Hard to find good help these days

MIAMISBURG, Ohio (WDTN) - You can tell right away this isn't your typical black jack dealer.

But if you press your luck, the robot dealer will beat you just the same as a human dealer.

"It's just like Vegas," says Tim DeRosett with Yaskawa Motoman Robotics. "As it says, 'Don't quit your day job.'"

Unless that is you have a background in engineering.

You see for all the things the robots at Motoman in Miamisburg can do, and that includes picking up footballs and baseballs, they still need humans to build them.

"We've been trying to hire more people," says Motoman President Steve Barhorst. "We're continually trying to hire more people."

Motoman employs more than 300 people, but the robotics industry is expanding at such a rapid pace that the company is already out-growing its new headquarters.

"We've actually lost a little business because we haven't been able to meet the timeline demands of some of our customers because our growth has been so explosive," Barhorst says.

Barhorst tells 2 NEWS he would love to hire 20 to 30 people to fill openings, but molding man and machine has proven difficult.

They just can't find the right people.

"I think we as employers need to do a better job working with educational institutions to keep them informed about the skill sets we need," Barhorst says.

Some would look at the robots in action and worry they'll one day be taking jobs not creating them, but Barhorst believes they actually hold the key to bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. by making factories efficient enough to compete with cheaper labor.

"It's really changing the skill sets of jobs to higher skilled jobs, higher paying jobs so robots don't replace individuals, they actually give them additional opportunities," Barhorst says.

Those opportunities include a chance to win a hand or two and a chance to lend a hand or two.

"It's still a hard time finding people with that specialized skill set," Barhorst says.

To apply for one of the job openings, click here .