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 ...
I see an increase in kidnappings.
I see an increase in pranks.
I’d imagine the software will be done offshore, but the repair guys will likely be locals. That’s what bank machines and similar installations are like today.
I have been known, on my worse or maybe better, days to respond to "Do you need help?" with "why, do I look broken?" Like you all I want to do is go in get what I want and get out in the shortest time possible.
Just try to find someone when you need some tile cut.
Alternatively, they could exploit smart phone technology to do the same thing these robots are doing.
On the other hand, maybe robots are thief deterrents.
—>> I see an increase in kidnappings.
customers or robots. lol.
.... Yes, I understand that .... however Airport patron traffic areas are not as confined and less restrictive and therefore wouldn't hamper customer movement nearly as much as in shopping isles.
..... Also .... Maintenance of the bots would be a heckuva lot more expensive for Roaming Self Navigating Bots as opposed to stationary well defined informational Smart Kiosks.
Could go either (or both) ways.....
Are they hackable? A few seconds with a flash thumb drive and they might be chasing customers down the aisle shouting “Kill the human!”
I'm sure it won't be difficult, but... Let's say that you started with 20 store floor workers who were just standing around, distributing flyers, and sometimes assisting shoppers. Now you bought 20 robots to replace them. What are your needs in human labor?
1) You need someone "on call" when the shopper presses the button to talk to a human. Let's say you need three.
2) You need someone who is able to reprogram the robots. Most of the reprogramming will be done wirelessly, over the network, and from headquarters. There is no need to keep a specialist in house if robots need reprogramming only once a week or so. Since programming is done once and uploaded into all robots, you need one programmer for, say, 100 robots. Your 20 robots result in 0.2 programmers who sit at headquarters and mostly work on ads (art) and voice menus.
3) You need someone who is able to repair the robots. Most likely this person will not be kept in house - it will be a visiting specialist; furthermore, it may be that if a robot fails it will be simply loaded into a truck and shipped to a repair center, with a replacement unloaded at the same time and plugged in. The reason is that the repairman needs tools, equipment, components, spare modules, documents, and perhaps even help from the manufacturer. You cannot do this repair on site, in some dark corner, only with tools that you can carry. Let's say you need one service guy for 50 robots (don't know how reliable they are.) This amounts to 0.4 workers, and they are located in the service center.
What do we see here? We started with 20 workers. Now we have three in the store, and 0.6 workers at other locations; total 3.6 workers. Rounding up to 4, we retain only 20% of the original staff. What happens to other 16, even if they are perfectly able to program robots? They are not needed, as one programmer can operate a whole herd of robots. And here lies a problem. Socialists tell us that those freed up workers will do "something else." But nobody can spell out what that "something else" is, considering that automation will be eating into human labor everywhere. So far, the best idea the government could come up with is to tax workers and to send those tax monies to those who don't work. This devalues labor.
I will have hours of fun ignoring these Lowe Bots. If they chase me down I will shoot to defend myself.
Quick, raise the minimum wage! That’ll put a stop to this worker displacement.
My choice would be "DANGER WILL ROBINSON! DANGER!!!"
That’s because they pay low entry wages, send a person thru a week or so of training, and BAM! You’re supposed to know all and be all about the department you work in.
How do I know, because I worked at Lowes, in the appliance department. Let me tell you, the first few months or so SUCKED! But most employees I worked with actually tried to help best they could.
“I have been known, on my worse or maybe better, days to respond to “Do you need help?” with “why, do I look broken?””
Generally when that happens I will ask the sales bot if the will find me a P38 ES Modulator and I will wait here. When they go to look up the P38 Explosive Space Modulator (Marvin the Martin) I get what I want and leave.
“Are they hackable? A few seconds with a flash thumb drive and they might be chasing customers down the aisle shouting “Kill the human!””
Lets see...
Robot... Check
Welder... Check
Chain Saw... Check
I sense a plan developing!
“I need a 3/8 inch shoulder socket-head bolt, 3/8-24 UNF, Grade 5, Medium Carbon Steel, Quenched and Tempered with a Castle Nut.”
“Bzzztt....brappp...woofffff...thrpppp.”
“Do you read me, HAL?”
“Affirmative, Dave. I read you. But I didn’t understand a word you said”
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