I saw this going down the street today.
This thing is a package delivery robot that was waiting at an intersection to cross the street. It was in 'testing mode' and had two young guys walking with it. It seemed vulnerable to abuse to me, so I think it will be some time before these things on the streets without escorts; however, they do seem like they would work well for large corporate campuses. I imagine with time they'll start blending into the background, that and the cameras recording all the activity around them will probably make them less of a target for abuse.
> seemed vulnerable to abuse to me
Same here. The first roll-out of these coolerbots was in DC about a year ago (we have a thread somewhere). I expect they ended up in an alley up on cinder blocks.
http://www.fox5dc.com/news/local-news/fairfax-county-thieves-targeting-wheels-leaving-cars-on-blocks
And, like we discussed in yet another thread re drone pizza deliveries to a large apartment building, this doesn't scale.
BUMP:
BBC > Unions call for four-day working week
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45463868?ns_source=facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ocid=socialflow_facebook
Quote from: Mackin USA on September 10, 2018, 01:32:52 PM
BUMP:
BBC > Unions call for four-day working week
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45463868?ns_source=facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ocid=socialflow_facebook
That's the big mystery of the modern world - why hasn't the 15-hour work week predicted by Keynes come to be? There are many reasons, but trading time for stuff, trading stuff for family, etc is a lot of it.
There are some pretty strong arguments for cutting the standard work week.
Quote from: ergophobe on September 12, 2018, 05:11:46 PM
Quote from: Mackin USA on September 10, 2018, 01:32:52 PM
BUMP:
BBC > Unions call for four-day working week
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45463868?ns_source=facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ocid=socialflow_facebook
That's the big mystery of the modern world - why hasn't the 15-hour work week predicted by Keynes come to be? There are many reasons, but trading time for stuff, trading stuff for family, etc is a lot of it.
There are some pretty strong arguments for cutting the standard work week.
Financialization of the economy (healthcare, education, houses, cars, even pay by the month cell phone leases with perpetual trade ins) has allowed the FIRE (finance / insurance / real estate) industry to suck up over 100% of productivity gains.
The Great Recession was an opportunity to allow financial asset prices to reset lower & allow labor to gain leverage over capital, but central bankers swiftly stepped in to prevent the risk of anything approaching actual free markets.
Robotic maid cleaning a toilet without any assistance
https://old.reddit.com/r/nextfuckinglevel/comments/15tge06/robotic_maid_cleaning_a_toilet_without_any/
And that's what it does in an environment designed to be cleaned by humans.
Imagine five years from now when real-world data rolls in and architects catch up with their designs and hotels are designed from the outset to be cleaned by robots. That will simplify the problem dramaticall.
That top comment at reddit...
I'm curios about it's logic for cleaning. Like what would it do of someone completely missed the toilet and went all over the seat and floor? How would it handle an extra messy situation? Can it think about the situation and evaluate, or is it just preprogrammed to go through the motions?
In a decent hotel, say one that would buy expensive robots, the cleaner cleans and the a head cleaner inspects. Always two different people who clean and inspect.
So I had the same thought. It looked like there might be a lot of situations it couldn't handle. Someone missing the toilet is one, but there are lots of others. Someone left bags of ice in the sink or towels in the bathtub, or what have you.
Also, at least for the time being, you need a human to make the bed.
So I was thinking the sequence becomes robot then room cleaner then inspection. So it reduces the need for cleaners, but you still end up with two humans with eyes on every room.
One of the hotels in the hotel group I worked for built a new hotel circa 2016 and they had a couple of robots already, but mostly for things like delivering extra towels and perhaps vacuuming the halls. This would be the next step I guess.
This is the hotel that was in our group (or, well, still is, but I'm not)
https://www.wbfo.org/business-economy/2017-03-30/programmed-to-deliver-westin-buffalo-introduces-robot-butler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgIQcWcMBUk
I sent that bathroom robot video to 3 of my daughters ...all of them asked for it to be on their christmas list.
Among the early models of roombas they released a Scooba --a small diameter (7 in / 18 cm) mopping bot for tile or vinyl floors. I bought one and it has remained great for bathrooms for more than a decade. Later, they changed the frame size of moppers to be about the same size as vacuums --the bigger ones now can't fit around the bases of toilets & bidets.
>Also, at least for the time being, you need a human to make the bed.
Do you? I'd think that could be easily done by robotics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i27iWSWyvEg