Design industrial equipment.

Design industrial equipment. is a detailed work activity in O*NET — a concrete unit of work shared across 8 occupations and seen in 12 occupation-specific tasks. It rolls up into the broader work activity Design industrial systems or equipment. in Drafting, Laying Out, and Specifying Technical Devices, Parts, and Equipment .

Detailed work activities are the most granular shared layer in O*NET's work-activity hierarchy (Generalized → Intermediate → Detailed → occupation-specific task). The figures below describe how this activity shows up across the economy and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the work will be automated.

AI exposure

Of the 12 tasks under this activity that the OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rated, 11 (92%) are flagged as directly exposed to language models (E1) or exposed via model-powered tools (E2).

The Anthropic Economic Index observes real AI use on 1 of these tasks, with a mean mapped-usage share of 0.003% per task.

Exposure estimates overlap with model capabilities — whether a model could speed the task up — not whether the work will be done by software. Observed AI use is augmentation and assistance today, not jobs replaced.

Member tasks

Occupation-specific tasks O*NET maps to this detailed work activity, most important first.

• Research, design, evaluate, install, operate, or maintain mechanical products, equipment, systems or processes to meet requirements. · Mechanical Engineers · importance 4.2 · exposure with tools
• Design end-of-arm tooling. · Robotics Engineers · importance 3.8 · exposure with tools
• Design, implement, and monitor the development of mines, facilities, systems, or equipment. · Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers · importance 3.7 · exposure with tools
• Design, install, or troubleshoot manufacturing equipment. · Manufacturing Engineers · importance 3.6 · exposure with tools
• Design molds, tools, dies, jigs, or fixtures for use in manufacturing processes. · Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians · importance 3.5 · exposure with tools
• Design specialized or customized equipment, machines, or structures. · Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians · importance 3.4 · exposure with tools
• Assist engineers to design, develop, test, or manufacture industrial machinery, consumer products, or other equipment. · Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians · importance 3.3 · exposure with tools
• Design and build safety equipment. · Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors · importance 3.3 · exposure with tools
• Design or modify mining and oil field machinery and tools, applying engineering principles. · Petroleum Engineers · importance 3.1 · direct LLM exposure
• Design mining and mineral treatment equipment and machinery in collaboration with other engineering specialists. · Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers · importance 3.0 · exposure with tools
• Devise, fabricate, or assemble new or modified mechanical components for products such as industrial machinery or equipment, and measuring instruments. · Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians · no direct exposure
• Identify opportunities for improvements in quality, cost, or efficiency of automation equipment. · Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians · exposure with tools

Occupations that perform this

• Mechanical Engineers
• Robotics Engineers
• Mining and Geological Engineers, Including Mining Safety Engineers
• Manufacturing Engineers
• Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians
• Health and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors
• Petroleum Engineers
• Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27) Anthropic
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-design-industrial-equipment,
  title  = {Design industrial equipment.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/detailed-activities/design-industrial-equipment}
}