mustbe3to20signs@feddit.org
on 06 Jun 05:30
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Companies like Amazon would do anything. Except paying living wages
meliodas_101@lemmy.world
on 06 Jun 05:54
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Yep.
NatakuNox@lemmy.world
on 06 Jun 13:01
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Remember that hitch hiking robot that made it across Canada but only made it to New Jersey (started in NYC) in America? These will 100% get the same treatment everywhere on earth.
mustbe3to20signs@feddit.org
on 06 Jun 13:52
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Not only Canada, but also Japan and Europe.
The main difference is that these robots kind of deserve it. Not “personally” but for what they represent.
Amazon announced using drones in 2014. In pop culture, drone delivery is like an assumed common practice. Yet fucking nobody gets their packages delivered by drone. It’s been over a decade.
These robots are vaporware. Amazon will get a stock bump and that’s the whole point.
Buckshot@programming.dev
on 06 Jun 06:39
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Yeah, humans regularly deliver stuff wrong on our street. There is no way robots will manage. I get packages for both by neighbours and they get mine more often than correct deliveries and one of my neighbours is a business.
What you just described is humans causing the issue, drone delivery would absolutely solve your problem.
IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world
on 06 Jun 11:59
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Down voted for the obvious observation. A drone just needs to get explicit instructions ones a report is filled and it won’t be an issue. Google does more work on Google maps IMO.
When you order something, do you express where you want it sent in coordinates or as an address? You can’t assume that the device’s coordinates at the time the order is made correspond to where the order is supposed to be sent, even if the device gives coordinates. Plus, they’re either not precise enough (could encompass the yard of the house next door, or just the snowbank at the edge of the property) or too precise (“drop this in the center of the roof because that’s where the coordinates are”). You’d need software capable of parsing building layouts well enough to figure out where the main entryway is and leave the parcel there, or you’d have to require that people interested in receiving deliveries by drone put a beacon where they want the drone to drop stuff.
Beacons are the simplest solution, but they immediately put Amazon in a position where most people won’t care enough to set them up.
Even as pitched, you still have to print out a QR code and staple it to your front lawn for every package. Presumably, they want you to be home for it since it’s dropped out in the open and might bounce into the street.
Amazon’s drone delivery is trash, you’re correct. But eventually it will be significantly better than humans, input gps location and the product will be at that exact location give or take 1 foot
Take a look at ziplines upcoming drone delivery service for instance, it will be significantly better than Amazon’s and will be way better than a human delivery driver.
It’s been ten fucking years. They are one of the top five companies in the world. What are we waiting for here?
All of the investors that originally paid into the idea have already made their money. There is no reason to continue the project.
IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world
on 06 Jun 11:56
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What makes you think you can’t have individualized instructions for harder to reach addresses? After the first failure it’s pretty trivial to go out and fix it. Google does far more work maintaining maps and directions services.
Vs having a new delivery guy get confused every other week?
ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com
on 06 Jun 22:04
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Stop redirecting them. Make it cost them.
Tell your neighbors to file an “it arrived late” or “it didn’t arrive” complaint. Get two and send one back. Their fault for being shit companies.
If something is delivered to you by mistake, it’s not your responsibility to fix the mistake, you just got free stuff.
If it goes through USPS, it might be a federal offense to open stuff delivered via USPS, but is that true of third party parcel delivery? Almost certainly not, because USPS is a government org and those third party shit delivery companies aren’t…
So now any package that’s delivered to me by anyone other than USPS… it’s mine now, and I open it to see if I want whatever trash my neighbors are buying.
I used to try to fix the problem… but then I realized it’s NOT MY PROBLEM.
Amazon 1 year after launch: Unfortunately, the space needed for robots in the van means that the van has to return to base 5 times more often to reload with the actual packages and the extra weight of robots more than doubles the weight of the van being lugged around in the form of heavy robots. So that’s why we are having to charge more for delivery and why it is taking longer for you to get your packages. But at least we can pay fewer salaries.
ChapulinColorado@lemmy.world
on 06 Jun 08:48
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Also we don’t pay taxes but will fuck up the roads with the extra weight. Good luck driving over potholes suckers!
That is still better for both the environment and safety than everyone going to the store seperately in their own car. (Transit or walking of course are still better yet).
Tax payer dollars? Also, why waste? It might pay off with more efficient and cost effective delivery. R&D is never a waste. You can’t tell if something will work if you haven’t tried.
Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub
on 06 Jun 09:47
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The robot then encounters the entirely unpredictable American rural south
staircases half busted up surrounded by weeds and gravel roads full of holes
robots fucked with by kids who are now tying it to a tree with bungie cords for fun
one being dragged off in the background by a dude with a welding mask on
wageslave.exe has encountered an internal exception and must close
Because I’ve seen this movie before, and it did not turn out well for the humans.
HeerlijkeDrop@thebrainbin.org
on 06 Jun 11:05
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Would be cool, if it wasn't so hard to find a job already. Now androids are going to take the rest. If I would be able to buy an android for doing house chores then yes it would be cool
doodledup@lemmy.world
on 06 Jun 14:30
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There is always going to be jobs. Else, there is nobody who’s buying products from Amazon. It’s a self-regulating system. New jobs will be created when old ones die out. Just think of the millions of workers doing manual sewing that got replaced by mechanical sewing machines. Or all the farmers and oxes that got replaced by tractors.
