Robot Janitors Are Coming to Mop Floors at a Walmart Near You
The world's largest retailer is rolling out 360 autonomous floor-scrubbing robots in some of its stores in the U.S. by the end of the[sic] January, it said in a joint statement with Brain Corp., which makes the machines. The autonomous janitors can clean floors on their own even when customers are around, according to the San Diego-based startup.
Walmart has already been experimenting with automating the scanning of shelves for out-of-stock items and hauling products from storage for online orders. Advances in computer vision are also making it possible to use retail floor data to better understand consumer behavior, improve inventory tracking and even do away with checkout counters, as Amazon.com Inc. is trying to do with its cashierless stores. Brain's robots are equipped with an array of sensors that let them to[sic] gather and upload data.
"We can take anything that has wheels and turn it into a fully autonomous robot, provided that it can go slow and stopping is never a safety concern," said Brain Chief Executive Office Eugene Izhikevich. "And it's more than just navigation. It is to robots what Android operating system is to smartphones."
Amazon wants to sell booze at one of its Chicago retail stores
Amazon.com Inc. wants to sell alcohol at its planned new Amazon Go retail store in the Illinois Center. Seattle-based Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) applied for a liquor license from the city of Chicago this month, with "Amazon Retail LLC" applying for package goods liquor license at 111 E. Wacker Drive, floor 1, according to the city.
Amazon announced its fourth Chicago-area Amazon Go retail store earlier this month, planned for Illinois Center, with an opening set for early 2019. None of the current Chicago Amazon Go stores currently sell alcohol.
Previously: Walmart to Deploy Shelf-Scanning Robots at 50 Stores
Amazon Plans to Open as Many as Six More Cashierless Amazon Go Stores This Year
Amazon Considering Opening Up to 3,000 New Cashierless "Amazon Go" Stores
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 04 2018, @02:21AM (2 children)
Not much point to saying that when the cheap robots don't do much either.
Cheaper to who and for what? Let's see first, if it's going to be an actual problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 04 2018, @08:16PM (1 child)
So instead of planning on how to prevent a problem we have to see it happen first? That is dumb.
I am not saying to restructure society regardless, just that we should be considering how to move forward when all the experts are agreeing that many jobs are gong to get automated. There is nothing wrong with planning, but I guess that means you have to consider your external costs and THAT is something you have nightmares about.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday December 04 2018, @10:30PM
Indeed. Of course, if we really thought it was a problem, we could do things right now to delay or mitigate the impact. Like reduce the cost of employing people, for example. That means dropping stuff like high minimum wages, short work weeks, Social Security, too big to fail companies, massive regulation refactoring, and dismantling labor union oligopolies.
Experts who happen to know what it takes to get media exposure and won't ever face any negative consequences for erroneous predictions.
What external costs and what nightmares?
And by planning, what is your fix again?