- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmit.online
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmit.online
You must log in or # to comment.
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.
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.
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.
Companies like Amazon would do anything. Except paying living wages
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.
Yep.
That is how you get to be this big.
Anything to avoid one of the richest people in the world paying his employees a livable wage.
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.
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.
as someone who has spent time living in Philly what were they THINKING lmfao
Just one shitty makeshift EMP and that thing is toast.
No they fucking aren’t. That shit would be so much more expensive than a person. Liars, and not even particularly good ones.
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.)
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! 🇺🇲
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.
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
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.
Just like when they were going to replace all their delivery drivers with drones. It’s just bullshit.
I imagine they will scale back robot design and just throw from the truck.
…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…” https://mashable.com/video/bowling-robot-video-computer-generated
Nice, thanks!
everyone knows its just going to be indians in a data center in india controlling the bots.
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
The main problem is walking on unpredictable terrain, which spidery or doggy robots can do with fewer balance issues than two-legged humanoid ones.
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
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:
- 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.
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.
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.
When the mask comes off, humans will revolt. Robots won’t.
Or, that’s the delusion.
Yes, because nothing new is ever reduced in price and improved upon after research phase is finished
I can’t wait to throw a Faraday blanket over one of these and jtag some open source firmware on it. What do you mean steal? I didn’t steal anything, I just repurposed some garbage left on my front step!
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?
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.
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.
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
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.
Ea-nasir strikes again!
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.
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.
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.
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.