HeerlijkeDrop@thebrainbin.org
on 06 Jun 14:59
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What jobs will delivery robots create? Mechanics? What about summer time jobs? One has to begin somewhere. No one is born an engineer with experience
There will always be some jobs. That’s no guarantee that there will be enough jobs for everyone to live modest lives on.
doodledup@lemmy.world
on 06 Jun 21:57
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Some will be left behind. It’s not good. But if you look at the course of our past 10.000 years history, it has always meant progress and a better quality of life for the majority.
Technological unemployment is only going to get worse without a plan to support the people being replaced by automation. They can’t just ‘get another job’. As long as the benefits of this stuff only goes to shareholders, it can fuck off.
doodledup@lemmy.world
on 06 Jun 14:24
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It’s called structural change. And I don’t see why it’s a bad thing. We would still be plowing our fields with ox and cart if we had denied every technological unemployment in the past.
Delivery jobs are the most ungrateful and exhausting low-paying jobs. And you want humans to keep doing them for the rest of mankind’s future? Pretty grim future in my opinion.
It’s not that we don’t want robots doing it - honestly that’d be pretty cool. It’s that we want to be sure the people that are being replaced are being taken care of.
I imagine a post-scarcity world where all basic needs are met for everyone on the planet without question, and with minimal need for human labour, and that more as technical overseers. People would be free to work as much or as little as they want at whatever they want for their own betterment, or the betterment of the world, or do nothing at all if they want, or whatever. Is that too much to ask?
Well if you’re ignorant enough to think things will stay the same for the rest of your life while digitalization is ramping up… With all respect, who’s at fault here?! Just diversify and find different avenues.
throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works
on 06 Jun 14:47
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sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
on 06 Jun 11:16
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Amazon still can’t even figure out how to reliably get human drivers door passcodes into an apartment building, and then into its mail/package locker room.
The map system it uses for telling drivers how to get around a city to make deliveries is also garbage, can’t account for traffic, punishes people for using faster side routes to get to the same place, tells you to park in areas that either have no parking at all, or where parking there would majorly disrupt traffic, or assumes available street parking will always exist in places and times it almost never does.
I once did an Amazon delivery gig where they booked me in for the time slot, I get to the FC, after waiting an hour they tell half of us: ‘oops we booked too many drivers, so today you all get $200 for showing up and doing nothing, go home now’
???
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world
on 06 Jun 11:55
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Update: It is day 126 and Amazon still can’t figure out where my camera is.
I know where it is. Their delivery driver stole it. (Yes, I just charged back my credit card. Their response was to send me an incredibly smarmy and condescending form email asking why, as if they don’t already know. And they lost the chargeback dispute, obviously.)
So maybe their robots won’t steal your package. They’ll just yeet it into a bush 65536 yards from your house in a random direction instead. On the bright side, you might occasionally get a package that belongs to someone else from the other side of town dropped on your lawn.
To both this and that I say no thanks; I don’t use Amazon anymore.
Amazon sent my next door neighbour a photograph of my back garden indicating they delivered the package. In the photo you can see my door with the obviously wrong house number.
Gabadabs@lemmy.blahaj.zone
on 06 Jun 14:53
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Happens, I’d bet money it was a multi-location stop and they were intending to deliver that neighbor’s package and accidentally grabbed yours. It’s easy to make a mistake here and there when you’re delivering to thousands of houses in a given week.
or assumes available street parking will always exist in places and times it almost never does.
That explains all the amazon vans parked in the middle of the fucking street.
sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
on 07 Jun 08:10
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Yep!
Drivers have to visit an absolutely absurd number of locations in a small block of time, so if they attempt to park like a sane member of society, they’ll be fired very quickly.
Amazons “genius” packing bots will throw a tiny fragile thing with a medium size heavy thing in a box 16x too big along with a shred of packing material.
Can’t wait to have that same “genius” applied to the actual delivery itself.
Seriously, I make maybe 5 or 6 Amazon purchases per year. I would say at least 50% of those disappoint in some way: the item was misleadingly listed, or it was damaged in shipping, or it doesn’t arrive when the promised. I really don’t find it convenient at all.
I’m gonna say CGI. Arm isn’t mounted to the floor (I can tell by the pixels), no cables going to the arm, holding the bowling ball like that is extremely unsafe.
AcidicBasicGlitch@lemm.ee
on 06 Jun 13:53
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I guess they felt like drones flying over civilian populations was a bit too unsettling in this day and age, so they are shifting to humanoids that will jump suddenly from moving vehicles and dash towards a destination.
AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip
on 06 Jun 13:31
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If i see a humanoid robot delivering a package i will throw bricks at it and then pee on it, in the way a 3 year old would during a tantrum.
pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip
on 06 Jun 13:57
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I, for one, will certainly not loot it for parts, unless it has an unfortunate accident, in which case I’m just recycling trash that someone left out.
FauxLiving@lemmy.world
on 06 Jun 15:55
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I see you’re channeling the spirits of Social Media
BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk
on 07 Jun 11:21
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a photo was tweeted, showing that the robot had been stripped “beyond repair” and decapitated in Philadelphia. The robot was located by some people following its progress on its website. The head was never found.
