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World's First Kitchen-Free, Robot-Run Fast-Food Restaurant

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Re: World's First Kitchen-Free, Robot-Run Fast-Food Restaurant

#41

Post by 6ren »

Interesting, you don't think of Krispy Kreme as making robot donuts.

Curious that Macdonald's, with so much careful specification of all processes, hasn't done this, at all. e.g. fry/remove/salt fries. (though their standard coffee is mostly automated). Macdonald's is so well-placed, I can only assume it isn't actually cost-effective for them. Maybe it's worth it for Momentum, for the PR? Or, by starting from scratch, they can make radical changes? Or, it isn't happening? (it's just a "concept" so far).

Finally, Larry Niven wrote a short story about automated restaurants "Intent to Deceive" (1968).

Re: World's First Kitchen-Free, Robot-Run Fast-Food Restaurant

#43

Post by lazyjones »

maratd wrote: post #40
lazyjones wrote: post #36

Robots in a restaurant benefit only the owner, not the customer (esp. when they burn the burgers like in the pictures). When robots are able to cook proper meals, they'll be in our homes to do so, because we'll want to save time and money and not walk to the next fast-food restaurant.

When it comes to computers, first they come big and bulky. They're not user-friendly. They're industrial. Yes, you'll have robots cook you a meal at home eventually. This is just the first step. I don't want that massive thing in my kitchen. When it's tiny, portable, and user friendly ... then it's fine. > Robots in a restaurant benefit only the owner, not the customer (esp. when they burn the burgers like in the pic…

> The good thing about machines is that once you tune them, they'll make the same exact burger, every single time. That's a huge benefit to consumers. Now I won't have to eat someone's bad day!

OTOH, the robots will ignore your complaints and never try to be friendly for a higher tip ...

Re: World's First Kitchen-Free, Robot-Run Fast-Food Restaurant

#44

Post by jlarocco »

Dove wrote: post #23
jiggy2011 wrote: post #2

When I was a teenager the most popular part time jobs among my piers were either working in a supermarket or at a fast food place. Lots of supermarkets are starting to replace humans with self-checkouts and things like this will probably become standard in fast food. So how is a teenager supposed to fund his pot habit in 2020?

It's 2020. Lots of teenagers don't have jobs and would like them. Someone starts a new business based on the available cheap labor. Dog poop scooping? Personal couriers? Game testing? Something we haven't thought of because the relevant industry doesn't exist yet? Economies aren't static. You can always find something useful to do.

I'd love to see enough jobs automated so that when somebody asks, "But what about the people who do those jobs now?" the answer is "Everybody in the remaining jobs drop down to 20 hours a week, the unemployed take up the other 20 hours a week, and we all enjoy more leisure time." I don't see it happening, but it would be nice.

It's a little disappointing that despite immense advances in technology and production, and increased efficiency, all we're achieving is having people toil the same amount as before, but doing something else.

Re: World's First Kitchen-Free, Robot-Run Fast-Food Restaurant

#45

Post by alwaysabove »

bmj wrote: post #27
alwaysabove wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone is a fucking idiot, still better to have them say, spend their time in an retirement home talking to and looking after elderly people, than it is to have them feeding groceries to a scanner as some kind of redundant biological link in a machine.

This is terrible attitude, and it greatly devalues necessary work. Yes, if you are an engineer, you see stocking grocery store shelves as a technical problem to be solved, but other folks look at it as a way to make a rather meager living. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone can do white collar labor for a reasonable middle class salary. Don't get me wrong, I think some work certainly could be automated, but at…

That's not my point at all.

I'm saying if someone can't do intellectual work, get them to do something that uses other skills. But let's make that something useful, rather than something we could automate away.

Re: World's First Kitchen-Free, Robot-Run Fast-Food Restaurant

#46

Post by ebiester »

jiggy2011 wrote: post #2

When I was a teenager the most popular part time jobs among my piers were either working in a supermarket or at a fast food place. Lots of supermarkets are starting to replace humans with self-checkouts and things like this will probably become standard in fast food. So how is a teenager supposed to fund his pot habit in 2020?

