The people in the Fight for $15 an hour crowd should be worried. The more they agitate, the more companies are willing to look at solutions which make low wage low skill workers unnecessary
(UK Telegraph) A burger-flipping robot has just completed its first day on the job at a restaurant in California, replacing humans at the grill.
Flippy has mastered the art of cooking the perfect burger and has just started work at CaliBurger, a fast-food chain.
The robotic kitchen assistant, which its makers say can be installed in just five minutes, is the brainchild of Miso Robotics.
“Though we are starting with the relatively ‘simple’ task of cooking burgers, our proprietary AI software allows our kitchen assistants to be adaptable and therefore can be trained to help with almost any dull, dirty or dangerous task in a commercial kitchen — whether it’s frying chicken, cutting vegetables or final plating.â€
Flippy uses all sorts of technology, like cameras and sensors, to make sure the food is cooked correctly each and every time. A human would need to take over then to add condiments, but, how long till Flippy can do that, as well? Caliburgers finds the cost/benefit analysis in a sweet spot, hence, they plan on having them in 50 of their restaurants by 2019. Will other restaurants follow suit? Well, what is the cost of Flippy, along with the maintenance costs? Is it better than the long term cost of employees, who are agitating for $15 an hour (to start, of course), who walk off the job to agitate, who can have workplace accidents, who can be late and miss days, who can bring drama to work, and, really, in some cases, should never interact with other humans?
This goes hand in hand with Wendy’s looking to install ordering kiosks
Fast food giant Wendy’s plans to install self-ordering kiosks in about one out of six of the burger chain’s franchises nationwide by the end of this year.
A typical location would get three kiosks for about $15,000, The Columbus Dispatch reported. David Trimm, Wendy’s chief information officer, estimates that payback on those machines would come in less than two years thanks to labor savings and increased sales.
The kiosks have two purposes according to Trimm: appeasing younger customers by given them an ordering experience they prefer and reducing labor costs.
And, don’t forget, removing people who should never interact with customers yet are also demanding more money for poor work.
So, the question for the #Fightfor15 folks is “do you really want to go there? Cause you’re easily replaced.”
Alternative opinions on job-killing robots…
http://fortune.com/2017/02/25/bill-gates-robot-tax-automation-jobs/
Advances on productivity are good for economies, and paradoxically, jobs.
Bill Gate’s opinion on taxing robots can be seen here: https://youtu.be/nccryZOcrUg
There are a couple of things to note.
First, Gates is saying that we tax the robot because the worker’s income is taxed. But of course, we aren’t paying the robot to do the work. The robot is a piece of machinery just like a telephone or (gasp!) a computer. Should we tax computers if they replace human workers? That move would certainly harm Gates and MS, but he conveniently leaves that argument out of his idea.
Secondly, Gate’s idea is about money – notably taking money from people at the point of the government sword in order to support causes he agrees with. It is not about workers or quality of life or anything other than stealing money from people.
:Gates is a typical liberal in that he wants more control of people’s money and more control of businesses (other than his own, of course.)
Just another liberal hypocrite.
The cited article argued AGAINST Gates’ position, but for pragmatic, not your ideological reasons.
Governments always take money from people at the point of a sword. It’s the price of civilization.
Just another uninformed conservative hypocrite.
No, it’s not. Not for the reasons Gates wants the money to be taken for.
Gates, like you, is a hypocrite.
Agreed, Gates, like you, is a hypocrite.
Cons want to spend other peoples’ money, just on their own projects.
In that the original statement was in reference to you, and you agree to it, that is a step in the right direction of your mental health and accepting responsibility.
Cons want to spend other peoples’ money, just on their own projects.
Ooops.
There goes another statement based on delusion.
And you had taken a step forward too.
Oh well. You know what they say, ….. “one step forward and two steps back.”
You’re a lonely old man. And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
increasing the minimum wage might accelerate the process, but automation will proceed whether or not the minimum wage is increased.
Does anyone here remember what George Jetson’s job was? He worked one hour a day, pushing one button over and over and over again. But with computers, we don’t need Mr Jetson, and Mr Spacley gets rich, while employing no workers.
Haven’t we learned our lesson about what happens when we give too much control to Hamburger Alternative Labor? (H.A.L.)
Liberals learn again of the law of unintended consequences.
Automation isn’t the problem, choosing 8 hrs a day flipping burgers as a lifetime career has more to do with it.
Panera has touch screens in nearly all their restaurants now. I’m still amazed that people still line up and wait at the one register they have open…I’m hoping that in a year, more and more people will just use the touch screens, as they get use to them. Other tech advances just take longer for the average person to use them, but after time they will be used.
People have been using ATMs and airport kiosks for years. Certainly a touch screen could prompt “Do you want fries with that?”
There’s a Sheetz up the road from where I work, and another on the road to Knightdale. I go there all the time, usually to get either some hotdogs or a meatball sub. They have touch screens for all those made to order foods, and it is super easy peasy. Tons of toppings to choose. Go to register and pay, walk back, food ready. And they prompt you to add some fries, chips, and other stuff.
Yeah. I forgot gas pumps. I try to only go to those stations where you pay at the pump. Most people can push their own buttons. I do most of my shopping online, and those that don’t deliver are trying to entice me to order online and make curbside pickups.
Not a big future in “clerking”.
This is a good example of necessity being the mother of invention. Leftist want to raise wages to unsustainable levels so business owners look for ways to reduce costs. Technology wins, low skill worker loses.