Test materials, solutions, or samples
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 10 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials (4.A.1.b.2) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 10 occupations that perform it.
- Analyze soil to determine types or quantities of fertilizer required for maximum crop production.
- Test fabrics or oversee testing so that garment care labels can be created.
- Test raw materials, processes, or finished products to determine quality or quantity of materials or characteristics of a substance.
- Test experimental models under simulated operating conditions, for purposes such as development, standardization, or feasibility of design.
- Perform tests of water chemistry in boilers.
- Inspect or test materials, stock, vehicles, equipment, or facilities to ensure that they are safe, free of defects, and consistent with specifications.
- Collect samples of materials or products, checking them to ensure conformance to specifications or sending them to laboratories for analysis.
- Take samples of gases and conduct chemical tests to determine gas quality and sulfur or moisture content, or send samples to laboratories for analysis.
- Test materials and solutions, using testing equipment.
- Test samples for specific gravity, using hydrometers, or send samples to laboratories for testing.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
10 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Biomass Plant Technicians
- Conveyor Operators and Tenders
- Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Agricultural Managers
- Fashion Designers
- First-Line Supervisors of Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators
- Gas Compressor and Gas Pumping Station Operators
- Machinists
- Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians
- Pump Operators, Except Wellhead Pumpers
- Tank Car, Truck, and Ship Loaders
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Test characteristics of materials or products”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.