I like technology, but I hate the thought of being followed by, or following, a giant advertisement.
http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/meet-lowe-s-newest-sales-associate-oshbot-robot/295591/
Posted on 10/28/2014 12:31:21 PM PDT by Hojczyk
If you plan to shop at Lowe’s (LOW) Orchard Supply Hardware store in San Jose California next month, you might find your sales associate replaced by a five-foot tall, taking robot.
These robotic shopping assistants, or OSHbots, will be the first of their kind in the country. They will greet customers, ask them if they need help and show them through the store to the customers' desired products. The robot will also feature screens on its front and back which will display ads for products as well as allow customers the option to videoconference with an in-store sales associate.
Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Aaron Task said it is “amazing” technology, but also points out the implications of adding OSHbots to stores. “The downside is you don’t need a human begin on the floor of your store now if you can do this…” and while there will still be a person in the store assisting via video conference, this means “one human being with a job but there are a lot of human beings who used to be on the floor and now don’t have jobs.”
The robot was created through a partnership with Lowe’s and Fellow Robots. Kyle Nel, the Executive Director of Lowe’s Innovation Labs tells the Wall Street Journal the robots will bring some of the benefits of the e-commerce experience into a physical store.
In its next phase, the robot could have the ability to scan a particular part presented by the customer, say, a nail or a bolt, and actually generate it using a 3D printer built into the body of the robot itself.
This isn’t the plot of a new science-fiction movie, but Task says “we are getting closer and closer to an era where artificial intelligence robots are interacting with us and are going
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Good. Maybe the robots won’t be hiding somewhere when customers need help.
There go those $15/hour jobs, losers.
First the bank tellers, now the hardware store guys.
What will Caliph Baraq do?
I like technology, but I hate the thought of being followed by, or following, a giant advertisement.
http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/meet-lowe-s-newest-sales-associate-oshbot-robot/295591/
I don't shop Lowes, never liked them, but Home Depot is just as bad! Fifty people saying "Hi, how are You" (irritating as Hell), but not a one around whose department it is when you need assistance. And their so called professionals in the departments usually have no idea what they are talking about.
Hate to see employees losing their job to a robot but it does open up lots of new areas of job opportunities. Someone is going to have to be able to update and reprogram the robot and someone is going to have to be able to fix them.
Unfortunately, don’t know that our educational system is addressing the impact of these changes or the skills that will be required to meet these new job opportunities in their curriculum.
“Good. Maybe the robots won’t be hiding somewhere when customers need help.”
I agree. The stores I like but at times it is very hard to find help. All the big box hardware stores seem that way anymore.
... This is nothing more than a gimmick ..... It would be much more practical and less expensive to have strategically placed Kiosks instead of customer stalking hazardous bots bumping into and possibly injuring ... at least scaring unsuspecting patrons.
I’d rather be followed by a Robot/Ad than some of the Creepers employed be a major retail store (name withheld).
My experiences:
Lowe’s - you can hardly ever FIND an associate or an associate that knows what they are doing.
Home Depot - every damn employee hovers over you like you are a crook or asks if they can help you - every 10 seconds!
True Value - has everything you need, at a price you can’t afford!
If the robot is gay, does Lowe’s provide Same Sex Partner Benefits?
They have these at the Indianapolis airport now as concierges. I expect they will become very common and not scary over the next few years.
maybe but they are still way behind Home Depot on the homo front. Home Depot has sponsored gay pride parades with children as grand marshals. And some of these were in Massataxes where Governor Romney signed proclamations praising these marches.
I doubt it happens.
Those displaced will find solace in a wide variety of state and local benefits and move on to watching Jerry Springer and Maury Povich.
GTE (now Verizon) had these same type of “robots” deliver the mail to the entire building on every floor through automated scan paths located on the floor. They called for the elevators, they could be summoned for an express package, and they let you know when they were in your area for package/mail pickup and delivery.
That was in the 1990’s!
The same thing goes on at Best Buy and a few other places. When I shop, I want to be anonymous.
and maybe actually know where stuff is
They will just import people from overseas to work on the robots. Rather than train Americans to do that sort of work.
Heck some Americans might look down on such work as beneath them anyway.
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