81–90 of 332 posts
He also points out when a "job goes away." often referring to improved convenience for the customer. (i.e. pick up towers)
Robots will always be experimented with..
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.
Some of them will probably be hired to walk around and greet customers, I noticed that on my last visit to Australia and NZ. 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.
[1] http://fortune.com/2016/05/04/walmart-brings-back-greeters-t...
Judging from the pictures they'll still use paper price labels. 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.
https://www.nist.gov/pml/weights-and-measures/us-retail-pric...
A company the size of Walmart would need to employ many lawyers just to deal with state to state pricing laws.
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…
(1) Just so long as the answer isn't "make them die because we don't need them anymore".
> 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…
Just got from Lowes and they do it on the web and in their app. Search for an item, and if it is in stock it will show you its location on the store map.
OTOH, every Walmart I've visted is unable to keep their shelves full. [1] How hard it is to keep something non-perishable (like deodorant) in stock? Somehow Target figured that out.
[1] https://consumerist.com/2013/04/05/walmart-employees-tell-co...
I wonder what their reaction will be when people start attaching stickers to them
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.
Reminds me of this story: http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm I always thought it was amusing when people said it would replace burger flippers and the like. Why? They're cheap, and that's relatively expensive/difficult to automate. The slightly higher paid manager though? Ripe for automation.
Cashiers don't simple run the register, they do other stuff. Janitors fix stuff and carry heavy boxes, etc.
Managers and supervisors? Overpaid if they're doing the above or doing something can be automated.
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?
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?
I love bagging my own groceries the way I like, and avoiding interaction with a potentially disgruntled and inattentive cashier. I love self-checkouts.
I wonder why they settled on putting the cameras in robots that are on the floor. Why not use cameras attached to the ceiling? If the cameras need to move to get a good angle, they could move up and down the aisle on tracks or Walmart could simply install more cameras. If the ceiling is a bad angle, they could put them on the floor under the shelving, or on top of the shelves, or in several other places. None of thos…