Science Burger-flipping robot begins first shift

Source with video.

Flippy, a burger-flipping robot, has begun work at a restaurant in Pasadena, Los Angeles.

It is the first of dozens of locations for the system, which is destined to replace human fast-food workers.

The BBC's North America technology reporter Dave Lee saw it in action.

It was just a matter of time. If anything, I don't know what's stopping fast food restaurants to fully automate their food cooking process, top to bottom.

 

[Ido]

Attach one to an armless, homeless veteran and put him to work. He'll be so amazed at having a function arm and doing things he'll have no choice but to stay !

 

[Grotesque Bushes]

I always felt like replacing workers with machines was a short-sighted idea. Burger flipping robots and self-checkout machines don’t circulate their wages back into the economy, and generally speaking neither do the unemployed.

Was your house built using cement mixers and cranes, or was both of that manual labor? Is your shirt hand woven? Are you using any electronic devices? Hell, was the flour for your bread milled by hand? We've been automating tasks for millennia, look at the Archimedes screw or a goddamned windmill. It's accelerating because we've built tools that build tools that build tools we use to build tools that automate tasks now, but making labor easier, faster and less manpower intensive is the baseline idea of civilization, not some new concept.

 

[RG 448]

Was your house built using cement mixers and cranes, or was both of that manual labor? Is your shirt hand woven? Are you using any electronic devices? Hell, was the flour for your bread milled by hand? We've been automating tasks for millennia, look at the Archimedes screw or a goddamned windmill. It's accelerating because we've built tools that build tools that build tools we use to build tools that automate tasks now, but making labor easier, faster and less manpower intensive is the baseline idea of civilization, not some new concept.

Yeah and as we’ve seen with our depleting natural resources and pollution, progress never moves faster than it should and certainly won’t bite us in the ass down the line.

 

[Corbin Dallas Multipass]

What I want to know is, did anyone think of the blacksmiths when they were inventing automobiles? How exactly are we expected to have enough work for our entire population if we aren't making horseshoes 24/7?

Also, how are the scribes supposed to get work with this goddamn printing press monstrosity?
The telegraph put so many good couriers out of work.

If we don't freeze progress exactly here, as it is now, perfect, we're doomed. Just like those blacksmiths were.

 

[Grotesque Bushes]

Yeah and as we’ve seen with our depleting natural resources and pollution, progress never moves faster than it should and certainly won’t bite us in the ass down the line.

And your answear to that is to build giant factories in which people will perform by hand menial tasks that are currently automated?

 

[RG 448]

And your answear to that is to build giant factories in which people will perform by hand menial tasks that are currently automated?

No, why in the fuck would I want that?

 

[Grotesque Bushes]

No, why in the fuck would I want that?

Because I assume you still want shirts and pants, the thread for which has to be woven by hand by countless clothiers. Flour for your bread will be milled by hand by dedicated millers whose eyes shine with tears out of sheer gratitude for their honored tradition being resurrected. But before we get that far stonemasons will have to chip and crush the rocks for cement, which will be then formed and baked by brickmakers to be laid by the bricklayers, after the steelwrights are finished forming the building frames from the fruits of their labor, which is no small task cause hot rolling and drop forging by hand must be a bitch and a half.

Unless you want to tell me that it's not that automation is bad, it's just the burger flipping robot taking it too far. Otherwise untold thousands of jobs getting automated to shit is just fine. But I'm sure you have more integrity than that.

 

[DragoonSierra]

Some SF guy already made a fully automated burger machine and is selling burgers. No silly robot arms in sight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YLK_F-3uTA
There are probably many more similar places, but that's just one example.

The burger-flipping arm is not a practical product, it is just to demonstrate the technology: precision, speed, coordination. But even then, the technology levels required for flipping burgers aren't that high.

That wouldd probably cost more than 200,000 dollars

 

[RG 448]

Because I assume you still want shirts and pants, the thread for which has to be woven by hand by countless clothiers. Flour for your bread will be milled by hand by dedicated millers whose eyes shine with tears out of sheer gratitude for their honored tradition being resurrected. But before we get that far stonemasons will have to chip and crush the rocks for cement, which will be then formed and baked by brickmakers to be laid by the bricklayers, after the steelwrights are finished forming the building frames from the fruits of their labor, which is no small task cause hot rolling and drop forging by hand must be a bitch and a half.

Unless you want to tell me that it's not that automation is bad, it's just the burger flipping robot taking it too far. Otherwise untold thousands of jobs getting automated to shit is just fine. But I'm sure you have more integrity than that.

lol what the fuck are you talking about. I think replacing fast food workers with expensive robot arms in the present day with the current employment rate in our current economy is maybe not the best idea and you’re talking about becoming amish or whatever.

I wrote the book on integrity and I don’t understand the point you’re making in regard to anything I’ve said.

