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Funny how high-availability constraints can make for ominous headlines like this.
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They realize that amazon now measures the height of each customer, also has a miniature drone following them around and each floor tile measure the weight of the people for that extra data point, oh and some have employees disguised as customers whom help the system when in doubt.
Weight belts, got it.
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And once they hear Amazon can't track a lot of people moving quickly... A lot of people will decide to start moving quickly.
I can already foresee a dozen people showing up in zebra-striped hoodies to see what happens when they shop together.
Anecdotally I've heard that the store oftentimes works fine in high-traffic situations. But if my memory of my time at Amazon serves right, the "P99 performance" of this store should be as good as the "mean performance", which is probably where they're being cautious. Funny how high-availability constraints can make for ominous headlines like this.
I don't find the headline positive or negative, I find it to the point and succinct.
Anecdotally I've heard that the store oftentimes works fine in high-traffic situations. But if my memory of my time at Amazon serves right, the "P99 performance" of this store should be as good as the "mean performance", which is probably where they're being cautious. Funny how high-availability constraints can make for ominous headlines like this.
I don't think the headline is ominous. It is not like Amazon is delivering a regulatory project that has real deadlines. They set their own deadline and made a decision to adjust it. They are also creating the first of its kind so kinds are to be expected right? I don't find the headline positive or negative, I find it to the point and succinct.
Headline: "Amazon’s cashier-free store reportedly breaks if more than 20 people are in it" Subtitle: "So it’s being delayed" Lead-in: "Amazon’s first cashier-free convenience store was supposed to open to the public early this year, but apparently some big technology issues have the launch on hold."
The Verge's article is a hot-take derivative of the WSJ article. My criticism was misplaced.
People interested might also enjoy the first, automated store: SmartMart. Made in the Windows NT days. We got one out here. http://www.smartmartinc.com
How is Smart Mart? Their website is quite sparse.
It was an old interface that wasn't as good as modern self-checkouts at grocery stores. Predated them, though, automating the whole process. You drive up to a fuel pump looking thing, tell it what you want, pay it, the equipment gets the right stuff, and it brings it to you somehow. The only people necessary are those that stock it. Probably just one or two doing a full shift on busy days with a part time one on slower ones. Pretty amazing given big companies were bragging about rolling out self-checkouts that just automated a register when he had people automated a whole store many years before.
Note: Guy's name is Michael Rivalto. He's a VC that my brothers told me. Family friend that used to occasionally take them to school in his supercars. Lasting impression there haha.
All it takes is a loss factor of a few percent, and the entire model breaks down. This is the same reason that long-range RFID (UHF RFID) never worked for cashierless checkout too. You couldn't ensure 100% coverage. Some tags just couldn't be read -- either due to adversarial tactics (eg. shielding with your body) or material properties (eg. metal) -- and the engineering countermeasures to overcome these challenges m…
i honestly don't want amazon to continue to get bigger it's already big enough as far as i am concerned, but that's not how big business works. consolidation is the way and the government does little to discourage it and allow smaller players and more diversity.
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Yes. You need to have the Amazon Go app installed on your phone, and you scan your phone at what looks like a turnstile to enter the store, from the store's PR videos. Then the store keeps track of what you pick up using computer vision, your phone and various sensors, and charges everything you walk out with to your account. Unless you can avoid the requirement to load an app and scan it to get into the store, walki…
So children are not allowed in the store? What's stopping someone from just stuffing their kid full of high end goods and asking them to wait in the car?
There is, of course, a constant drive to push accuracy up, that's the Amazon way.
The delay is for other reasons - even with a throwaway I'm not going to say what