Also, like… if you wanna replace human workers, fine, just give us the UBI.
Just one shitty makeshift EMP and that thing is toast.
NoForwardslashS@sopuli.xyz
on 06 Jun 15:02
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Anything to avoid one of the richest people in the world paying his employees a livable wage.
capuccino@lemmy.world
on 06 Jun 16:31
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the robot got stolen
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
on 06 Jun 22:11
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I tend to disbelieve this, mainly because a humanoid robot would be overkill. Custom-purpose robots would be much cheaper to design, build and maintain, with fewer potential failure points.
crimsonpoodle@pawb.social
on 06 Jun 22:41
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Eh I dunno there’s so much infrastructure that is human centric; if you could make a humanoid robot it could easily traverse all the human designed places
null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
on 06 Jun 22:45
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Like what… stairs?
Just leave the package at the bottom of the stairs like humans do.
They may also have concluded that the public finds a humanoid robot more acceptable than those cube 4-wheeled robots that never took off that people like to tip and kick over and stuff
null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
on 07 Jun 09:36
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You don’t really need to be humanoid to manipulate ddmoors and gates
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
on 07 Jun 02:19
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The main problem is walking on unpredictable terrain, which spidery or doggy robots can do with fewer balance issues than two-legged humanoid ones.
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
on 06 Jun 22:16
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So, from what little research I did the robots cost from 5000$ to 500000$, as most articles point out the advanced robots cost 200000-300000$. In a lot of places around the world that’s like paying a human for 8-10 years. Humans are easily “replaceable”, where those robots have maintenance cost additional to the initial “investment”. How is that feasible in the eyes of the big money oligarchs? I genuinely don’t understand the end goal here.
mustbe3to20signs@feddit.org
on 07 Jun 05:58
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I don’t think they really plan to replace workers with robots. It fulfills two other purposes:
Keep the work force humble by threatening them with permanent replaceability.
Keep the stock holders happy. This shit simulates “innovation” like the delivery drones 10 years ago.
MangioneDontMiss@lemmy.ca
on 07 Jun 07:13
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if its actually feasible and it reduces cost, then it will be the plan. right now though, its bullshit. As soon as people start stealing and destroying these 5000-500000 dollar robots all of the potential profit goes out the window.
mustbe3to20signs@feddit.org
on 07 Jun 10:00
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I may lack imagination but I can’t see a future where the materials and skills needed to build such robots get cheap enough to replace humans.
Especially if they get trashed and stolen every once in a while.
Even if you make them in large quantities, material cost alone will be at least €50k. You will need a skilled operator nearby, and constant maintainance, and if you lose even one per year, a regular underpaid human worker will be much cheaper.
These things are pure marketing devices to pacify investors, generate headlines and make unions and workers afraid.
Tetragrade@leminal.space
on 07 Jun 06:52
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When the mask comes off, humans will revolt. Robots won’t.
Or, that’s the delusion.
outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
on 07 Jun 11:50
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The labor aspect of class politics is complicated.
But you don’t have to understand any of it to think stealing these would be cool as fuck.
The cost of an employee is far higher than just their pay though.
outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
on 07 Jun 15:14
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The only ‘delivery guy’ i ever met who got paid even close to six figures (and that doesn’t include operation+maintenance) spoke like a million languages, had advice for how much to bribe border guards in various countries and currencies, most of which no longer exist, and may have had ties to the state department.
And i feel like thats not the kind of delivery guy amazon is trying to replace with these.
Yes, because nothing new is ever reduced in price and improved upon after research phase is finished
thatradomguy@lemmy.world
on 07 Jun 12:02
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Yo why tf can’t they just fucking pay people a reasonable wage AND give them sane working conditions? This is insane. Capitalism does not favor anyone except the rich. It’s time to tear down this wall of mediocrity and face the facts. No sense of government intervention will fix this. It must all be rewritten entirely.
Because it’s not real. It’s purely for marketing, not for actual wide-spread implementation.
Even in the best of cases, even factoring in economy of scale and all that, a robot like that will cost upwards of €50k at least, probably closer to double that, will require constant maintainance, and the risk of vandalism or accidental damage is really high. And you’ll likely need a (skilled) human operator nearby anyway, because the delivery vehicle doesn’t drive itself.
The purpose of projects like this is marketing and public perception.
The company looks futuristic and future proof. That’s good to get investors.
The company looks like they could replace humans with robots at any time. That’s good with negotiations with unions and workers.
The company gets into headlines worldwide. That’s advertisement they don’t have to pay for.
This robot is not meant to ever go mainstream. Maybe there will be a handful of routes where they will be implemented for marketing purposes, but like drone delivery and similar gimmicks, it won’t beat a criminally underpaid delivery human on price, and that’s the only metric that counts for a company like Amazon.
Just like when they were going to replace all their delivery drivers with drones. It’s just bullshit.
AcidicBasicGlitch@lemm.ee
on 07 Jun 15:24
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I mean apparently they’re partnering with a private robotics company. The picture is an actual model of the company’s robot. Whether or not they actually end up implementing this, they’re allegedly currently training the robots.