 

[Grotesque Bushes]

lol what the fuck are you talking about. I think replacing fast food workers with expensive robot arms in the present day with the current employment rate in our current economy is maybe not the best idea and you’re talking about becoming amish or whatever.

I'm just taking the crumbs of an opinion you've presented and extrapolating your position based on that. Don't blame me for you being shit at stating your claim.

As for burger robot bad - the economy won't collapse if a bunch of minimal wage workers lose their jobs and automation, it, and robotics experts get hired instead, as demonstrated by every single other time it happened. I'd recommend checking the origin of the term "luddite" for reference.

Edit: since you've effectively deleted the post I'm quoting disregard all above, I'm back to claiming you want to revert all automation and get back to weaving yokes for oxen by hand. Wake me up when you string together three sentences describing your position if I'm incorrect.

 

[RG 448]

I'm just taking the crumbs of an opinion you've presented and extrapolating your position based on that. Don't blame me for you being shit at stating your claim.

lol nothing I said prompted what you said.

 

[arorti]

I always felt like replacing workers with machines was a short-sighted idea. Burger flipping robots and self-checkout machines don’t circulate their wages back into the economy, and generally speaking neither do the unemployed.

Companies still end up hiring people, just less people. Someone needs to be there to take money from customers because there is going to be that 90 year old half-blind woman who can't figure out how to get self-checkout working. As long as the tech illiterate exist, there are going to be jobs to help them push buttons and follow simple commands.

 

[One Man Bland]

Not only that, what if they make a newer model and leave the older model as obsolete? I assume that fast food locations in larger areas would upgrade when available, but those of a smaller population would might just stick to the older model and hope that it doesn't break down and have to shell out for a part at a larger price than during its initial run.

I rated you optimistic because, in my experience, even the biggest most profitable locations in major cities would rather have their employees working with 10 year old equipment and software held together with duct tape and children’s dreams than ever spend a dime on upgrading. Getting upper management to even hear out requests for new tech is like pulling teeth, so much so that I’ve seen places where the general store managers are still using Windows XP and Vista because corporate won’t give them the budget to upgrade.

Imagine that level of penny-pinching with a burger flipping robot that needs a lot more upkeep and maintenance.

 

[TowinKarz]

What I want to know is, did anyone think of the blacksmiths when they were inventing automobiles? How exactly are we expected to have enough work for our entire population if we aren't making horseshoes 24/7?

Also, how are the scribes supposed to get work with this goddamn printing press monstrosity?
The telegraph put so many good couriers out of work.

If we don't freeze progress exactly here, as it is now, perfect, we're doomed. Just like those blacksmiths were.

And without horses, what are the carriage makers supposed to build?

Some fanciful kind of carriage that doesn't use horses? A horseless carriage as it were? ...... like that would ever work!

 

[CWCissey]

And so, the road to SkyNet begins...

 

[ColtWalker1847]

This is actually something I encourage people to do. Stop assuming things about the world around you and look at it critically. Sit in a Starbucks for 30 minutes and actually study how complicated the various tasks those graduated gender studies students actually have to accomplish.

This. And those are the bottom end of the menial labor scale. Look at the shit roofers do. That stuff is highly technical. Speaking of which.

The big shift is going to be self-driving cars, as driver is the most common job.

Stop. Only out of touch morons think a drivers main job is driving. There is waaaaaay more to it than that. Regs. Inspections. Permitting. Cargo control and securement. Inventory. It isn't as simple as just holding a steering wheel.

 

[Anonymous For This]

Stop. Only out of touch morons think a drivers main job is driving. There is waaaaaay more to it than that. Regs. Inspections. Permitting. Cargo control and securement. Inventory. It isn't as simple as just holding a steering wheel.

To be fair in the trucking industry, a lot of that is already kinda archaic. The only reason why truck and trailers don't have automated weight sensors built into them at this point in time is the cost. Assuming AI drivers advance like they are, I wouldn't be shocked to see an AI truck driver that knows trailer weight without needing to go to a weigh station (and can electronically report that weight in real time throughout the trip), be able to automatically adjust its own trailer axles to accommodate for different loads, be able to upload permit/registration information to states on the fly, etc.

A lotta freight these days is no-touch freight for the driver anyway in a lot of dry van and refrigerated. Sure I can't get an AI to tarp my flat bed load (yet), but I don't have to pay some GED graduate $50K+ a year to do it, either.

On top of all this, automated drivers should be a lot safer than human drivers. I wouldn't be surprised in another 20 years to no longer see humans operating tractor trailers, except in some limited circumstances. It'll just be way too affordable to insure an automated truck that might statistically have an accident once every 10,000,000 miles as opposed to once every 1,000,000 miles. I did just pull those numbers out of my ass.

