Minimum-wage offensive could speed arrival of robot-powered restaurants

Washington Post ^ | August 16, 2015 | Lydia DePillis

[C19fan]

Crowded. That’s how Ed Rensi remembers what life was like working at McDonald’s in 1966. There were about double the number of people working in the store — 70 or 80, as opposed to the 30 or 40 there today — because preparing the food just took a lot more doing.

“When I first started at McDonald’s making 85 cents an hour, everything we made was by hand,” Rensi said — from cutting the shortcakes to stirring syrups into the milk for shakes. Over the years, though, ingredients started to arrive packaged and pre-mixed, ready to be heated up, bagged and handed out the window.

[blackdog]

I am a machine motion E&I electrician. I install, program, troubleshoot, and repair automation equipment. The stuff I do is typically at much higher speeds.

A setup like that using Kinetix or Siemens drives and Kinetix servo motors with a Control Logix plc runs about $150K. That includes the vacum pumps, wiring, control cabinet, power supplies, guarding, wash down and sanitizing system, and perimeter interlocks (safety).

[Resolute Conservative]

Yeah now they will come interview with me and ask me for $65,000-$75,000 right out of college with no experience, oh wait they already do...

[blackdog]

BTW, The cost of maintaining those systems is hugh. A single servo motor =$7K. A drive axis card runs about $4K. In a washdown environment look for a few motors a year, and a few axis cards. That isn't including food grade conveyor belting ($100 per foot), bearings, pneumatic cylinders, VFD's, etc....which need scheduled and reactive maintenance.

I'll go for the high school kid supply, thank you. They have built in redundancy for cheap. Imagine the hourly cost when a unit like that goes down?

[Twinkie]

This “minimum wage” solution liberals have always had will, of course, be passed - with the expected results. They’ll get what they want - elected - while the ordinary person will get shafted.

[RobinOfKingston]

Wait for california’s to pass legislation not allowing mechanical means to fry a hamburger.

[mosesdapoet]

This talk of robotics supplanting employees is all very nice for operations that can afford them. What these fools at Wapoo ignore is that in establishing these prohibitive wage scales. It makes it almost impossible for the creation of start ups or business competition to existing goods and services industries but rather consolidates and reduces them to a handfull as is happening in Seattle .

[Mastador1]

Anyone been to a Chase Bank lately? They are replacing their employees with machines at an alarming rate, while coincidentally and ironically advertising for employees on their front doors.

[tbw2]

The Great Shift Toward Automation and the Future of Employment
http://tamarawilhite.hubpages.com/hub/The-Great-Shift-and-the-Future-of-Employment

[sportutegrl]

Has anyone been to the new Be Our Guest restaurant in the Magic Kingdom? You order on a touch screen. This could be a test run for other Disney World restaurants. I saw the same thing at a Chilis in Idaho. BTW, how do you tip a robot?

[W.]

There’s a steak hoagie place down the way that advertises that they use Amoroso’s rolls. I’ve bought several bags of 6 hoagie rolls to make sandwiches, nice and tasty... [$6/bag, but worth it]

[blackdog]

Bread & Rolls, soup, dry cured salami(hanging from the ceiling), provolone cheese (hanging from the ceiling), sausage, soft pretzels, and a big o'l fat guy with a dirty apron which he uses to wipe his hands and knife on, are things which cannot be found outside of Philly.

And the big o'l guy is the key to it all.

[aquila48]

...And higher welfare and food stamps rolls with all the newly unemployed.

[W.]

Kinda sounds like the butcher shop down the street, and either one’s my kinda place, for sure. Since I mention the rolls, I forgot to say we’re in NW OH, which makes Amoroso’s unique here.