Presumably, if nothing else, Amazon/Bezos is probably getting some sweet federal kick backs to attempt this and further the current administration’s agenda to beat “Gyna” in the science and tech race. Except unlike Gyna, the U.S. is firing all of their scientists (which, until Jan. 2025, was one area that the U.S. had unquestionably dominated China) bc they think AI can replace them too.
So now, they’re just handing all the resources to the kind of technocratic “elites” who are used to just purchasing their good ideas, rather than actually creating anything. This is also why they seem to genuinely believe something like Amazon humanoids is a sound investment, “durr, we don’t need people bcuz we haz robots.”
For all we know they made the futuristic robot exoskeleton, took some fancy pictures of it holding a package, and that’s all she wrote. The end result is just some rich assholes are slightly richer at the expense of the tax payer, and we should be grateful. 'Merica! 🇺🇲
emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
on 07 Jun 17:51
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Amazon/Bezos is probably getting some sweet federal kick backs
I think it’s more a threat against employees. The robots can be used as scabs.
which, until Jan. 2025, was one area that the U.S. had unquestionably dominated China
China had more scientists and papers well before this year. And China dominates particularly in fields like maths, computer science and manufacturing.
they are indeed going to try to replace scientists with robots
I can actually think of a lot of uses for robots in research. And, of course, there are a lot of robots in labs already; they just don’t look like humans.
AcidicBasicGlitch@lemm.ee
on 07 Jun 17:55
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More scientists and data, but research quality in China has been very poor for quite some time, hence a lot of questions and concerns regarding methods, data collection, and number of retracted articles.
The entire idea of the “China virus” and the Trump/Republicans lab leak/attack on NIH funding to EcoHealth, and their collaboration with Wuhan Institute of Virology, hinged on pointing out the lack of lab safety standards in China that wouldn’t have allowed the research to occur here.
On the flip side, now that Trump is in power, OSTP is focused on removing regulations to science and tech bc they argue they are slowing us down in the AI race against China.
Kinda seems like a load of BS especially considering AI data in China is very poor likely bc of the lack of regulations
emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
on 08 Jun 05:48
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I think it would be more correct to say that quality control in Chinese science is very poor. I have seen top quality research, and I have also seen crap that should not have been published at all. But the sheer quantity of output means that the next big discovery in <insert field> will be from China.
OSTP is focused on removing regulations to science and tech bc they argue they are slowing us down in the AI race against China.
I don’t work on AI, but in my field I have seen the insane speed and scale of Chinese research. Now I’m from a developing country; the US can probably give better funding than we can, but I am inclined to agree that Chinese science does benefit from easier and better funding and a faster administrative process.
AI data in China is very poor likely bc of the lack of regulations
The big problem for AI research in China seems to be a shortage of high-end GPUs due to the trade wars. China is very strong in maths and comp sci, and they are finding workarounds, but it is still a pretty hard barrier.
mostlikelyaperson@lemmy.world
on 09 Jun 08:41
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Yup, and people seem to frequently underestimate how ridiculously expensive running a fleet of humanoid robots would be (and don’t seem to realize how comparatively low the manual labor it’d replace is paid.)
The last known survivor lives is a cave somewhere in the Madagascar desert. A robot travels by foot to deliver a package. A simple letter with the following URL:
The survivor dies. Amazon has finally won. They have all the money and everyone else is gone. All robots shut down. Besos jumps into the money pile only to learn that cartoons don’t work in reality as most of his bones become powder on impact. The world is silent for a second. In the distance two flies are doing it over a pile of cow dung. The world becomes a peaceful place with no human presence whatsoever.
This makes me wonder what the benefit of bipeds are for this over something like iBot’s multi wheel design. I get it makes sense for rubble or debris, but for halls and stairs multi wheel seems better and more refined.
Edited for autocorrect.
midori_matcha@lemmy.world
on 07 Jun 15:52
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Study the weak points, make true your aim. The inevitable human-robot war draws nearer.
AcidicBasicGlitch@lemm.ee
on 07 Jun 16:27
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I feel like we’re going to end up with more laws protecting robots and surveillance cameras than our own civil liberties.
Wonder where all those angry white guys with tiki torches and khaki shorts are now? The ones that thought the Jews were trying to replace them? 🤔
The robot dogs police are starting to use has a two big red buttons, one on the face and one on the ass. Just jam your finger or pointer end of your rifle and it returns to station or shuts down.
last_philosopher@lemmy.world
on 07 Jun 16:20
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Let’s count the problems:
Up front cost
Maintenance cost
Varied problems like different types of stairs, tripping hazards, etc.
People attacking or stealing robots and their packages.
Safety issues with 100+ pound metal robots falling on pets and children
Rain? I know its not going to fall over and shoot out sparks like a cartoon but rain does mess with visibility and grip, plus this is a robot with a lot of joints and moving parts that’s probably going to be maintained by someone who has to pee in a bottle so the cartoon falling over and shooting sparks isn’t actually out of the question.
threaded - newest
Companies like Amazon would do anything. Except paying living wages
Yep.
Remember that hitch hiking robot that made it across Canada but only made it to New Jersey (started in NYC) in America? These will 100% get the same treatment everywhere on earth.
Not only Canada, but also Japan and Europe.
The main difference is that these robots kind of deserve it. Not “personally” but for what they represent.
That is how you get to be this big.
