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> the robots are 50% more efficient than a human doing the same task. They can also scan shelves three times more quickly and are a lot more accurate. Human employees can only scan shelves about twice a week. Personally, I want to see up-to-date retail stock mapping (that I can search) Walmart is testing a robot from Bossa Nova (Pittsburgh and SF) http://www.bossanova.com/ https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/boss…
It seems interesting to me, that computers seem to be taking on managerial roles and humans are left with manual labor. The robot knows how to tell a human to fix a problem but doesn't know how to restock the shelves itself. Similarly, in warehouses, computers tell humans what to do, and the human's job is basically just to grab things. In the end, the robot is already higher on the ladder than the humans.
> the robots are 50% more efficient than a human doing the same task. They can also scan shelves three times more quickly and are a lot more accurate. Human employees can only scan shelves about twice a week. Personally, I want to see up-to-date retail stock mapping (that I can search) Walmart is testing a robot from Bossa Nova (Pittsburgh and SF) http://www.bossanova.com/ https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/boss…
Why does it have to be a robot riding around? Couldn't the same thing be done from a camera on the ceiling?
Lots of store websites have a feature where you select a location and it tells you whether a product is in stock or not (and often how much is in stock).
Why? It seems extremely arcane to still use paper price labels in 2017, especially for stores as big and centrally run as Walmart.
With digital price labels you can update prices centrally across the whole country within seconds, and it costs basically nothing to implement too, when the labor cost of manually updating paper price labels are factored in.
...which is bullshit; Walmart just doesn't want the "robots taking our jobs" angle here. If they consider the current level at which employees help customers in the aisles sufficient, then they'll be cutting jobs to match that level rather than "freeing up" employees to do more of it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Managers make decisions when the information is equivocal. That is very hard to replace. Resource allocation and unequivocal decisions are for the machines to help us with. If, as a manager, you do more of the latter: be afraid
> If, as a manager, you do more of the latter: be afraid As a gardener, I have never feared a robot that could pull weeds. As a home-maker I have never feared a robot that could wash dishes. As an inventor, I have never feared a robot that could draft diagrams. And yet those people who are at the mercy of the market fear, and this is why, I believe that capitalism is headed for either disaster or elimination. Capital…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I used to feel that way about bank tellers (having been a former bank teller a long time ago...) then I realized I was wasting 20 minutes in line for a simple deposit that the machine could do in under two minutes without a queue.
Don't you feel a tinge of guilt when you walk in one day and now there's only two tellers instead of three? Maybe I'm just weird but I was at target yesterday and there were only three aisles open with lots of people going to self checkout. I said fuck it and waited in line for a person.
How do you pick between buying wheat and taking it to the miller (preserving his job) and buying flour from the grocer?
Do you seek out gas stations that still pump gas for you?
Do you worry that buying a fuel efficient vehicle or insulated building can have a negative impact on people working for energy producers?
You guys think there will be a backlash to this? Some sort of modern luddite movement? Whenever I shop I refuse to use the self-checkout, you think that sort of thing might spread?
What will the People of Walmart make of this? Personally, I think store robots like these don't really help much. A novelty at first, I think the image of Walmart as a cheapskate on all things human, will give the robot a negative reputation.
A lot of major chains down there, since implementing self-service checkouts etc, now just employ people to be friendly and give the brand and store some kind of face. It was interesting.
Kind of like hiring some warmth and personality for an otherwise cold and desolate warehouse.