No, they definitely are not free. You are absolutely correct on that. But after having worked in a automated environment where the work force was reduced to mi

No, they definitely are not free. You are absolutely correct on that. But after having worked in a automated environment where the work force was reduced to minimal required human staff; I can tell you that maintenance is (for some) a last resort. Also, a lot of these sorts of things can have stuff like subsidies for them, which means the tax payer is paying for it, not the company. Finally, sometimes employers just don't want to have to deal with human workers. Sometimes, it's more worth it to just have to deal with machines that don't talk back, just do their work (usually) and don't require benefits, kickbacks, and other such things. A human is an ongoing cost. A machine is as well, but not quite as much of one; depending on the situation. Finally. You could always just have a bot that maintains the bots. Edit: One other thing. Bots don't show up late for work, or require rest as much as humans. So their potential profit margin is higher.