I hate that!
Amazon announced using drones in 2014. In pop culture, drone delivery is like an assumed common practice. Yet fucking nobody gets their packages delivered by drone. It’s been over a decade.
These robots are vaporware. Amazon will get a stock bump and that’s the whole point.
Yeah, humans regularly deliver stuff wrong on our street. There is no way robots will manage. I get packages for both by neighbours and they get mine more often than correct deliveries and one of my neighbours is a business.
At my old workplace we ended up getting like a thousand toilet seats delivered to us. We were a web publishing firm.
Perhaps it wasn’t an accident… 😂
What you just described is humans causing the issue, drone delivery would absolutely solve your problem.
Down voted for the obvious observation. A drone just needs to get explicit instructions ones a report is filled and it won’t be an issue. Google does more work on Google maps IMO.
The drone’s only as good as its software, the map it’s using, and the address data it’s given. All of which were created by fallible humans.
Ain’t it fun having turtles all the way down?
43.9454776, -123.5393014
^ no address, GPS is very very precise.
When you order something, do you express where you want it sent in coordinates or as an address? You can’t assume that the device’s coordinates at the time the order is made correspond to where the order is supposed to be sent, even if the device gives coordinates. Plus, they’re either not precise enough (could encompass the yard of the house next door, or just the snowbank at the edge of the property) or too precise (“drop this in the center of the roof because that’s where the coordinates are”). You’d need software capable of parsing building layouts well enough to figure out where the main entryway is and leave the parcel there, or you’d have to require that people interested in receiving deliveries by drone put a beacon where they want the drone to drop stuff.
Beacons are the simplest solution, but they immediately put Amazon in a position where most people won’t care enough to set them up.
Even as pitched, you still have to print out a QR code and staple it to your front lawn for every package. Presumably, they want you to be home for it since it’s dropped out in the open and might bounce into the street.
Amazon’s drone delivery is trash, you’re correct. But eventually it will be significantly better than humans, input gps location and the product will be at that exact location give or take 1 foot
Take a look at ziplines upcoming drone delivery service for instance, it will be significantly better than Amazon’s and will be way better than a human delivery driver.
Can you point to deliveries that actually use any of that?
It’s been ten fucking years. They are one of the top five companies in the world. What are we waiting for here?
All of the investors that originally paid into the idea have already made their money. There is no reason to continue the project.
What makes you think you can’t have individualized instructions for harder to reach addresses? After the first failure it’s pretty trivial to go out and fix it. Google does far more work maintaining maps and directions services.
Vs having a new delivery guy get confused every other week?
Stop redirecting them. Make it cost them.
Tell your neighbors to file an “it arrived late” or “it didn’t arrive” complaint. Get two and send one back. Their fault for being shit companies.
If something is delivered to you by mistake, it’s not your responsibility to fix the mistake, you just got free stuff.
If it goes through USPS, it might be a federal offense to open stuff delivered via USPS, but is that true of third party parcel delivery? Almost certainly not, because USPS is a government org and those third party shit delivery companies aren’t…
So now any package that’s delivered to me by anyone other than USPS… it’s mine now, and I open it to see if I want whatever trash my neighbors are buying.
I used to try to fix the problem… but then I realized it’s NOT MY PROBLEM.
That’s a great point. Where are all those delivery drones? Lol
Amazon just rolled out their first production drone delivery SSD site in Phoenix. It’s sorta shit though.
Zipline is way more interesting and I cant wait for them to go live in my area.
You are wise
Airspace rules are a huge factor there. I see delivery robots on the sidewalk often enough though.
I suspect most companies are still waiting out the testing and waiting for costs to be reduced.
I’d be terrified if that thing showed up at my door.
Better keep a big furnace full of molten steel ready just in case.
👍
Gallium would do
brb popping out to get that right now
<img alt="" src="https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/99a0b889-24a5-48e0-98f5-51f87839e751.jpeg">
I’d be very glad and a bit richer
Be funny if hackers hacked them to kill CEOs.
They can depreciate these assets over their useful life, because unlike your soggy flesh sack, these are capital expenses, not operating expenses.
… For now. I’m sure there are libertarians that think you should be able to sell yourself as the depreciable asset you are.
Amazon 1 year after launch: Unfortunately, the space needed for robots in the van means that the van has to return to base 5 times more often to reload with the actual packages and the extra weight of robots more than doubles the weight of the van being lugged around in the form of heavy robots. So that’s why we are having to charge more for delivery and why it is taking longer for you to get your packages. But at least we can pay fewer salaries.
Also we don’t pay taxes but will fuck up the roads with the extra weight. Good luck driving over potholes suckers!
That is still better for both the environment and safety than everyone going to the store seperately in their own car. (Transit or walking of course are still better yet).
Why is that the comparison, though? Sears developed mail-order catalogues in the 1800s. That’s what Amazon replaced.
At first glance it looked like the robot has a tail. That would be cool and seems like it might help somehow. Add a tail!!
Pass the blunt
Like Marty in the grocery store, a waste of space. Get out of my way, Marty!
Wanna bet its 7000 Indian workers again?
Package delivery simulator, pre-order on steam
Evil genius level right here
just like thier shop and go stores, were mostly india controlled. probably 70k indias.
