Companies like Amazon would do anything. Except paying living wages
Amazon is reportedly training humanoid robots to deliver packages
Submitted 2 months ago by AcidicBasicGlitch@lemm.ee to technology@lemmy.world
https://www.theverge.com/news/680258/amazon-training-package-delivery-humanoid-robots
Comments
mustbe3to20signs@feddit.org 2 months ago
meliodas_101@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Yep.
NatakuNox@lemmy.world 2 months ago
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 2 months ago
Not only Canada, but also Japan and all of Europe.
The main difference is that these robots kind of deserve it. Not “personally” but for what they represent.
Finch9678@europe.pub 2 months ago
That is how you get to be this big.
Spacehooks@reddthat.com 2 months ago
Wanna bet its 7000 Indian workers again?
Finch9678@europe.pub 2 months ago
Package delivery simulator, pre-order on steam
Spacehooks@reddthat.com 2 months ago
Evil genius level right here
Ledericas@lemm.ee 2 months ago
just like thier shop and go stores, were mostly india controlled.
NoForwardslashS@sopuli.xyz 2 months ago
Anything to avoid one of the richest people in the world paying his employees a livable wage.
throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Bro that is so gonna get HitchBot’ed
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.
Otherwise, riots would be justified.
janus2@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
as someone who has spent time living in Philly what were they THINKING lmfao
cute_noker@feddit.dk 2 months ago
Just one shitty makeshift EMP and that thing is toast.
VicksVaporBBQrub@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
5too@lemmy.world 2 months ago
…okay, I really want to know the story behind that picture!
Atropos@lemmy.world 2 months ago
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.
VicksVaporBBQrub@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
“…creation of motion graphics designer Tom Coben…” mashable.com/…/bowling-robot-video-computer-gener…
frazw@lemmy.world 2 months ago
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 2 months ago
Also we don’t pay taxes but will fuck up the roads with the extra weight. Good luck driving over potholes suckers!
Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub 2 months ago
The robot then encounters the entirely unpredictable American rural south
staircases half busted up surrounded by weeds and gravel roads full of holes
wageslave.exe has encountered an internal exception and must close
MrShankles@reddthat.com 2 months ago
Wonder how much copper is wired up in those things
pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
I’m pretty sure it will be a valuable amount of copper.
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 months ago
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 2 months ago
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
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 months ago
The driver would have to look at the location and decide yeah, this is a straight walkway and two steps up to a porch, I’ll use the drone, or no there’s a gate and some lumpy grass, or whatever, I’ll get my ass out of the truck.
null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
Like what… stairs?
Just leave the package at the bottom of the stairs like humans do.
DarkCloud@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Be funny if hackers hacked them to kill CEOs.
sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
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 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 2 months ago
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.
echodot@feddit.uk 2 months ago
Amazon sent my next door neighbour a photograph of my back garden indicating they delivered the package. In the photo you can see my front door with the obviously wrong house number.
spankmonkey@lemmy.world 2 months ago
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 2 months ago
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.
victorz@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I’d be terrified if that thing showed up at my door.
cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
Better keep a big furnace full of molten steel ready just in case.
Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 2 months ago
👍
victorz@lemmy.world 2 months ago
brb popping out to get that right now
Jakule17@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Gallium would do
throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Finch9678@europe.pub 2 months ago
I’d be very glad and a bit richer
Almacca@aussie.zone 2 months ago
They’ll be vandalised almost immediately.
Finch9678@europe.pub 2 months ago
Non-consentually arbitraged
Ledericas@lemm.ee 2 months ago
everyone knows its just going to be indians in a data center in india controlling the bots.
AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
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 2 months ago
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.
BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 2 months ago
No you won’t.
FauxLiving@lemmy.world 2 months ago
I see you’re channeling the spirits of Social Media
AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Not in Philly they won’t lol
skip0110@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
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.
xektop@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
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 2 months ago
I don’t think they really plan to replace workers with robots. It fulfills two other purposes:
- Keep the work force humble.
- Keep the stock holders happy. This shit simulates “innovation” and btw hinders real one.
MangioneDontMiss@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
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.
outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
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.
Hawk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
The cost of an employee is far higher than just their pay though.
lazyViking@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Yes, because nothing new is ever reduced in price and improved upon after research phase is finished
PumpkinSkink@lemmy.world 2 months ago
No they fucking aren’t. That shit would be so much more expensive than a person. Liars, and not even particularly good ones.
AcidicBasicGlitch@lemm.ee 2 months ago
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 (and presumably, if nothing else probably getting some sweet federal kick backs to attempt this and further the current administration’s attempt to beat Gyna in the science and tech race).
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 but some rich assholes are slightly richer at the expense of the tax payer. 'Merica! 🇺🇲
emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
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.
feddup@feddit.uk 2 months ago
Just like when they were going to replace all their delivery drivers with drones. It’s just bullshit.
Botzo@lemmy.world 2 months ago
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.
Jhex@lemmy.world 2 months ago
what? they gave up on the drones?
OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
They already treat their workers like humanoid robots, so this tracks.
last_philosopher@lemmy.world 2 months ago
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
Any others?
andybytes@programming.dev 2 months ago
I just stop buying from Amazon
thatradomguy@lemmy.world 2 months ago
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.
nthavoc@lemmy.today 2 months ago
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.
Willy@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
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!!
candyman337@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
I hate that!
intensely_human@lemm.ee 2 months ago
humanoid robot: dances
amazon: shock
humanoid robot: makes coffee
amazon: shock
humanoid robot: delivers package
amazon: friendly shock
ch00f@lemmy.world 2 months ago
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 2 months ago
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.
Dojan@pawb.social 2 months ago
At my old workplace we ended up getting like a thousand toilet seats delivered to us. We were a web publishing firm.
ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
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.
IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world 2 months ago
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.
Zetta@mander.xyz 2 months ago
What you just described is humans causing the issue, drome delivery would absolutely solce your problem.
TachyonTele@lemm.ee 2 months ago
That’s a great point. Where are all those delivery drones? Lol
andybytes@programming.dev 2 months ago
You are wise
Zetta@mander.xyz 2 months ago
Amazon just rolled out their first production drone delivery SSD site in Phoenix. It’s sorta shot though.
Zipline is way more interesting and I can wait for them to go live in my area.
IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world 2 months ago
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.