Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders
In short: today's best AI models could do about 5% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about the same by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 95% of the time, stays with people.
Operate or tend machines to wash or clean products, such as barrels or kegs, glass items, tin plate, food, pulp, coal, plastic, or rubber, to remove impurities.
14,760 people do this job in the US. $43,530 a year.
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on2 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet0 h
- Stays with people38 h
Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 2 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 0 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 38 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Record gauge readings, materials used, processing times, or test results in production logs (about 2 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 5%
- 0%
- 95%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 3%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 5%. Today's estimate: 5%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, no reportable share went to this job's tasks in May 2026; 0 of its 11 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.0028% to 0.0025% (released February and March 2025).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.0028% | 663 of 708 | 1 of 11 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.0025% | 636 of 703 | 1 of 11 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | none | n/a | 0 of 11 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 11 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 11 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 11 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | none | n/a | 0 of 11 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 96% of this job's working time as physical work. For 96% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere: 64% in a purpose-built cell, 33% in a structured facility. 1.29 of 3, the 45th highest of the 923 jobs.
- Not physical 4%
- In a purpose-built cell 64%
- In a structured facility 33%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 11 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operate or tend machines to wash and remove impurities from items such as barrels or kegs, glass products, tin plate surfaces, dried fruit, pulp, animal stock, coal, manufactured articles, plastic, or rubber.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Sormac Pulstar salad washer (double wash system) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 26% | 38 min13 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Drain, clean, and refill machines or tanks at designated intervals, using cleaning solutions or water.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Alfa Laval CIP Station (brewery CIP module) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 14% | 50 min25 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Set controls to regulate temperature and length of cycles, and start conveyors, pumps, agitators, and machines.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Automatic IQF frozen vegetable washing/blanching line (PLC + centralized touchscreen recipe control) (vegetable-machine.com) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 10% | 17 min8 min to 33 min | Stays with people | |
| Examine and inspect machines to detect malfunctions.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Spot with Spot CAM+IR and Fluke SV600 acoustic imager, Orbit software (Boston Dynamics) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Observe machine operations, gauges, or thermometers, and adjust controls to maintain specified conditions.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, JST Automated Parts Cleaning System (automated wet bench) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 9% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people | |
| Load machines with objects to be processed and unload them after cleaning, placing them on conveyors or racks.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, FANUC MT Series / LR Mate machine-tending cell (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 8% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Draw samples for laboratory analysis, or test solutions for conformance to specifications, such as acidity or specific gravity.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a structured facility, Metrohm 2060 TI Process Analyzer / 2026 HD Titrolyzer (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 7% | 17 min7 min to 29 min | Stays with people | |
| Adjust, clean, and lubricate mechanical parts of machines, using hand tools and grease guns.Done daily by most who do it.Robots: in a purpose-built cell, DOPAG production cell for automated grease metering (6-axis robot + spray/shot valves, lubriLine pump) (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 6% | 33 min13 min to 1.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Record gauge readings, materials used, processing times, or test results in production logs.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 8 min4 min to 17 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Measure, weigh, or mix cleaning solutions, using measuring tanks, calibrated rods or suction tubes.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a purpose-built cell, Sani-Matic CIP system (skid with chemical injection controls and conductivity monitoring) (deployed). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 17 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Add specified amounts of chemicals to equipment at required times to maintain solution levels and concentrations.Done daily by most who do it. Robots: in a structured facility, Alfa Laval CIP Station (sold). Anthropic's rating. | 3% | 13 min4 min to 25 min | Stays with people |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders5% now, 5% by 2028
- Mixing and Blending Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders3% now, 3% by 2028
- Furnace, Kiln, Oven, Drier, and Kettle Operators and Tenders10% now, 10% by 2028
- Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders11% now, 11% by 2028
- Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers1% now, 1% by 2028
- Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment1% now, 1% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 5% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 5% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five. Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Record gauge readings, materials used, processing times, or test results in production logs (100% of the task's time now).
- Which tasks of Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Operate or tend machines to wash and remove impurities from items such as barrels or kegs, glass products, tin plate surfaces, dried fruit, pulp, animal stock, coal, manufactured articles, plastic, or rubber; Drain, clean, and refill machines or tanks at designated intervals, using cleaning solutions or water; and Set controls to regulate temperature and length of cycles, and start conveyors, pumps, agitators, and machines. Together such tasks are about 95% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026, no reportable share went to this job's tasks. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 0%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Cleaning, Washing, and Metal Pickling Equipment Operators and Tenders?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 96% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 96% of the working time, 33% in a structured facility. Its index is 1.29 of 3. One example: Automatic IQF frozen vegetable washing/blanching line (PLC + centralized touchscreen recipe control) for "set controls to regulate temperature and length of cycles, and start conveyors, pumps, agitators, and machines". A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 11 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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