A little over a month ago, the nationally renowned RobotLab made its move into Knoxville and started leasing out a little office space off of Middlebrook Pike. Five months later, and they’re putting their hard work and dedication on display for the community to see, in the hopes of bringing future advancement to our present-day needs.

This past Thursday, RobotLAB hosted its debut with a celebration titled “Robots in Action!” The event was attended by business owners and key leaders in local industry to get a glimpse at some of the progress that could be headed their way soon. The sentiment was made evident as soon as you walked in the door where you were greeted by Pepper, a robot assistant, that, as she puts it, is “programmable to answer frequently asked questions.” Pepper can also sing and dance as well.

The branch president, Michael McLaughlin, assured me that no, they’re not trying to take away people’s jobs. The real purpose for these machines is mainly to fill in the gaps where manpower is wasted.

“The purpose or mission is to automate tasks that people don’t want to do anymore,” McLaughlin said. “That can be tedious, dirty, dangerous, time-consuming or physically demanding. Take, for instance, a server at a banquet kitchen that has to carry heavy trays. That can start to wear on shoulders, hips, ankles, knees. Not to mention, you could trip and drop a tray. These robots can carry 100 pounds of food out to a table.”

While the alleviation of physical labor sounds enticing to these waiters with sore shoulders, they may worry about how this new automation will affect their industry. To that, Mclaughlin also has an answer.

“People still want to be served by a human,” McLaughlin said. “They want to see that smile, ask their questions and get their answers. What you can do, though, is add a tool for the people working there to do their job better and easier so they can focus on those higher value activities like customer interaction.”

This kind of thing was well on display in the facility during the group’s event. Robots loaded with chips, hors d’oeuvres, sandwiches and refreshments all whizzing around ready for their delectable selections to be picked off by potential buyers.

For Knoxville, a city with a staggeringly low unemployment rate due to a labor shortage, a move like this is just as reactive as it is proactive. McLaughlin says it’s natural for people to want to advance and grow out of these entry-level, more mundane roles into positions that offer a wide variety of skill sets. That’s where he and his team come in. If those roles can be delegated to machines, he says, it inherently frees up more time and money for companies to invest their humans into other spaces that will see higher retention with a much higher ceiling for success.

“I believe that by bringing robotics to Knoxville, that’s going to free up a lot of people’s labor time,” McLaughlin said. “To be more creative, add more value, be more satisfied, while still getting all those basic tasks done.”

While the future brings excitement, advancements of this nature can also make some business owners apprehensive to dive in. McLaughlin and his team are tasked with easing those worries by displaying that rather than replacing humans, these machines are here to assist them in finding success. As much as it borders on science fiction at first glance, these machines aren’t designed to take over the world, they’re here to help it.

“I think it’s fine for people to trust their instincts a little bit,” McLaughlin said. “It’s a new technology, so it’s going to take time to adapt and not everybody is going to be an early adopter. I guess I would suggest that it’s not really new. This is just a continuation of the arc of building new technologies that help humans do all the stuff we need done, but don’t actually want to do.”

It might not be long before the corridors of your office building are swept and mopped by a man made of metal, or the food you order at a restaurant is served on wheels rather than feet. While it may take some time to get there, the future is certainly creeping its way into Knoxville and this group wants to be here to make it happen.

Adam Delahoussaye is a freelance writer for the KnoxTNToday who loves telling stories about music, arts and culture in and around his hometown. Have a story for Adam? He can be reached at email  or text 865-919-5059 with your story idea.