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Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

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Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#361

Post by ithinkso »

grogenaut wrote: post #353
js2 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had this happen with actual humans. A human is coming toward me on a path. I zig. They zig. I zag. They zag. We walk into each other. It must be some kind of human path finding bug. :-)

I've never actually walked into people, usually after 2 or 3 you look at each other and smile and then one person steps to the side or both and then you go, no you, ok.

I will forever link this whole thread in any discussion where HN is discussing anything real world/outside of our bubble

It's hilarious

Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#362

Post by chillingeffect »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #314
chillingeffect wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All I can say without breaking agreements is that these are products , not ideal models of conceptual engineering. They're not created by people who like the world and want it to be a better place. They're created by people with lots of money who want a lot more. They've found an avenue for this by persuading other wealthy, greedy people to give them a lot of money and promising they can give them more back. They'll…

> They're not created by people who like the world and want it to be a better place. They're created by people with lots of money who want a lot more. ... They'll do this by persuading everyday people to not do things like produce, prepare, and transfer food themselves and instead pay money for these robots to do it. This is an extremely negative outlook. I'm a robotics and controls engineer for a small (25-employee)…

kudos to you! I'm confident relieving humans of tedious work is more valuable to society than bringing college kids food.

My comment is related to my experience in delivery robotics and this is an alt. Not everyone is bad. I, too, believe my current job to be more ethical than my previous experience. Of course, I didn't know going into my prior experience what it was really about.

Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#363

Post by [deleted] »

bourgoin wrote: post #69

A couple of years ago, I was attacked by a Kiwi bot near a UC campus. This is my story. The bot and I were moving towards each other on a sidewalk, and when I came close it stopped, as they do when sensing an object in front of them. But there was an awkward moment as I tried to go around it and it repeatedly jerked forward an inch as its motor kicked on and off. Maybe I was walking around the very edge of its radius…

[deleted]

Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#364

Post by trhway »

nicoco wrote: post #359
grogenaut wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never actually walked into people, usually after 2 or 3 you look at each other and smile and then one person steps to the side or both and then you go, no you, ok.

Are you implying we should implement a smile feature to the delivery bots?

it definitely should smile before/while driving into your legs as well as when standing waiting for you to walk around. It can also mark you with the laser pointer to indicate that it does sense you. Communication is the key.

Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#365

Post by trhway »

chillingeffect wrote: post #257
agumonkey wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why they don't parametrize momentum with certainty. In any confusing situation, go into ultra slow environment scanning and when confidence increases, allow for a bit more.. rinse / repeat.

All I can say without breaking agreements is that these are products , not ideal models of conceptual engineering. They're not created by people who like the world and want it to be a better place. They're created by people with lots of money who want a lot more. They've found an avenue for this by persuading other wealthy, greedy people to give them a lot of money and promising they can give them more back. They'll…

I come from the country where such machinery doesn't work - USSR/Russia - and as a result there is no innovation and the country is well behind. If you discover other ways of having successful innovation the humanity will probably put up a large statue of you and your name will be on the plaque of the next Voyager.

Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#366

Post by munk-a »

nicoco wrote: post #359
grogenaut wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never actually walked into people, usually after 2 or 3 you look at each other and smile and then one person steps to the side or both and then you go, no you, ok.

Are you implying we should implement a smile feature to the delivery bots?

The facial communication is only necessary because we're negotiating as two people who want to go where the other one is. When it comes to bots they can be forever deferential and always yield to humans.

Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#367

Post by DamnableNook »

bourgoin wrote: post #69

A couple of years ago, I was attacked by a Kiwi bot near a UC campus. This is my story. The bot and I were moving towards each other on a sidewalk, and when I came close it stopped, as they do when sensing an object in front of them. But there was an awkward moment as I tried to go around it and it repeatedly jerked forward an inch as its motor kicked on and off. Maybe I was walking around the very edge of its radius…

Kiwi bots aren't (weren't?) actually AI controlled. They had human drivers in South America that controlled them remotely. If one attacked you, it was either the human driver going agro, or just a problem with the latency of the camera -> cell network -> streamed to South America -> driver inputs command -> sent back to the US -> over the cell network -> back to the bot. And the cameras they have were pretty bad (the ordering app would show you the camera view when the bot was nearing its destination.)

Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#368

Post by vkou »

Symbiote wrote: post #336
burlesona wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should stop seeing scooters as the enemy. Scooter companies represent a lot of money that wants more space for pedestrians, bikes, and of course scooters in the city. They are a potential massive ally with deep pockets to push back against the car lobby. The battle here is not to fight over who has the right to be on the 10% of the street we call the sidewalk, it’s to take back some of the 90% of the street that’…

If Copenhagen's experience is normal, then ample bicycle (etc) parking won't change the parking behaviour of rental scooter users. They will still dump them on the sidewalk (or in the bike lane) the instant their journey has finished. They'll also ride two or three on one scooter, without any awareness or regard for cyclists in the bike lane or pedestrians crossing the road. I strongly suspect the companies encourage…

> They will still dump them on the sidewalk (or in the bike lane) the instant their journey has finished. They'll also ride two or three on one scooter, without any awareness or regard for cyclists in the bike lane or pedestrians crossing the road.

Ticket the scooter company for improperly parked/docked scooters in geofenced areas where parking/docking is available. The scooter companies will update their software & hardware to bill the rider if they leave their scooter outside of a permitted dock. The riders will be incentivized to park/dock the scooters.

The problem will fix itself, without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I don't ride scooters, and I don't like stepping over them when people dump them/knock them down, but I love that they exist, and we need more, not less infrastructure to support non-automobile transport. In this case, the infrastructure consists of installing bike/scooter racks. It's not expensive.

Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#369

Post by emmelaich »

grogenaut wrote: post #353
js2 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had this happen with actual humans. A human is coming toward me on a path. I zig. They zig. I zag. They zag. We walk into each other. It must be some kind of human path finding bug. :-)

I've never actually walked into people, usually after 2 or 3 you look at each other and smile and then one person steps to the side or both and then you go, no you, ok.

You should also say "thanks for the dance but I must be going"

Re: Difficult situation on campus: traffic jam of food delivery robots

#370

Post by genericacct »

ithinkso wrote: post #361
grogenaut wrote: post #353

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never actually walked into people, usually after 2 or 3 you look at each other and smile and then one person steps to the side or both and then you go, no you, ok.

I will forever link this whole thread in any discussion where HN is discussing anything real world/outside of our bubble It's hilarious

The "people as obstacles to avoid" angle is what amuses me
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