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Robots

Started by area51drone, October 29, 2014, 12:37:01 AM

area51drone

I love 'em, drones, self driving cars, just robots in general.   The last couple of days my son has been dutifully playing with my old Omnibot from when I was a kid.   He even takes his (pretty cool I might add) R2-D2 and tries to get them to interact.  LOL.  I told him they need a Protocol droid to get them to talk.   I'm about to pull out my Radio Shack robotic arm and let him give that a whirl.   

And then, today, I read this:

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20141028/us--lowes-robots-a3d7408287.html

Orchard Supply Hardware's OSHbot

This is exciting news!   Just think, going to the store and having a robot that can actually fucking help you and is available to help you, unlike the workers that seem to love to just avoid you at the hardware store at all cost.     Never takes a break, never treats customers poorly, is always willing to walk you to what you're looking for, and can answer many questions these 19 year old girls cannot.   I can imagine a day when you walk into any large box store and maybe the only people you see are working the front cash registers, maybe a stocker or two.    I, Robot here we come!

pate

Hold on a tic,

You have 19 year old girls in your local hardware store?

If that isn't heaven I haven't lived there yet...

edit: even better if they are some sort of robot...

Wintermute

The company I work for currently does a fair amount of engineering for AS/RS applications (google it, it's pretty much what Lowes is hocking).

Just to be clear, the Tv media latched on to this idea that robots are going to change work / incomes / personal economies. I am here to say that although that may be true for **some** repetitive manual labor jobs, especially in very large warehouses, we are very far from that type of soft-AI automation in the majority of the workforce. Don't believe the media hype.

area51drone

Quote from: Wintermute on October 29, 2014, 10:09:08 AM
The company I work for currently does a fair amount of engineering for AS/RS applications (google it, it's pretty much what Lowes is hocking).

Just to be clear, the Tv media latched on to this idea that robots are going to change work / incomes / personal economies. I am here to say that although that may be true for **some** repetitive manual labor jobs, especially in very large warehouses, we are very far from that type of soft-AI automation in the majority of the workforce. Don't believe the media hype.

Oh I know, it's not like they're going to replace humans any time soon, but I don't see why you can't pick a product on a touch screen and have the robot take you to where that is in the store.

Juan

The media believes that because it is happening in media.  Lots of jobs have lost to electronic devices -robotic studio cameras, for instance.

ComeBackArt

Quote from: Juan on October 30, 2014, 07:27:27 AM
The media believes that because it is happening in media.  Lots of jobs have lost to electronic devices -robotic studio cameras, for instance.

Like in the new "studio in Hawaii"?  ::)

wr250

Quote from: ComeBackArt on October 30, 2014, 08:49:48 AM
Like in the new "studio in Hawaii"?  ::)

is it manned by a robotic george noory?

ComeBackArt

Quote from: wr250 on October 30, 2014, 09:01:14 AM
is it manned by a robotic george noory?

Would you be able to tell a difference?

wr250

Quote from: ComeBackArt on October 30, 2014, 09:06:16 AM
Would you be able to tell a difference?

probably not.
but maybe george will become a cyborg and able to drive even the Daleks into self destruct mode.

area51drone

LOL...

Dr. Sbaitso can conduct an interview better than George can.

albrecht

Quote from: area51drone on October 29, 2014, 10:10:55 AM
Oh I know, it's not like they're going to replace humans any time soon, but I don't see why you can't pick a product on a touch screen and have the robot take you to where that is in the store.
It is does in the business on the upstream part of many businesses (electronics, medicine, chemical, etc) the only reason I can see not to do similar for the consumer end is more specific demand and harder to schedule/plan the picking of said item? But most importantly losing revenue from sales not associated with the initial reason to visit. (You go to HD to buy some machine screws. Very easy for an automatic system to find that SKU, put in bag, and deliver to you.) But they would miss out on you walking in, maybe getting lost, seeing that new DeWalt drill on special with free extra battery while walking to the screw isle. Then walking back out and seeing that new BBQ grill you need, cause your hungry and thinking about a nice steak and how crappy your old rusty grill is. Etc.

area51drone

Quote from: albrecht on October 30, 2014, 08:06:32 PM
It is does in the business on the upstream part of many businesses (electronics, medicine, chemical, etc) the only reason I can see not to do similar for the consumer end is more specific demand and harder to schedule/plan the picking of said item? But most importantly losing revenue from sales not associated with the initial reason to visit. (You go to HD to buy some machine screws. Very easy for an automatic system to find that SKU, put in bag, and deliver to you.) But they would miss out on you walking in, maybe getting lost, seeing that new DeWalt drill on special with free extra battery while walking to the screw isle. Then walking back out and seeing that new BBQ grill you need, cause your hungry and thinking about a nice steak and how crappy your old rusty grill is. Etc.

Yes, it does obviously replace humans in many situations.   Our cars are much better thanks to robotics.   I was specifically referring to the replacement of customer service labor in big box stores.   I don't think having a robot take you to the item is going to change any of the things you just mentioned - you'll still see that drill or the BBQ.   Also, if you watched the video, you'd have noticed that they have screens on both sides of the robot - they could be showing you relevant ads or asking you questions that might lead you to more sales while you're on the way to the screw aisle.   So I think there's actually more of an opportunity here for the store.  Plus, initially at least, it's just cool .. lots of people will come in just to see and interact with the robot.

area51drone

Quote from: Wintermute on October 29, 2014, 10:09:08 AM
The company I work for currently does a fair amount of engineering for AS/RS applications (google it, it's pretty much what Lowes is hocking).

BTW, everyone should check out what Wintermute is talking about here.  I don't think it's exactly what Lowes is hocking, but it's fucking cool

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_storage_and_retrieval_system

Kelt

Hang on... wait...

pate

I agree!

With someone...

Anyhow, the first thing I generally do (in principle) is to delete all programming imposed on a laptop desktop computer and establish some sort of dominance over it...

I cannot see the first thing I do after deboxing uncrate-ing a robot is to pee on the thing...  Awesome as that may be, I think by the time it mis-behaves it may be too late... might grab my 'mini-me' (truly mini, I assure you, you'd never notice it...) where was I...?...

...Oh yeah, some sort of unthinkable imaginable pr0n (horse or not...) ouch!

High (our current) energy costs make robotic labor more expensive than human labor in many situations.
When infinite energy comes along, the robots will take over.

The only benefit is you can depreciate a robot on your taxes.

VtaGeezer

Who else remembers being told in the 70's that by now, filling all our leisure time productively would a big problem?  They forgot to mention that unemployment would be viewed as leisure.

area51drone

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/militarys-darpa-lab-creates-wearable-robot-to-help-soldiers-run-faster/

Why is it that the government gives unlimited funds to the military to dole out to technology companies, and if anything, peanuts in comparison to companies that would make technology (robots/ai/etc) to do good things for humanity?

wr250

Quote from: area51drone on November 11, 2014, 10:37:15 AM
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/militarys-darpa-lab-creates-wearable-robot-to-help-soldiers-run-faster/

Why is it that the government gives unlimited funds to the military to dole out to technology companies, and if anything, peanuts in comparison to companies that would make technology (robots/ai/etc) to do good things for humanity?

because blowing stuff up /military operations are more fun than say, curing AIDS.

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