yet we mean it isn't advanced enough or it hasn't developed enough to be useful.
In this case, it's not developed enough to allow robots Eve and Lauren to replace people with robots, to have robots doing the jobs of humans.
Lauren says no, not for many of the functions, but we could have them do some of the more routine and hazardous tasks.
Something that is routine.
R-O-U-T-I-N-E is something that happens in the same way over and over again, typically without changing.
We might use also the adjective repetitive.
Repetitive comes from the verb to repeat, R-E-P-E-A-T, which means to do something repeatedly.
Again, a second, third, fourth, and fifth time, and so forth.
Hazardous, H-A-Z-A-R-D-O-U-S, comes from the word hazard, which means danger.
So something that is hazardous is something that is dangerous, that could hurt you or perhaps even kill you.
We use this word hazardous sometimes with chemicals.
Liquid or other substances that might be dangerous.
Hazardous chemicals would be chemicals that could hurt you or even kill you.
Here we're talking about hazardous tasks, things that you do.
Eve says you mean have them work alongside our current workers.
Alongside A-L-O-N-G-S-I-D-E means next to.
Eve is asking Lauren if she thinks the company should have the robots working next to or alongside the workers, the human workers they have now.
He says, I'm not sure how our workers would take it.
Here, the expression take it means how they would accept it, how they would react to it.
He asks, wouldn't the robots get in the way?
If something gets in the way, it prevents you from doing something you would otherwise do.
It's what we would call an obstacle, O-B-S-T-A-C-L-E.
An obstacle is something that gets in your way that prevents you from doing what you want to do.
It's some difficulty you have to overcome, perhaps.
Lawrence says not with their sophisticated sensors which allow them, meaning the robots, to avoid other people or machines.
A sensor, S-E-N-S-O-R, is a machine that is able to measure something.
It might be temperature, it might be distance, it might be some other physical characteristic that is important.
Usually sensors are put on, things like, so that some other action happens when a certain thing is detected.
So you might have a temperature sensor, for example in I don't know your oven where you cook things.
And when it reaches a certain temperature, the oven may turn off.
That's one possible use of a sensor.
Lawrence says the robots have sensors that will detect whether they are close to other people or other machines and therefore not get in the way.
Eve says, I don't know.
Introducing automation would be tricky.
Something that's tricky.
T-R-I-C-K-Y is something that's difficult, something that would require very careful planning or very careful implementation.
When you actually have to do it, you have to be careful how it's done.
Loren says, what's important is that they'll, meaning the robots, they'll increase production and reduce or lower the number of accidents.
The demonstration showed how easy it is to program one of those robots, even when fine calibration is required.
To program P-R-O-G-R-O-M something means to give it instructions, specifically to give a computer or a machine instructions.
We all know about computer programming which, of course, is necessary for the machines that we call computers to operate.
More recently, people have started using the word coding, C-O-D-I-N-G, to refer to computer programming, because the language, if you will, that computer programming is written in is called code, C-O-D-E.
Lawrence says that these robots can be programmed even when fine calibration is required.
Calibration C-A-L-I-B-R-A-T-I-O-N is the process of making sure that a machine is accurate in what it is doing.
For example, if you are going to weigh something, if you want to see how much something weighs, you use something in English called a scale S-C-A-L-E.
But the scale has to be calibrated.
You have to make sure that the scale is giving you the correct number, the correct amount.
What Lauren is talking about is calibrating robots to make sure that they're accurate and do exactly what they're supposed to do.
Eve says, I'm thinking of the people in the factories.
Wouldn't we have a riot on our hands if we tried to replace people with robots?
A riot, R-I-O-T, is a violent protest.
The expression on our hands means something that is your responsibility and that you have to deal with.
Usually it's something negative that happens, something bad that happens and you have to deal with it.
You have to take care of it, usually because it's your responsibility.
Eve is worried that if they put computers, or rather robots, into the factories, they would have a riot on their hands.
The workers would protest.
Lauren says, however, it's the wave of the future.
This expression, the wave W-A-V-E of the future, means that it is something that will be very common today, in the near future, within a year or two, or perhaps within 10 years.
The wave of the future is the way things are going.
It's something that will be common in the future, even though it's not very common right now.
Eve says so.
You wouldn't object to a robot replacing you.
To object O-B-J-E-C-T to something is a phrasal verb meaning to disagree with someone or something.
To say something is a bad idea.
Eve is asking Lauren if a robot could replace her, if she would think that's a bad idea, the way she is proposing to replace workers with robots.
Lauren says, me?
They'll never replace me with a robot.
I'm indispensable.
Something that is indispensable.
I-N-D-I-S-P-E-N-S-A-B-L-E is something that is necessary, something that is required.
The opposite would be dispensable.
If something's dispensable, you don't need it.
You can get rid of it.
If it's indispensable, it is not dispensable.
You must have it.
Lauren thinks she's indispensable.
Eve then gives her a comparison, just like the typewriter.
A typewriter.
For those youngins out there who don't know is a machine that we used to use back before computers and are still used in some places, of course, that you don't need to plug in.
Well, I guess you can plug in electric typewriters, but basically they're machines used for putting ink marks on paper.
Instead of having a printer, we had things called a typewriter.
I'm joking, of course.
Most of you probably remember typewriters.
But typewriters are no longer used as much as they used to be, and that's the joke that Eve is making here.
Lauren thinks she's indispensable.
But people thought typewriters would be indispensable, and now they are in fact, for the most part dispensable.
Although I actually have an old typewriter sitting on my desk.
So someday when we don't have any power here in Los Angeles, I'll still be able to type on my typewriter.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Wow, that was an impressive demonstration of how robots can be used in production.
I think that we need robots like those to automate some of the functions in our factories.
I admit the demonstration was eye-opening, but I don't think the technology is there yet to allow us to replace people with robots.
No, not for many of the functions, but we could have them do some of the more routine and hazardous tasks.
You mean have them work alongside our current workers?
I'm not sure how our workers would take it.
Wouldn't the robots get in the way?
Not with their sophisticated sensors, which allow them to avoid other people or machines.
I don't know.
Introducing automation would be tricky.
What's important is that they'll increase production and reduce accidents.
The demonstration showed how easy it is to program one of those robots, even when fine calibration is required.
I'm thinking of the people in the factories.
Wouldn't we have a ride on our hands if we tried to replace people with robots?
It's the wave of the future.
So you wouldn't object to a robot replacing you?
Me?
They'll never replace me with a robot.
I'm indispensable.
Just like the typewriter?
Our scriptwriter is indispensable.
We couldn't live without her.
I speak, of course, of the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
Will a robot someday be able to do her job?
I don't think so.
She's just that good.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
