Amazon trials humanoid robots to 'free up' staff
(www.bbc.co.uk)
from mannycalavera@feddit.uk to technology@lemmy.world on 19 Oct 2023 21:27
https://feddit.uk/post/3541792
from mannycalavera@feddit.uk to technology@lemmy.world on 19 Oct 2023 21:27
https://feddit.uk/post/3541792
A union said Amazon had “been treating their workers like robots for years”.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
Amazon is trialling humanoid robots in its US warehouses, in the latest sign of the tech giant automating more of its operations.
It said it was testing a new robot called Digit, which has arms and legs and can move, grasp and handle items in a similar fashion to a human.
We’ve already seen hundreds of jobs disappear to it in fulfilment centres," said Stuart Richards, an organiser at UK trade union GMB.
As the announcement was made, Amazon said its robotics systems had in fact helped create “hundred of thousands of new jobs” within its operations.
Amazon Robotics’ chief technologist, Tye Brady, told reporters at a media briefing in Seattle that people were “irreplaceable”, and disputed the suggestion that the company could have fully-automated warehouses in the future.
Scott Dresser of Amazon Robotics told the BBC this allowed it to “deal with steps and stairs or places in our facility where we need to move up and down”.
The original article contains 479 words, the summary contains 159 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
These jobs need to be automated. No human should be packing and sorting boxes at the capacity that Amazon ships them.
Unfortunately amazon didn’t figure that out until they realized they were running out or people to exploit.
I disagree. They used what they had and were certainly researching continual improvement all along. They’ve had automation wherever they could implement it all over.
The challenge is finding the right human teams to design the automation that will be successful. Engineers with a background in practical robotic automation are not exactly common.
Every major company is in a race to reduce wage cost to 0 and maximize growth and p/e. For amazon their growth and revenue numbers kept growing despite offering above market for unskilled labor, albiet for horrible jobs. They’ll continue to try and eliminate as many FTEs as they can until all they employ are people who manage, deploy, maintain, design and implement automatic systems.
This guy gets it
The job could be fine if they had twice the people. Then they wouldn’t need to be over worked so much.
“Free them up” from employment. These fuckers seem to be trying SO HARD to make every dystopian corporate world a thing.
Soft plug for Cyberpunk 2077 and Blade Runner if you want to see how that happens.
I don’t think many of them even realize what they’re doing. I’m not sure any billionaires truly realize how divorced from reality their little bubble is. It’s the only conclusion I can come to. They legit think all these streaming services are affordable, they legit think houses are affordable still, they think “freeing them up” from employment will make their (ex-)employees happier because they don’t have to work anymore or something. It’s the only thing I can think when I look at just how many outrageously wealthy people would have to be truly evil for this system to turn out the way it is. The only conclusion I can think of is that, for the most part, they’re normal people who got super lucky and are so divorced from reality they don’t realize how hard they’re fucking the system over.
Is it evil to have a copy machine? Computer? Cell phone? Car? How about laundromats? The cotton gin?
Just wondering where you draw the line on “tech that takes jobs”
I’m commenting on the part about “freeing up employees” as if they’ll be able to live without a job once their role is replaced and becomes redundant. Robots are cool. Robots should be doing warehouse jobs. I was simply commenting on the choice of words.
That line is about freeing up employee hours to do other tasks
Shitloads of people in manufacturing, service, and distribution will be losing their jobs in the next decade or so as a result of automation. I just don’t think that’s a bad thing.
Except reality would be far more soul-crushing, most people wouldn't have autonomy or success that make for interesting stories. Most people would just have the choice to live in a company office, die to corporate police, or become cyberhomeless.
Yeah, not a new idea. It’s been done before to horrific consequences, but we’re leaning back towards it: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_town
Oh yea I know it, had it worded as 'company megacity' at one point but didn't want to sound anti-city.
That and even if they don't own the city, it can be a detriment especially looking at new technological ways they could control workers even without physical isolation. And I'm sure they could use this power to exploit a greater number of people, too.
Unless laws get put in place, Amazon can buy towns right now. It’s a fact.
Won’t someone think of the poor 19th century English textile workers! That group still has no jobs today and worldwide quality of life is clearly so much worse for it!
/s
It’s kinda funny until you become irrelevant to them.
Do you own a washing machine? Then you’re a traitor to the working class! You stole a job from a scullery maid! How dare you?
It’s a good thing that shitty jobs are being automated.
However, we also need UBI (funded by corporations using automation).
AUTOMATON MACHT FREI
GUT GESAGT, MITMENSCH
What’s really interesting here is that the company that makes the Digit robots, Agility Robotics, uses them in their own factories. Just a really brilliant proof-of-concept.
Automation is always a good thing and we should encourage it as much as possible.
agilityrobotics.com/…/opening-robofab-worlds-firs…
I've never been a customer, and I never will.
Time for a robot union?
Time for a union at all!
Amazon Management Zoom Meeting:
"Im pretty impressed with your progress on the robots, George, yet we can't deploy them until you managed to make them piss into bottles. We have to respect company tradition here!"
Robot maintenance workers need to unionise. Now.
This will free up tons of staff for promotion to customers