They are trying to solve last-mile delivery problem
They are wasting tax payer dollars
Tax payer dollars? Also, why waste? It might pay off with more efficient and cost effective delivery. R&D is never a waste. You can’t tell if something will work if you haven’t tried.
wageslave.exe has encountered an internal exception and must close
Wonder how much copper is wired up in those things
I’m pretty sure it will be a valuable amount of copper.
Edit: Except of course I guess it won’t, because they’re just bullshitting to drum up invetor interest, and only three of these will ever exist.
.
They already treat their workers like humanoid robots, so this tracks.
I just stop buying from Amazon
Why is everyone here so negative about this? This is pretty cool!
Because I’ve seen this movie before, and it did not turn out well for the humans.
Would be cool, if it wasn't so hard to find a job already. Now androids are going to take the rest. If I would be able to buy an android for doing house chores then yes it would be cool
There is always going to be jobs. Else, there is nobody who’s buying products from Amazon. It’s a self-regulating system. New jobs will be created when old ones die out. Just think of the millions of workers doing manual sewing that got replaced by mechanical sewing machines. Or all the farmers and oxes that got replaced by tractors.
What jobs will delivery robots create? Mechanics? What about summer time jobs? One has to begin somewhere. No one is born an engineer with experience
There will always be some jobs. That’s no guarantee that there will be enough jobs for everyone to live modest lives on.
Some will be left behind. It’s not good. But if you look at the course of our past 10.000 years history, it has always meant progress and a better quality of life for the majority.
.
The problem isnt “robots replacing humans”
The problem is: WHERE THE FUCK IS OUR UBI?
Presumably because it's Amazon doing it. It is quite reasonable to have a general level of distaste and suspicion for tha company
Technological unemployment is only going to get worse without a plan to support the people being replaced by automation. They can’t just ‘get another job’. As long as the benefits of this stuff only goes to shareholders, it can fuck off.
It’s called structural change. And I don’t see why it’s a bad thing. We would still be plowing our fields with ox and cart if we had denied every technological unemployment in the past.
Delivery jobs are the most ungrateful and exhausting low-paying jobs. And you want humans to keep doing them for the rest of mankind’s future? Pretty grim future in my opinion.
It’s not that we don’t want robots doing it - honestly that’d be pretty cool. It’s that we want to be sure the people that are being replaced are being taken care of.
I imagine a post-scarcity world where all basic needs are met for everyone on the planet without question, and with minimal need for human labour, and that more as technical overseers. People would be free to work as much or as little as they want at whatever they want for their own betterment, or the betterment of the world, or do nothing at all if they want, or whatever. Is that too much to ask?
It sounds utopian…
It is!
No. I don’t want them to starve when they get replaced by robots, which is the current plan, apparently.
Well if you’re ignorant enough to think things will stay the same for the rest of your life while digitalization is ramping up… With all respect, who’s at fault here?! Just diversify and find different avenues.
The solution is UBI
And the sooner the better.
Amazon still can’t even figure out how to reliably get human drivers door passcodes into an apartment building, and then into its mail/package locker room.
The map system it uses for telling drivers how to get around a city to make deliveries is also garbage, can’t account for traffic, punishes people for using faster side routes to get to the same place, tells you to park in areas that either have no parking at all, or where parking there would majorly disrupt traffic, or assumes available street parking will always exist in places and times it almost never does.
I once did an Amazon delivery gig where they booked me in for the time slot, I get to the FC, after waiting an hour they tell half of us: ‘oops we booked too many drivers, so today you all get $200 for showing up and doing nothing, go home now’
???
Update: It is day 126 and Amazon still can’t figure out where my camera is.
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e1fec315-983d-4987-9462-e9d27ef8e321.png">
I know where it is. Their delivery driver stole it. (Yes, I just charged back my credit card. Their response was to send me an incredibly smarmy and condescending form email asking why, as if they don’t already know. And they lost the chargeback dispute, obviously.)
So maybe their robots won’t steal your package. They’ll just yeet it into a bush 65536 yards from your house in a random direction instead. On the bright side, you might occasionally get a package that belongs to someone else from the other side of town dropped on your lawn.
To both this and that I say no thanks; I don’t use Amazon anymore.
Amazon sent my next door neighbour a photograph of my back garden indicating they delivered the package. In the photo you can see my door with the obviously wrong house number.
Happens, I’d bet money it was a multi-location stop and they were intending to deliver that neighbor’s package and accidentally grabbed yours. It’s easy to make a mistake here and there when you’re delivering to thousands of houses in a given week.
I just love the fact that he had to open three gates in order to get to my garden. But couldn’t be bothered to check the address.
That explains all the amazon vans parked in the middle of the fucking street.
Yep!
Drivers have to visit an absolutely absurd number of locations in a small block of time, so if they attempt to park like a sane member of society, they’ll be fired very quickly.
Amazons “genius” packing bots will throw a tiny fragile thing with a medium size heavy thing in a box 16x too big along with a shred of packing material.
Can’t wait to have that same “genius” applied to the actual delivery itself.
Seriously, I make maybe 5 or 6 Amazon purchases per year. I would say at least 50% of those disappoint in some way: the item was misleadingly listed, or it was damaged in shipping, or it doesn’t arrive when the promised. I really don’t find it convenient at all.
