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A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?

nytimes.com

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Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?

#211

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

FLUX-YOU wrote: post #179
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's because it's way, way cheaper and more flexible to use a touchscreen PLC, like one of these: https://www.automationdirect.com/adc/Shopping/Catalog/HMI_(H... than a huge mess of buttons and wires. Just look at that linked product! Less than $500 and you have as many buttons and labels as you can shake a stick at, and it's all behind a pretty color display. I can hardly buy 3 buttons, a vinyl overlay, and pay for…

>Less than $500 and you have as many buttons and labels as you can shake a stick at, and it's all behind a pretty color display. A raspberry pi + touchscreen is 1/5th of that. RPi is capable of running Qt5 which would be a solid UI choice. How the heck have they survived?

The same way I was able to buy a $30 display and sensor off AliExpress, install it in a $5 plastic box, test it and resell it for $120.

Value was added. Sometimes, simply knowing what product to purchase is worth hundreds of dollars.

Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?

#212

Post by brink »

Ensorceled wrote: post #194
brink wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure it is. I'm not trying to minimize discrimination.

Well, you did talk about "balance" so you are to some extent. [Edit] Also, you called it "PC" so, yes you are minimizing it.

How dare I?

Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?

#213

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

setr wrote: post #79
j7ake wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because there is no theory linking interaction of molecules to flavour yet, although there are some preliminary work from some labs on this (with beer)

Seeing as humans don't usually taste their coffee before serving, identifying flavour is probably not strictly necessary to the task. And given that the act of making good-enough coffee isn't a very difficult task (given how readily available and quickly trained "baristas" are), and how mechanical the process is already, im not sure there's anything to suggest it isn't do-able. Its more likely a matter of cost and sc…

Its more likely a matter of cost and scale

This is not a trivial matter! Cost is entirely the reason a host of technologically-possible automation hasn't happened outside a lab.

Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?

#214

Post by shostack »

Ensorceled wrote: post #151

Ummmmm, that's not a "mean" caesar salad. It's competitive with a supermarket premade but doesn't compare to a restaurant or homemade caesar salad. This isn't any different than a vending machine or those coke dispensers with a touch screen flavour picker. The real job loss will be when this is a real robot that is fresh tearing the romaine and whisking the dressing after you press the buttons and delivering an actua…

Not disagreeing on the perceived quality of this salad...but does that really change the issue at hand?

I would think that while it may be challenging, I don't see it as unthinkable that we could have a robot tear leaves of romaine and spinning a whisk.

Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?

#215

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

ErrantX wrote: post #119
robert_foss wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A solution is providing the option of mid-life education. Of course this comes more easily to places with free education.

What about if there are a group of people who cannot do mid-to-high skilled jobs (whilst potentially controversial, I think this is accurate)? If we replace all of those jobs what do they do? I have always thought there is a far-future dystopian story in that somewhere; society has evolved IT and automation to the extent that only the top 25% of individuals actually "work" and everyone else has leisure. The 25% decid…

The 75% should only be provided with little more than bare essentials. An apartment, food, and health care, with a small allowance for niceties.

The 25% that actually work should be rewarded with luxuries. Financial means to travel, own their own house, drive a nice car, etc.

Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?

#216

Post by Ensorceled »

shostack wrote: post #214
Ensorceled wrote: post #151

Ummmmm, that's not a "mean" caesar salad. It's competitive with a supermarket premade but doesn't compare to a restaurant or homemade caesar salad. This isn't any different than a vending machine or those coke dispensers with a touch screen flavour picker. The real job loss will be when this is a real robot that is fresh tearing the romaine and whisking the dressing after you press the buttons and delivering an actua…

Not disagreeing on the perceived quality of this salad...but does that really change the issue at hand? I would think that while it may be challenging, I don't see it as unthinkable that we could have a robot tear leaves of romaine and spinning a whisk.

Right. But this machine is functionally equivalent to a coffee vending machine: punch espresso drink, medium, cappuccino and put your cup under the nozzle. Those machines haven't replaced anybody at Starbucks -- they simply made the lives of the receptionist at my Toyota Dealership easier.

These examples need to be game changers to convince people, a fancy vending machine isn't going to scare anybody.

A replacement fry cook, sous chef or truck driver will.

Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?

#217

Post by PhasmaFelis »

astrodust wrote: post #178
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Giving the robot a disinfectant-level sensor, delivering an alert when it's low and refusing to operate if it can't do so cleanly, would be trivial compared to the rest of the endeavor, and will probably be required the FDA or equivalent, eventually.

Yes, because no mechanical parts have ever malfunctioned, ever.

Do you trust minimum-wage teens to follow procedure to the letter every time? In this arena at least, I feel like it's a wash between malfunctioning robots and stressed-out, underpaid workers.

Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?

#218

Post by PhasmaFelis »

Mediterraneo10 wrote: post #156
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people enjoy recorded music, but most people also like to see their favorite artists live, when they can. I think it's the same thing.

> but most people also like to see their favorite artists live, when they can Citation needed. Live music is a healthy economy, but I am not sure a majority of listeners of a given artist are particularly driven to go to that artist's concerts. I suspect only a passionate minority is interested.

It's still enough to support an extremely healthy global live-music industry. I don't see handmade food being different.

Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?

#219

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

snappyTertle wrote: post #161

Robots making food will lower the cost of food, giving more people access to better nutrition. This will also free up labor and capital to do other things. Machines helped make farming more productive so humans no longer have to live on farms, and dedicate their lives to the next meal on their table. If we were worried about jobs back then, we would've outlawed tractors and other machines. If we really want to create…

> This will also free up labor ...

What a silly statement. There's already an excess of available labor.

> ...and capital to do other things.

What a nice, sugar-coated way of saying "This will make the rich get richer."

Of course, I probably sound like I'm against automation and I'm trying to save jobs, and I'm really not. But let's not pretend that lowering business costs helps anybody but the shareholders, and that creating unemployment is a GOOD thing.

Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?

#220

Post by photojosh »

eru wrote: post #133
vortico wrote: post #88

Why is the UI on these things so atrocious? It took him a number of key presses just to select from a list of 6 and many more to finalize the purchase. Why not have a bunch of large tactile buttons at the bottom of the screen like all normal vending machines do? I don't want to wait in line for 3 minutes while some technophobe tries to figure out how to nagivate a pressure touchscreen with 12 menus deep. It's not his…

That's why I am always delighted when I see an iPad hooked up as a point-of-sales system. Not because iPads are inherently superior to old style PoS systems (they are not, they can't provide tactile buttons) or because any one UI they offer is particularly good, but because they herald a new era of lower barriers to entry into the PoS terminals market.

I set up the Square POS app with their credit card reader for my kids' school uniform shop. It's got a grid of icons with the products.

Even the most utterly technophobic volunteer mum can operate it. So good.

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