Tim Meyer is a Duluth architect and community builder. Reach him at tim.meyer@meyergroupduluth.com
Robotics and artificial intelligence are not distant possibilities. They are already changing how we manufacture products, design buildings and organize work. The question is no longer whether our children will encounter these technologies. It is whether our schools will prepare them to use those technologies responsibly and effectively.
My friend Wayne Lundquist, one of the most gifted mechanical thinkers I know, helped with the robotics program at Duluth East High School. My son is clearly a STEM-oriented student, and when he expressed an interest in robotics, I asked Wayne where he could learn more.
Wayne recommended 3D Robotics Duluth and head coach Patrick Mulcahy. That conversation led to a broader question: If I was searching for robotics opportunities for my son, why not help make those opportunities available at his school?
My son attends Cathedral School in Superior. Malu Lane, the school’s counselor and Spanish instructor, joined the effort to explore what would be required to establish a robotics program there. The goal is straightforward: Give students direct experience with the technology that will help define their futures.
3D Robotics Duluth is a nonprofit STEM organization serving students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Its programs include FIRST LEGO League Explore for students in kindergarten through third grade, FIRST LEGO League Challenge for grades four through eight and FIRST Tech Challenge for grades seven through 12. It also offers summer camps, workshops and community STEM events.
These programs teach much more than how to build a robot. Students learn coding, engineering, problem-solving, teamwork, project management and leadership. They learn how to test an idea, identify why it failed and try again. Those are skills that will carry into nearly every profession.
Families can learn more at 3droboticsduluth.com or by emailing 3dr@3droboticsduluth.com.
The need for this education became even clearer to me during three manufacturing tours over the past year. I visited nVent in Anoka, Taracon Precast near Hawley and Cambria’s massive quartz-surface manufacturing operation in Le Sueur. Each tour offered a view of how rapidly automation is transforming the workplace.
At nVent, robots perform much of the welding involved in producing electrical and data-networking equipment. Human workers continue to handle specialized detail work that machines cannot duplicate. People also program, monitor and maintain the equipment.
That distinction matters. Automation does not eliminate the need for people. It changes what people are needed to do.
At Taracon Precast, advanced European technology is used to manufacture highly detailed concrete panels for architectural and structural applications. The precision, consistency and visual quality of the finished products demonstrate what becomes possible when automation is combined with skilled engineering and thoughtful design.
During the same trip, I toured an 800-head dairy operation that relied extensively on German robotics. Automated systems handled much of the feeding, milking and cleaning. The cows had even learned when to walk into the robotic milking equipment without being directed by workers. Only one person was actively monitoring that portion of the operation during our visit.
The most extensive automation I saw was at Cambria’s 1-million-square-foot manufacturing plant in Le Sueur, where the company produces quartz surfaces. Robotics and automated systems are used throughout manufacturing, material handling, storage and shipping.
One highly automated portion of the plant was being monitored by only eight employees during our tour. That does not mean the entire Cambria operation employs eight people. The company says it employs more than 800 people in Le Sueur. It means that work that once might have required a much larger crew can now be controlled by a small group of trained employees.
People remain essential. They program and maintain the systems, diagnose problems, oversee quality and complete specialized fabrication that machines cannot yet perform. But the direction is unmistakable: More of that work will become automated.
Artificial intelligence is producing the same transformation in professional offices.
In my architectural practice, we have begun using AI to assist with proposals, specifications, technical writing and specialized documents. We are still learning what the technology can do, but the early results are impressive.
AI is not perfect. It can produce factual errors, weak assumptions and material that sounds authoritative but is wrong. Every document still requires professional review, verification and judgment. AI should be treated as a powerful assistant, not an unquestioned authority.
We have also begun using early AI design programs to conceptualize buildings through written and voice commands. In the past, we might have prepared two to four initial concepts for a client. We can now generate and evaluate dozens — and sometimes hundreds — of possibilities.
Some of those concepts are unusable. They may ignore construction realities, repeat familiar ideas or produce what has become known as “AI slop.” But even after those options are discarded, AI can provide far more starting points than a design team could reasonably create through traditional methods alone.
The architect’s responsibility does not disappear. Someone must still evaluate structural requirements, building codes, costs, energy use, constructability and the client’s needs. AI expands the range of possibilities, but human expertise determines which possibilities deserve to become buildings.
The environmental impact of the data centers supporting this technology is a legitimate concern. Their demands for electricity, water and land must be addressed. Those concerns, however, will not stop the adoption of AI. They should push the technology industry and government leaders to develop cleaner and more efficient systems.
Will robotics and AI eliminate some jobs? Absolutely. They will also create new professions, new businesses and opportunities we cannot yet fully imagine.
The answer is not to fear the technology or pretend it can be stopped. The answer is to prepare people—especially young people—to understand it, control it and use it wisely.
Our children are already comfortable with technology. They will decide how robotics and AI are used long after today’s adults have left the workplace. Schools should give them more than access to devices. They should teach students how to build, program, question, analyze and create.
My hope is not for a world in which people no longer work. It is for a world in which technology removes more of the dangerous, repetitive and physically punishing work while giving people more time for creativity, family and community.
That future will not arrive on its own. We must prepare our children to build it.