.
I imagine they will scale back robot design and just throw from the truck.
<img alt="" src="https://media.tenor.com/bVvPtKiJnIUAAAAM/robot-bowling.gif">
…okay, I really want to know the story behind that picture!
I’m gonna say CGI. Arm isn’t mounted to the floor (I can tell by the pixels), no cables going to the arm, holding the bowling ball like that is extremely unsafe.
Gif compression definitely makes it look more believable, I remember falling for this the first time I saw it
“…creation of motion graphics designer Tom Coben…” mashable.com/…/bowling-robot-video-computer-gener…
Nice, thanks!
They’ll be vandalised almost immediately.
I prefer the term “beautified”.
are you promoting vandalism?
I’m not promoting anything, but art is art.
Non-consentually arbitraged
Reminds me of these cheeseparade skits:
youtube.com/shorts/Ov6RzGdrJig
youtube.com/shorts/Ah1JG1P6W4Y
Not in Philly they won’t lol
what? they gave up on the drones?
I guess they felt like drones flying over civilian populations was a bit too unsettling in this day and age, so they are shifting to humanoids that will jump suddenly from moving vehicles and dash towards a destination.
If i see a humanoid robot delivering a package i will throw bricks at it and then pee on it, in the way a 3 year old would during a tantrum.
I, for one, will certainly not loot it for parts, unless it has an unfortunate accident, in which case I’m just recycling trash that someone left out.
I see you’re channeling the spirits of Social Media
No you won’t.
.
Bro that is so gonna get HitchBot’ed
Also, like… if you wanna replace human workers, fine, just give us the UBI.
Otherwise, riots would be justified.
as someone who has spent time living in Philly what were they THINKING lmfao
Just one shitty makeshift EMP and that thing is toast.
Anything to avoid one of the richest people in the world paying his employees a livable wage.
the robot got stolen
I tend to disbelieve this, mainly because a humanoid robot would be overkill. Custom-purpose robots would be much cheaper to design, build and maintain, with fewer potential failure points.
Eh I dunno there’s so much infrastructure that is human centric; if you could make a humanoid robot it could easily traverse all the human designed places
Like what… stairs?
Just leave the package at the bottom of the stairs like humans do.
Also doors and gates
They may also have concluded that the public finds a humanoid robot more acceptable than those cube 4-wheeled robots that never took off that people like to tip and kick over and stuff
You don’t really need to be humanoid to manipulate ddmoors and gates
The main problem is walking on unpredictable terrain, which spidery or doggy robots can do with fewer balance issues than two-legged humanoid ones.
The head was never found
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4776b87a-51e2-4fdb-b3bc-c5ce7b6d3247.png">
humanoid robot: dances
amazon: shock
humanoid robot: makes coffee
amazon: shock
humanoid robot: delivers package
amazon: friendly shock
They will train it so well, it will even collapse like a human when overworked! youtu.be/6Kp5qrCExps . I recognized that bot from the photo.
everyone knows its just going to be indians in a data center in india controlling the bots.
So, from what little research I did the robots cost from 5000$ to 500000$, as most articles point out the advanced robots cost 200000-300000$. In a lot of places around the world that’s like paying a human for 8-10 years. Humans are easily “replaceable”, where those robots have maintenance cost additional to the initial “investment”. How is that feasible in the eyes of the big money oligarchs? I genuinely don’t understand the end goal here.
I don’t think they really plan to replace workers with robots. It fulfills two other purposes:
if its actually feasible and it reduces cost, then it will be the plan. right now though, its bullshit. As soon as people start stealing and destroying these 5000-500000 dollar robots all of the potential profit goes out the window.
I may lack imagination but I can’t see a future where the materials and skills needed to build such robots get cheap enough to replace humans.
Especially if they get trashed and stolen every once in a while.
Even if you make them in large quantities, material cost alone will be at least €50k. You will need a skilled operator nearby, and constant maintainance, and if you lose even one per year, a regular underpaid human worker will be much cheaper.
These things are pure marketing devices to pacify investors, generate headlines and make unions and workers afraid.
When the mask comes off, humans will revolt. Robots won’t.
Or, that’s the delusion.
The labor aspect of class politics is complicated.
But you don’t have to understand any of it to think stealing these would be cool as fuck.
The cost of an employee is far higher than just their pay though.
The only ‘delivery guy’ i ever met who got paid even close to six figures (and that doesn’t include operation+maintenance) spoke like a million languages, had advice for how much to bribe border guards in various countries and currencies, most of which no longer exist, and may have had ties to the state department.
And i feel like thats not the kind of delivery guy amazon is trying to replace with these.
Yes, because nothing new is ever reduced in price and improved upon after research phase is finished
Yo why tf can’t they just fucking pay people a reasonable wage AND give them sane working conditions? This is insane. Capitalism does not favor anyone except the rich. It’s time to tear down this wall of mediocrity and face the facts. No sense of government intervention will fix this. It must all be rewritten entirely.
Because it’s not real. It’s purely for marketing, not for actual wide-spread implementation.
Even in the best of cases, even factoring in economy of scale and all that, a robot like that will cost upwards of €50k at least, probably closer to double that, will require constant maintainance, and the risk of vandalism or accidental damage is really high. And you’ll likely need a (skilled) human operator nearby anyway, because the delivery vehicle doesn’t drive itself.