 

[keyboredsm4shthe2nd]

second update's gonna be like: Update: World's First Burger Flipping Robot Kills Self, Forced Self to Divide By Zero

 

[ColtWalker1847]

To be fair in the trucking industry, a lot of that is already kinda archaic. The only reason why truck and trailers don't have automated weight sensors built into them at this point in time is the cost. Assuming AI drivers advance like they are, I wouldn't be shocked to see an AI truck driver that knows trailer weight without needing to go to a weigh station (and can electronically report that weight in real time throughout the trip), be able to automatically adjust its own trailer axles to accommodate for different loads, be able to upload permit/registration information to states on the fly, etc.

A lotta freight these days is no-touch freight for the driver anyway in a lot of dry van and refrigerated. Sure I can't get an AI to tarp my flat bed load (yet), but I don't have to pay some GED graduate $50K+ a year to do it, either.

On top of all this, automated drivers should be a lot safer than human drivers. I wouldn't be surprised in another 20 years to no longer see humans operating tractor trailers, except in some limited circumstances. It'll just be way too affordable to insure an automated truck that might statistically have an accident once every 10,000,000 miles as opposed to once every 1,000,000 miles. I did just pull those numbers out of my ass.

I see it as going semi-automated. Having an operator hanging out in the sleeper to secure the load, do inspections, put fuel in it, etc. You're a flatbedder, I guess. So you know how double retarded the fucking loading crews are, right? Now imagine them loading trucks without any adult supervision. Having a guy there who is charge of the load and who makes sure shit goes right saves a ton of money and tears. As far as I know there is no AI ass-chewing robot in the works so this is going to continue to be a problem.

These guys taking charge of the trucks will still make the big money because they will now get to roll 24/7 while operating at a really high level of efficiency. Meanwhile the big-fleet day-player no-touch freight dipshits get thrown the fuck out of the industry because they are retards. Good riddance. None of them last longer than a year anyways, so it's no big loss to the employment world.

If anything I see independent owner-operators taking off because of this and the corporate fleets eating shit. Provided the FMCSA lets the automated trucks roll their own HOS and not tie it to anyone else present in the vehicle. That would allow an enterprising individual to take out a truck loan then sit in the sleeper all day shitposting on the farms only getting out every so often to check this or that with a practiced and skilled eye all while making a decent commission. Sign me up.

 

[Anonymous For This]

I see it as going semi-automated. Having an operator hanging out in the sleeper to secure the load, do inspections, put fuel in it, etc. You're a flatbedder, I guess. So you know how double exceptional the fucking loading crews are, right? Now imagine them loading trucks without any adult supervision. Having a guy there who is charge of the load and who makes sure shit goes right saves a ton of money and tears. As far as I know there is no AI ass-chewing robot in the works so this is going to continue to be a problem.

These guys taking charge of the trucks will still make the big money because they will now get to roll 24/7 while operating at a really high level of efficiency. Meanwhile the big-fleet day-player no-touch freight dipshits get thrown the fuck out of the industry because they are exceptional individuals. Good riddance. None of them last longer than a year anyways, so it's no big loss to the employment world.

If anything I see independent owner-operators taking off because of this and the corporate fleets eating shit. Provided the FMCSA lets the automated trucks roll their own HOS and not tie it to anyone else present in the vehicle. That would allow an enterprising individual to take out a truck loan then sit in the sleeper all day shitposting on the farms only getting out every so often to check this or that with a practiced and skilled eye all while making a decent commission. Sign me up.

When I said "my" flat bed, I didn't actually mean my flat bed. I don't drive a truck. I played with hoses on a FD once and learned a lot about truck driving from that job from working plenty of scenes. I ran more than one scene of a flatbedder that didn't secure his load worth a shit and dumped steel tubing/7ft wide concrete rolls/tarps/hay all over the interstate. And invariably some retard would wind up hitting said 7ft wide concrete roll going 75MPH five minutes later. Or your stereotypical Swift/Schneider driver smacking the cable barrier because they fell asleep on the highway and didn't make the turn.

Now I work in insurance and I deal with them in a different manner. Usually because my dumbass customer ran into one.

I totally agree that in the beginning we will see a semi-automated setup, at least in HAZMAT/Flatbed/Vehicle Transport. Eventually somebody has got to develop a reliable automated tarping/strapping system that doesn't require human intervention. I honestly believe that because having a driver do it right now is the cheapest option that there's been no real enterprising with that. Why buy an expensive tarping system when you can just pay a driver to do it? I think it's just a matter of time once automated trucks are viable that other areas won't follow suit.

If it helps owner-operators and smaller companies take off, I'm game for that, too. All the accidents I ever ran were the major "newbie" carriers. I'm sure I ran accidents with owner-operators at fault, but Werner, Schneider, and Swift stand out.