It is true that in recent years there has been a considerable advancement in robotics and automation, and many challenging tasks are now done through machines. Although there are a few drawbacks of the growing usage of machines, I believe the advantages certainly outweigh them.
The first benefit of automation is that it saves human lives. There are many dangerous jobs like mining, bomb disposal, sewage cleaning, where they have made human involvement redundant. For instance, in Fukushima robots were employed and are still being used to clean the nuclear fusion disaster. Similarly, in health care, many complex surgeries, which were earlier considered too risky, have been made possible by robotics, saving precious human lives.
Secondly, automation saves time enabling people to enjoy and relax. For instance, many monotonous and repetitive works like washing, cleaning etcetera can be done by machines, thus saving people time, which they can spend with friends or family or on their hobbies. Finally, automation enables higher productivity and efficiency by reducing labour costs and errors. This not only benefits employers by increasing profits, but also consumers by providing cheaper, quality products.
On the other hand, the main drawback of automation is that it can displace human labour and lead to unemployment. In a way, this also leads to income equality, benefitting the industry owners and hurting the employees. Another negative of machines is that they lead to dehumanization. Interacting with machines can provide the same sense of satisfaction as talking to a human as machines cannot empathise and understand our feelings.
To summarize, I would like to reiterate that while increasing dependence on automation has some disadvantages, I believe that advantages are far more.