The purpose of projects like this is marketing and public perception.
This robot is not meant to ever go mainstream. Maybe there will be a handful of routes where they will be implemented for marketing purposes, but like drone delivery and similar gimmicks, it won’t beat a criminally underpaid delivery human on price, and that’s the only metric that counts for a company like Amazon.
If I get one of those, I’m definitely killing it and stealing its copper. Amazon can pay for the repairs.
I’m clubbing the bot in the head and stealing it’s batteries.
No they fucking aren’t. That shit would be so much more expensive than a person. Liars, and not even particularly good ones.
Just like when they were going to replace all their delivery drivers with drones. It’s just bullshit.
I mean apparently they’re partnering with a private robotics company. The picture is an actual model of the company’s robot. Whether or not they actually end up implementing this, they’re allegedly currently training the robots.
Presumably, if nothing else, Amazon/Bezos is probably getting some sweet federal kick backs to attempt this and further the current administration’s agenda to beat “Gyna” in the science and tech race. Except unlike Gyna, the U.S. is firing all of their scientists (which, until Jan. 2025, was one area that the U.S. had unquestionably dominated China) bc they think AI can replace them too.
So now, they’re just handing all the resources to the kind of technocratic “elites” who are used to just purchasing their good ideas, rather than actually creating anything. This is also why they seem to genuinely believe something like Amazon humanoids is a sound investment, “durr, we don’t need people bcuz we haz robots.”
Fun fact, just learned they are indeed going to try to replace scientists with robots too. There was a meeting about it yesterday:
For all we know they made the futuristic robot exoskeleton, took some fancy pictures of it holding a package, and that’s all she wrote. The end result is just some rich assholes are slightly richer at the expense of the tax payer, and we should be grateful. 'Merica! 🇺🇲
I think it’s more a threat against employees. The robots can be used as scabs.
China had more scientists and papers well before this year. And China dominates particularly in fields like maths, computer science and manufacturing.
I can actually think of a lot of uses for robots in research. And, of course, there are a lot of robots in labs already; they just don’t look like humans.
More scientists and data, but research quality in China has been very poor for quite some time, hence a lot of questions and concerns regarding methods, data collection, and number of retracted articles.
The entire idea of the “China virus” and the Trump/Republicans lab leak/attack on NIH funding to EcoHealth, and their collaboration with Wuhan Institute of Virology, hinged on pointing out the lack of lab safety standards in China that wouldn’t have allowed the research to occur here.
On the flip side, now that Trump is in power, OSTP is focused on removing regulations to science and tech bc they argue they are slowing us down in the AI race against China.
Kinda seems like a load of BS especially considering AI data in China is very poor likely bc of the lack of regulations
aljazeera.com/…/china-wrestles-with-quantity-over…
I think it would be more correct to say that quality control in Chinese science is very poor. I have seen top quality research, and I have also seen crap that should not have been published at all. But the sheer quantity of output means that the next big discovery in <insert field> will be from China.
I don’t work on AI, but in my field I have seen the insane speed and scale of Chinese research. Now I’m from a developing country; the US can probably give better funding than we can, but I am inclined to agree that Chinese science does benefit from easier and better funding and a faster administrative process.
The big problem for AI research in China seems to be a shortage of high-end GPUs due to the trade wars. China is very strong in maths and comp sci, and they are finding workarounds, but it is still a pretty hard barrier.
Yup, and people seem to frequently underestimate how ridiculously expensive running a fleet of humanoid robots would be (and don’t seem to realize how comparatively low the manual labor it’d replace is paid.)
It is the distant future,
The year 2000,
The last known survivor lives is a cave somewhere in the Madagascar desert. A robot travels by foot to deliver a package. A simple letter with the following URL:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvFZjo5PgG0
The survivor dies. Amazon has finally won. They have all the money and everyone else is gone. All robots shut down. Besos jumps into the money pile only to learn that cartoons don’t work in reality as most of his bones become powder on impact. The world is silent for a second. In the distance two flies are doing it over a pile of cow dung. The world becomes a peaceful place with no human presence whatsoever.
This makes me wonder what the benefit of bipeds are for this over something like iBot’s multi wheel design. I get it makes sense for rubble or debris, but for halls and stairs multi wheel seems better and more refined.
Edited for autocorrect.
Study the weak points, make true your aim. The inevitable human-robot war draws nearer.
I feel like we’re going to end up with more laws protecting robots and surveillance cameras than our own civil liberties.
Wonder where all those angry white guys with tiki torches and khaki shorts are now? The ones that thought the Jews were trying to replace them? 🤔
The robot dogs police are starting to use has a two big red buttons, one on the face and one on the ass. Just jam your finger or pointer end of your rifle and it returns to station or shuts down.
Let’s count the problems:
Any others?
Rain? I know its not going to fall over and shoot out sparks like a cartoon but rain does mess with visibility and grip, plus this is a robot with a lot of joints and moving parts that’s probably going to be maintained by someone who has to pee in a bottle so the cartoon falling over and shooting sparks isn’t actually out of the question.
Didn’t they just have two or three drone crashes within minutes of takeoff recently, not sure I really trust Amazon with this stuff.