Interactive calculator
Robot vs Human Cost Calculator
How much would a robot need to work to justify its purchase? Adjust every assumption and see the financial implications immediately.
All values are editable hypothetical scenarios. No robot has been independently demonstrated to replace the assumed labour.
01 · Human employment
Fully loaded employer costs, with paid and productive weeks treated separately.
Editable example; includes pension, employer tax and other costs
Annual employment cost
£35,100
Effective cost per productive hour: £20.35
02 · Robot economics
Set operating conditions, ownership costs and how much work actually replaces paid labour.
03 · Live financial results
Recalculates instantly from the same tested financial engine.
Initial investment
£17,600
Annual operating + supervision
£5,061
Cost / productive hour
£4.93
Simple payback
1.4 years
Annual potential labour value
£17,987
Annual net benefit
£12,927
Lifetime net benefit
£48,034
Avoided labour hours / year
884
Break-even targets
Required productivity30.3%
Required scheduled hours / week18.6
Robot availability / year1,700 hrs
Equivalent work / year1,105 hrs
Cumulative cost comparison
Avoided labour valueRobot cumulative cost
Illustrative nominal GBP values. The blue line is potential avoided labour value, not necessarily realised cash savings.
Financial model, not a productivity prediction. Confirm tasks, uptime, staffing changes, taxes, financing and local currency before making purchasing decisions.
Read calculation methodology →