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I feel like, for a long while, you'd still need people to clean the place, to maintain the robots, install new equipment. There's also going to be occasional me

I feel like, for a long while, you'd still need people to clean the place, to maintain the robots, install new equipment. There's also going to be occasional messes. Box was badly taped, falls apart, shampoo bottles get crushed on the floor, etc. Also, if you have a robot that puts things in boxes, you need someone to restock the boxes, unless you have another special-purpose robot just for that too. I'm sure we can eventually have truly general-purpose robots, but in the mean time, I'm kind of skeptical about how much cost and labor these things are going to save. Not to say this isn't impressive or cool, just saying that a completely fully automated warehouse is still pretty far away.

chiefalchemist 6y ago
Save? Plenty. It means less parking spots, less HR, less toilets, and so on. They don't get ill, don't have good days and bad, they are fully trained the second they start, and so on. The most difficult part of business is the human element. For better or worse these mitigate that. The resources freed up from addressing the human element can focus on other opportunities.
- spijdar 6y ago
  I mean, won't robots need repairs/maintenance, "training" in the form of programming or tweaking parameters, and other things? These may have lesser costs than their human equivalents, but I don't think they're magically zero-maintenance.
  - tachyonbeam 6y ago
    It's also questionable how much cheaper robot training is. Specialized programmers to write special-purpose code just for your specific application don't exactly come cheap... Especially when you're not paying them directly, but rather trough some external robotics company you're consulting with. We could easily be talking $300/hour.
- sandworm101 6y ago
  Robots dont get ill? Talk to anyone who maintains complex moving machinery such as aircraft or industrial machines. They have bad days. They have lifespans and old age. Some develop long-term diseases (corrosion). Some even get viruses. They can be down for months, even years, as such faults are corrected.
  - chiefalchemist 6y ago
    When was the last time a robot took an employer to court for a slip and fall. Most (warehouse) employers would rather have one FT employee doing robot repairs, than a warehouse filled with humans. Yes, of course robots aren't indestructible or immortal. But they're still easier to manage than the majority of humans.

chiefalchemist 6y ago

Save? Plenty. It means less parking spots, less HR, less toilets, and so on. They don't get ill, don't have good days and bad, they are fully trained the second they start, and so on. The most difficult part of business is the human element. For better or worse these mitigate that. The resources freed up from addressing the human element can focus on other opportunities.

spijdar 6y ago
I mean, won't robots need repairs/maintenance, "training" in the form of programming or tweaking parameters, and other things? These may have lesser costs than their human equivalents, but I don't think they're magically zero-maintenance.
- tachyonbeam 6y ago
  It's also questionable how much cheaper robot training is. Specialized programmers to write special-purpose code just for your specific application don't exactly come cheap... Especially when you're not paying them directly, but rather trough some external robotics company you're consulting with. We could easily be talking $300/hour.
sandworm101 6y ago
Robots dont get ill? Talk to anyone who maintains complex moving machinery such as aircraft or industrial machines. They have bad days. They have lifespans and old age. Some develop long-term diseases (corrosion). Some even get viruses. They can be down for months, even years, as such faults are corrected.
- chiefalchemist 6y ago
  When was the last time a robot took an employer to court for a slip and fall. Most (warehouse) employers would rather have one FT employee doing robot repairs, than a warehouse filled with humans. Yes, of course robots aren't indestructible or immortal. But they're still easier to manage than the majority of humans.