Advantage of robots: lower long-term running costs

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Advantage of robots: lower long-term running costs

Name:
Date:
Class:
A

Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. A factory buys a robot arm. Which statement about its running costs is correct?
A It must be paid a wage, just like a human worker
B It needs no wages, so running costs can be lower over time
2. Which is a reason robots can reduce waste?
A They make fewer mistakes, so fewer products are thrown away
B They make more mistakes, so more products are thrown away
3. A company says a robot has 'paid back its purchase cost'. What does this mean?
A The robot has been paid a salary for its work
B The money saved over time has covered what the robot cost to buy
4. Which is true about the cost of robots in the long term?
A A high purchase cost can be balanced by savings over time
B A high purchase cost means a robot can never save money
5. Which cost does a human worker have that a robot does not?
A Paid holidays
B Electricity to run
B

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left columnRight column
1no wages or holidays AA robot does not need a salary, sick pay or paid leave, so it removes a regular staff cost for the business.
2fewer errors = less waste BA robot repeats a task accurately, so fewer products are spoiled and less material and money are wasted.
3A robot is expensive to buy, but the saving on running costs slowly pays back the purchase cost. Crunning cost = wages + waste
4Using a robot instead of workers removes the wage bill, which is a long-term saving. Dsavings over time >= purchase cost
5Robots are cheap, so they save money straight away. ERobots still need power and maintenance. They save money because they need no wages or holidays and make fewer mistakes, so there is less waste.
6Robots save money because they never need repairs or electricity. FRobots cost a lot to buy. The savings build up over time, so the purchase cost is only paid back after a long period.
C

Definitions

lower running costs
D

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

1.
humanWages ← 2000 robotWages ← _
2.
saving ← humanCost _ robotCost
3.
wasteCost ← errors _ costEach
4.
IF totalSaved __ robotPrice THEN OUTPUT "Cost paid back" ENDIF
5.
months ← robotPrice ___ monthlySaving
E

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1
A robotCost ← 60000
B yearSaving ← 20000
C OUTPUT "Payback in years:"
D OUTPUT robotCost * yearSaving
Question 2
A wages ← 25000
B years ← 5
C saved ← wages + years
D OUTPUT saved
Question 3
A robotPay ← 25000
B humanPay ← 25000
C saving ← humanPay - robotPay
D OUTPUT saving
Question 4
A humanErr ← 50
B robotErr ← 5
C fewer ← humanErr - robotErr
D wasteSaved ← fewer + 20
Question 5
A cost = 40000
B yearlySaving ← 10000
C years ← cost / yearlySaving
D OUTPUT years

Answer Key

Advantage of robots: lower long-term running costs
Section A: Quick Questions
Q1
B — It needs no wages, so running costs can be lower over time
Q2
A — They make fewer mistakes, so fewer products are thrown away
Q3
B — The money saved over time has covered what the robot cost to buy
Q4
A — A high purchase cost can be balanced by savings over time
Q5
A — Paid holidays
Section B: Match the Pairs
Q1
no wages or holidays → A robot does not need a salary, sick pay or paid leave, so it removes a regular staff cost for the business.
Q2
fewer errors = less waste → A robot repeats a task accurately, so fewer products are spoiled and less material and money are wasted.
Q3
A robot is expensive to buy, but the saving on running costs slowly pays back the purchase cost. → savings over time >= purchase cost
Q4
Using a robot instead of workers removes the wage bill, which is a long-term saving. → running cost = wages + waste
Q5
Robots are cheap, so they save money straight away. → Robots cost a lot to buy. The savings build up over time, so the purchase cost is only paid back after a long period.
Q6
Robots save money because they never need repairs or electricity. → Robots still need power and maintenance. They save money because they need no wages or holidays and make fewer mistakes, so there is less waste.
Section C: Definitions
Q1
lower running costs — Robots cost a lot to buy, but over time they save money because they need no wages or holidays and make fewer mistakes, so less is wasted. The purchase cost is paid back.
Section D: Fill in the Blanks
Q1
humanWages ← 2000 robotWages ← 0
Q2
saving ← humanCost - robotCost
Q3
wasteCost ← errors * costEach
Q4
IF totalSaved >= robotPrice THEN OUTPUT "Cost paid back" ENDIF
Q5
months ← robotPrice DIV monthlySaving
Section E: Spot the Error
Q1
D — The payback time is the purchase cost divided by the saving each year, so it should be robotCost / yearSaving. Multiplying gives a meaningless number.
Q2
C — The wages saved over several years are the yearly wages multiplied by the number of years, so it should be wages * years, not +.
Q3
A — A robot needs no wages or holidays, so robotPay should be 0. Giving it wages removes the saving the program is meant to show.
Q4
D — Each mistake wastes 20, so the waste saved is the number of fewer errors multiplied by 20: fewer * 20. Adding 20 is wrong.
Q5
A — In pseudocode a value is assigned with the arrow ←, so the line should be cost ← 40000.