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1961: Ready for the Robot Revolution? | News Extra | BBC Archive
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February 23, 2026
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February 23, 2026
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25:24Now Playing"In a limited sense, the equipment has power to think and act for itself, which is at the very centre of automation."
Alan Wheatley considers how mechanisation and automation will effect all of our futures. He visits a modern, mechanised laundry - where efficiency has almost doubled. A new bakery in Croydon, perhaps the most advanced in the country, can produce 22,000 loaves each shift with a staff of just 12. Automation isn't just revolutionising manual jobs, however - the computer is already transforming the way that banks and large office firms operate.
Ho far can automation go? Are we moving into the age of the fabled "push button factory"? How prepared is Britain to deal with automation - both in terms of its implementation, and its effects on working people?
Clip taken from News Extra: The Robot Revolution, originally broadcast on BBC Television, 30 June, 1961.
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