3 ms·
Here is an armchair strategist opinion :). This seems to be an approach of "let's replicate what humans do with robots", which often fails due to complexity (h
by ptero 6y ago
Here is an armchair strategist opinion :).
This seems to be an approach of "let's replicate what humans do with robots", which often fails due to complexity (humans are very versatile). For example, the separate problems of finding empty shelves and restocking those are much more complex if you try to solve them together. Do it with a ground-moving robot, competing for floor space with humans and it may be hopeless.
But if you aim for just finding empty shelves you can probably do so with a few high-res ceiling mounted cameras and algorithms. This also allows for incremental enhancements. If the system initially detects missed inventory at 80% of the shelves it is a good start (there are now fewer shelves for humans to check).
Incremental improvement usually beats trying to solve complex problems in one go. My 2c.
- bluGill 6y agoThey already have this information from the cash registers though. it isn't up to the second like the system you proposed, but it is "good enough".
- dharmab 6y agoItems can run out of stock before hitting the registers- people spent a long time in big department stores like Wal-Mart.
- bluGill 6y agoThat doesn't matter, it takes more than an hour to get the replacements on the truck and the truck to walmart anyway. WalMart doesn't store much extra inventory in the back room. Everything comes off the truck and goes right onto the shelf.
- colinmhayes 6y agoPeople steal shit and put shit back in the wrong spot all the time.
- bluGill 6y agoI agree, but those are different problems. they are related, but different.
- thaumasiotes 6y agoIncorrect reshelving is a different problem. Your internal record of what's in stock -- from the cash registers you mention -- will be correct, you just won't be able to find the items. Shoplifting is not a different problem; it's the same problem. Shoplifting means the record derived from register transactions is incorrect, because registered sales are not the only type of transaction you participate in.
- jvanderbot 6y agoActual strategist here (I automate things humans do for a living). I agree! Building a machine to do what humans are good at is dumb. Building a machine to do what humans are not good at is smart. Humans are great at noticing things as they walk around. Machines are OK, but miss the context way too frequently. If a person can do it alone, it'll be really hard to make a robot better at it, at least in the real world. We should build more machines that are good at what machines are good at, and let humans fill in the blanks around those machines. For example, a robot that unloads heavy stuff from trucks would save hours of time so that human can move stuff to the shelves (and answer questions from shoppers while they're out there). Lo and behold, the profitable robotics companies here and elsewhere do that: move heavy stuff around (and only that, and only in warehouses where things are controlled). Now, arguably their case is that they want something "acceptably worse than a human for much less cost", but they erred by missing all the different things a human has to do while on shift, and building up a whole machine for this, the one thing that humans do without thinking.