Rented Robots Get the Worst Jobs and Help Factories Keep the Humans

This is actually not a new trend. RaaS -- robotics-as-a-service -- is over ten years old by now. I believe it was pioneered or at least made popular by several of the Willow Garage spin-outs, incl. Savioke and Fetch Robotics, and it, of course, aligns very well with the trend towards b2b services instead of goods. The latter being, of course, even older with GE's power-by-the-hour for leased jet engines, and Xerox' print services.