Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
Well, you do you.
A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?
221–230 of 234 posts
Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
YMMV. I was not impressed by the machine - it presented way too many choices and didn't promote the UI to make the process easier than speaking to a human, in my view. Maybe after about 10 times when you've "learned the menu" you might find it easier.
I'd LOVE an automated kiosk (or even person) that let me specify some numeric encoding of my entire order. I always order the same thing at In-n-Out, for example, and would love to say, "Give me a 557-343-901-043" -- or better yet, scan a QR code that had what I want to order. And they have just about the simplest menu ever! (one reason I love them) If I could do that at other fast food restaurants, or Starbucks, whe…
I think the solution there is actual mobile apps, that can have an order history for you, a re-order last order button, etc. Just pull open your phone, make your order, and walk in store to pick it up.
I make the same order every time at my local burger chain, but I make it using an app from my desk, scheduled to be ready by the time I get to the store. Literally the best solution from my point of view.
This is also (coincidentally!) the product the company I work for offers. :)
Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I feel like they're more inclined to snitch if things get bad. Machines don't do that.
Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't want to wait in line for 3 minutes while some old guy tries to figure out Please rewrite, this is borderline discriminatory and quite offensive. Some "old guys" can be as capable to handle such UI as some "young guys". Disclaimer: half-old guy. [EDIT] thanks for replacing "old guy" with "technophobe".
Not sure why you are being downvoted. Perhaps because ageism is still a borderline ok form of discrimination?
Perhaps people are sick of language policing.
Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?
#225Earlier quoted context omitted.
I said "eventually". Are you saying it will never be possible?
Never is a long time, but it's also a theroetical. The sun will eventually engulf the Earth rendering this argument irreelvant.
It works both ways, though. I was responding to a claim with an implicit "never" possible. Like you say, such a claim is theoretical, and I wanted to ask how that person knew it would never be possible.
Smell, taste and poison are all matters of physical molecules and how these interact with human physiology. We already understand these to some extent. We can already build devices that can detect some of these things to some extent. We have no grounds to say it's impossible for a human-level ability of it to be engineered. (Note that lack of positive evidence against X is not the same as positive evidence for X).
Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?
#226I'd bet my lease gets reviewed by an AI before I eat a robot-cooked meal. Food is variable and dirty and the downside risk of not being clean is pretty bad, even acknowledging that robots will always wash their hands. Maintenance, risk, and general exposure to meatspace, in every sense, means that knowledge workers will probably be the first to be automated out of a job.
Unless you just eat stuff grown by you or very small-scale farmers, robots are already touching your food. From the combine harvester that picks it up, to the conveyor belt where it's selected, cut, washed and pre-cooked [1]. [1] https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC32345D87EF2F305
Sure, but it's the difference between power and complete automation. A "robot" washes my clothes, but folding my clothes reliably is beyond the state of the art as of now. I suspect robot chefs might be on that level of difficulty, plus they would have to keep a very general purpose arm clean. Meanwhile automated translation, which is a very difficult problem, has good-enough automation.
Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?
#227Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or for better sensors on the robot. There's no fundamental reason it can't tell if the drink is correct.
The fundamental reason it can't tell if the drink is correct is that "correct" is in the eye of the beholder. You cannot trivially formalize expectations any random human would have of a drink made by human. You can, however, force people to lower their expectations until they can be trivially formalized. That's what happens with tea/coffee vending machines. The dispensed drink is really bad , but it's uniformly bad,…
You can get better espresso out of the lavazza coffee machine on palatine hill in Rome than is served in many cafes in this world. So technologically it sure is possible to do better.
Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
Smelling is already a form of tasting, just like looking at how it behaves because we humans are really good at combining our senses to get the input we look for, that's why most people usually don't taste the coffee before serving, unless it's smelling/looking funny while brewing. Replicating this with electrical sensors is a pretty complex task we still haven't managed to get working, after all we are not only talk…
You don't actually have to replicate the interaction though, you just need to identify the particular range of smells that people accept, and have the machine capable of detecting it. Generating a brand new style of good coffee might need the interaction though
But different people are accepting of different tastes and even those change with age, what people accept as nice smelling/tasting food can be quite subjective because the very same smell can be overpowering to some while appealing to others.
How to calibrate a sensor for something like that on a per user basis? I don't know, but apparently it's possible because "electronic noses" do exist but are mostly used in laboratory settings, probably on account of their price.
There's also a reason why we still use pigs and dogs for work that require good smelling senses, like search&rescue or truffle foraging. Training these animals is very expensive, but it still seems to be the cheaper option compared to building "smellobots", so I doubt smelling sensor are far enough along to be put into a ton of kitchen bots at small cost.
Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?
#229Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
I feel like they're more inclined to snitch if things get bad. Machines don't do that.
I've worked retail before, and I'd bet money on a machine running perfectly forever before a fast food employee blowing the whistle on a dirty kitchen.
Re: A Robot Makes a Mean Caesar Salad, but Will It Cost Jobs?
#230Why 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…
Have you ever been to a Sheetz gas station? They seem to have a good UI (although they started working on it over 20 years ago). https://www.cstoredecisions.com/2011/03/10/in-touch-with-foo...
As their menu has grown it has been getting a little harder to figure out where things are but moving around the menu is really easy. I suspect the latter helps with the former.
Also, what's wrong with a ham and cheese sandwich with mayo and Cesar dressing (in the article)? That's one thing that is great about the Sheetz UI is that I can add buffalo sauce, ranch/mayo, and bacon to nearly every sandwich, which is delicious. My all-time favorite is a bacon, lettuce, mayo, and buffalo sauce cheeseburger or chicken sandwich on a pretzel bun.