Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters

Some aspects can be done by automation, but plumbing has so many different applications and materials that cannot be replaced by anything other than adaptive ability and experience.

Until we make a giant leap in energy storage or sustained small scale energy generation, or somehow start efficiently mining asteroids; I simply don’t believe we have enough rare earth minerals to produce batteries at a scale large enough that it encroaches the plumbing profession. Unlike many jobs ours cannot be done via a highly sophisticated assembly line, nor via producing various text documents/spreadsheets/calculations/filings that simply adhere to any given rule set. It has to be on site, and the robot would likely need to be cordless to be useful for plumbing. It would as require that it fit in human sized spaces, ideally able to work in smaller than human spaces (crawl spaces) without compromising reach/dexterity/strength/power consumption. Given energy production issues currently it seems highly unlikely that we would surmount that issue alone in the next 20years, let alone soon enough for other critical or lucrative professions to be replaced by robots to the point that plumbing is at risk.

TLDR
I don’t think we have enough of the right metals unearthed on this planet for us to make enough batteries that plumbing is at risk. Also there are a great many other jobs to likely be replaced by robots because they are either critical or profitable. There are also energy/power concerns at that scale of workforce unlikely to be solved soon enough within 20 years.

Because this is due to a lack of data gathering and fine tuning of the methods to gather the data necessary to automate the industry. It can be done within next 2 decades depending on corporate structure and goals in general.

I can see a robot doing new construction apartments where all the units are pretty much the same. But as for service work. No chance

About all it would be able to do is dig a trench for a repair or new installation on sewer lines. Other than that, I do not think it could handle the majority of the work. The cost to build it would outweigh its productivity over its lifespan.

a robot that will be able to preform the complex moovements required will cost more to make than it will produce troughout it's functioning

I can envisage machines installing plumbing and heating in new builds however most plumbing tasks such as repairs/maintenance or installations on old buildings require dexterity and flexibility which are difficult criteria's for machines to meet. I'm sure it'll be possible one day but I believe plumbing to be one of the last professions to be automated.

Robots can't think critically to solve unusual problems that are always guaranteed to happen.

How in the world, in the relatively near future, will automation enter a job site and set a toilet for example???? Ridiculous!!

The probability of a robot being able to diagnose a plumbing or drain issue and have the engineering benefit of that being in development is possibly more likely for new construction rather than residential services or retro construction in the next 30 if at all ever.

Unless they are all pre fabricated buildings. No robot will be able to do repairs, fit in a crawl hole or remodel a home or office either.

no chance lol forget it.. manual skilled jobs will be hard to replace but they will evolve

I'm not sure if robot could do this correctly, or if it will be cheaper than from human beings

I would have preferred a robot from 1994 than the spud who did my bathroom refurb!

In buildings or industrial facilities where there is a standardised infrastructure built with all used parts digitised in an archive, maybe. But everything with existing infrastructure needs the experience of humans to decide and take action. However, it would be awesome to have a robot with me at work doing stuff like heavy lifts, cleaning, carrying equipment and parts.

While I understand the seemingly repetitive nature of pipe work, it strikes me as the sort of business that takes a lot more figuring than more repetitive work, such as cashiering

Are robots going to go into people's homes to deal with plumbing issues? I highly doubt it.

I think robots capable of this are decades away and when they do arrive it will probably be cheaper to hire a human.

I just don't see how your gonna get a robot to come to a house, diagnose the plumbing issue and then perform the work to fix it. Thats a complex task and modern robots can still only reliably perform the simplest of tasks. The tech is a long ways away and even if it weren't I don't feel like replacing plumbers would the first thing on the agenda for that tech.

Would need very good robots to do this.