Robot co-workers? 7 cool technologies changing the way we work

If a robot isn't your boss, it could become your co-worker. Some companies believe robots have a place right next to human staffers.

When online wholesale retailer Boxed automated its New Jersey fulfillment center last year and brought in robots, the company retrained employees to do other tasks.

In addition, UK-based Industrial Vision Systems builds collaborative robots that can do repetitive tasks like pick parts out of a bin on an assembly line for manufacturers.

"[The robots] work side by side with a human operator or do quality checks in line with a worker doing other checks around a product," Earl Yardley, a director at Industrial Vision Systems, told CNN.

But that doesn't necessarily mean you'll lose your job to a robot in the future.

"People may be redeployed in the future, but it gives them an opportunity to work in different areas of the factory and develop their own skill base."