More importantly, what about mentally challenged people? Already today, there are many people now who cannot function on their own, the jobs for which they were qualified have dried up. How many people can we support on disability as job requirements keep rising?

Re: World's First Kitchen-Free, Robot-Run Fast-Food Restaurant

#47

Post by ebiester »

tomjen3 wrote: post #31
blhack wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the future. It's not just highschoolers that can't fund their pot habits (ha), it's adults who can't put food on their family's table.

Nobody can make money at all if they refuse to think about how they can create value and then do it. In other words, if you expect your life to continue as it has always done, it won't.

It's not the people on this board who need to worry. What responsibility does society have for those (let's say.. IQ 75) who are incapable of this?

Re: World's First Kitchen-Free, Robot-Run Fast-Food Restaurant

#48

Post by Dove »

jlarocco wrote: post #44
Dove wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's 2020. Lots of teenagers don't have jobs and would like them. Someone starts a new business based on the available cheap labor. Dog poop scooping? Personal couriers? Game testing? Something we haven't thought of because the relevant industry doesn't exist yet? Economies aren't static. You can always find something useful to do.

I'd love to see enough jobs automated so that when somebody asks, "But what about the people who do those jobs now?" the answer is "Everybody in the remaining jobs drop down to 20 hours a week, the unemployed take up the other 20 hours a week, and we all enjoy more leisure time." I don't see it happening, but it would be nice. It's a little disappointing that despite immense advances in technology and production, and…

I think that will happen to the extent that people want it to. It's happening now, in fact, with things like semi-retirement and freelancing and professional (but not rich) bloggers/web comic authors and so forth on the rise. You can live a very frugal lifestyle and have a lot of free time if you want.

Most people seem to be choosing to spend productivity gains on "more stuff" rather than "more time". And that is certainly their prerogative. :) I mean, with so many people working so productively for so many hours, there is a lot of cool stuff available nowadays.

Re: World's First Kitchen-Free, Robot-Run Fast-Food Restaurant

#49

Post by alwaysabove »

crosbytho wrote: post #34
alwaysabove wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a triumph that we're automating these kind of jobs. Why are we wasting human talent on inane jobs like store checkout or junk food production? Every person in one of those jobs is a wasted mind. If we could put those minds to work on something meaningful think what we could achieve.

There's a psychological and human aspect that some deem as positive that you are overlooking. While some shun away from the human experience, it's refreshing to head to an In-N-out burger and have well-paid smiling faces take your order and serve you delicious food. Sure you could automate that kid, but while trying not to be sappy, that's another face you get to see during the day amidst a traditional day filled wit…

I don't agree with this argument.

When I want to socialise with people, I'll go to a bar, my friend's house, a coffee shop, etc. If I want a burger, I want to get issued with that burger ASAP, without having to deal with someone who you may consider to be a nice person, but I may consider to be a douche-bag.

If that well-paid smiling person didn't have to work at the burger place, she might have something more interesting to talk about when we meet in a proper social environment.

Re: World's First Kitchen-Free, Robot-Run Fast-Food Restaurant

#50

Post by maratd »

lazyjones wrote: post #43
maratd wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it comes to computers, first they come big and bulky. They're not user-friendly. They're industrial. Yes, you'll have robots cook you a meal at home eventually. This is just the first step. I don't want that massive thing in my kitchen. When it's tiny, portable, and user friendly ... then it's fine. > Robots in a restaurant benefit only the owner, not the customer (esp. when they burn the burgers like in the pic…

> The good thing about machines is that once you tune them, they'll make the same exact burger, every single time. That's a huge benefit to consumers. Now I won't have to eat someone's bad day! OTOH, the robots will ignore your complaints and never try to be friendly for a higher tip ...

> OTOH, the robots will ignore your complaints and never try to be friendly for a higher tip ...

No worries, my credit card company listens to complaints. And you know, those are the best kind of complaints, because they get your money back.

In the end, robots will be extremely friendly ... because they have no sense of "fairness" or self-interest ... only a programmed instruction to make the customer happy or if things really get out of hand, to call the cops.

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