AI exposure: Outdoor Power Equipment and Other Small Engine Mechanics
Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul small engines used to power lawn mowers, chain saws, recreational sporting equipment, and related equipment.
Reading this score
computedAt 14.1% of weighted task load, Outdoor Power Equipment and Other Small Engine Mechanics sits at the 22th percentile, below the point where a job's centre of gravity has moved. 77.9% of what this role does is untouched, meaning current systems cannot produce that work at all, whatever the commercial incentive.
What holds the line here is embodiment. Across this occupation's 14 tasks it averages 2.39 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, the work has to happen in physical space. A language model cannot move matter. Until the robotics to do this work is both good enough and cheap enough to deploy widely, capability in software does not reach it.
The most exposed thing this job does is Record repairs made, time spent, and parts used, at 73.3%. The least is Grind, ream, rebore, and re-tap parts to obtain specified clearances, at 0.0%. A gap of 73.3% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within installation, maintenance and repair occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 50 roles in the group is 12.8%, and only 22 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 14 tasks, 4 are currently banded exposed, 0 assisted and 10 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take robotics cheap and reliable enough to deploy at scale, not a better language model. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 0.89 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 2.39 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.50 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 0.76 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.26 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.24 | 0-3 |
Task by task
14 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record repairs made, time spent, and parts used. | 73.3% | 26.7% | 0.0% | 4.62 | exposed |
| Obtain problem descriptions from customers, and prepare cost estimates for repairs. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.25 | exposed |
| Show customers how to maintain equipment. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.23 | exposed |
| Sell parts and equipment. | 30.0% | 20.0% | 50.0% | 4.05 | exposed |
| Test and inspect engines to determine malfunctions, to locate missing and broken parts, and to verify repairs, using diagnostic instruments. | 13.3% | 11.7% | 75.0% | 4.56 | untouched |
| Dismantle engines, using hand tools, and examine parts for defects. | 6.7% | 5.8% | 87.5% | 4.49 | untouched |
| Repair and maintain gasoline engines used to power equipment such as portable saws, lawn mowers, generators, and compressors. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.48 | untouched |
| Adjust points, valves, carburetors, distributors, and spark plug gaps, using feeler gauges. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.46 | untouched |
| Repair or replace defective parts such as magnetos, water pumps, gears, pistons, and carburetors, using hand tools. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.44 | untouched |
| Perform routine maintenance such as cleaning and oiling parts, honing cylinders, and tuning ignition systems. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.35 | untouched |
| Reassemble engines after repair or maintenance work is complete. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.30 | untouched |
| Replace motors. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.28 | untouched |
| Remove engines from equipment, and position and bolt engines to repair stands. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.17 | untouched |
| Grind, ream, rebore, and re-tap parts to obtain specified clearances, using grinders, lathes, taps, reamers, boring machines, and micrometers. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.96 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.
What this means in practice
Most of this work is not reachable by current systems, so the immediate pressure is on the administrative edges of the role rather than its core: the scheduling, the reporting, the written records. That is where time is recovered.