What happens when back-flipping futuristic robot technology meets capitalism? Yeah, it’s warehouse work
- Reference: 1617085865
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/03/30/boston_dynamics_future/
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Supermachine maker Boston Dynamics – the same outfit that gave us videos of back-flipping, door-opening, prowling robots – has unveiled its latest creation and it’s, well, it’s a warehouse laborer.
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“Stretch is a versatile mobile robot for case handling, designed for easy deployment in existing warehouses. Unload trucks and build pallets faster by sending the robot to the work, eliminating the need for new fixed infrastructure,” the robotics biz pitches, exciting warehouse managers across the nation and absolutely nobody else.
The sleep-inducing descriptions continue: “Automate case handling anywhere in the warehouse with advanced mobility, reducing the need for fixed infrastructure”; “Maximize pick rates with hardware and software optimized to go beyond a full shift”; “Handle package variability in challenging environments with state-of-the-art vision systems.”
[2]
Your job might be automated within 120 years, AI experts reckon [3]READ MORE
This is some distance from Boston Dynamics previous launches where millions of people alternatively marveled at and [4]then feared the fact that modern technology had come so far that machines were able to perform athletic feats that many of us could not, as well as understand the world and think sufficiently well that they can come across a door handle [5]and open it . The velociraptor nightmare come true.
Our long-held Dalek-defeating measure of adding steps suddenly seemed small and foolish as we imagined [6]Atlas bounding along after us, followed at his heels by his [7]fearless Spot dog.
I know kung... stacking
But the real-world and its overriding need to make money took over has intervened. Even moneybags Google [8]dumped Boston after a few years because it wanted to make money more than cool new things. So instead of seeing the inevitable next step in Boston’s robot takeover - an automaton that can do kung fu or a machine that can hack systems by social engineering its own kind - what we have is a rotating set of arms that moves boxes without having to wear a waist belt.
[9]Youtube Video
Presumably Jeff Bezos is already doing the calculations, especially with the specter of unionized warehouse workers hovering over Amazon. Having a machine that doesn’t demand bathroom breaks, paid time off, or to be respected as a living being is likely to be an attractive prospect: but is it as quick? Based on the footage released, the answer is: probably not.
The other truth is: who cares? If there’s one thing we are all very comfortable with robots doing, it’s tedious physical labor. Shifting a pile of boxes from one place to another place is exactly the sort of thing we want machines to do. And if the horrifying addition of “artificial intelligence” only gives it the ability to spot a box, stick its stickers on it and then move it six feet away, then I think we can all get behind it.
More good ideas
Ideally, of course, we would use this vast freeing up of people’s minds and bodies from the tedium of manual work to encourage the extraordinary human traits of imagination and innovation. But in truth, society will likely just use the advent of [10]Stretch to fire workers and then complain about them for drawing on unemployment benefit.
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Still, at least our deaths at the hands of Terminator robots has been put off for a few years. And, by then, we may have [12]perfected technology to obscure our atmosphere from the sun in order to counteract climate change: something that we are certain can [13]only result in a positive outcome. ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YGL2wyhgm@usBobphCd9rwAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YGL2wyhgm@usBobphCd9rwAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2017/05/26/job_automation_by_ai_timeline/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2017/11/17/boston_dynamics_backflipping_robot/
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFuA50H9uek
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2016/02/24/boston_dynamics_robot_improvements/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/17/spot_boston_dynamics/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2017/06/09/alphabet_sells_boston_dynamics_and_schaft_to_softbank/
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3STtJhEANF0
[10] https://www.bostondynamics.com/stretch
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YGL2wyhgm@usBobphCd9rwAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/magazine/is-it-ok-to-engineer-the-environment-to-fight-climate-change.html
[13] https://www.moviefanatic.com/quotes/we-dont-know-who-struck-first-us-or-them-but-we-do-know-it-was/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Beats (my) expectations
I thought they would end up sitting in an electric wheelchair while manning a conveyor belt spot welding parts to other parts (like a robotic arm).
Kinda reminds me of that episode of "Silicon Valley" where all their cool technology ended up as "the box" that got stuck in a rack someplace nobody could see it.
At what point will these beasts of burden be seen as with other beasts of burden like donkeys, and people start setting up robo-donkey sancturies for them? When do we get legions of obsolete EMHs labouring in the dilithium mines?
At what point will these beasts of burden
more pressing is when will they become available as sex slaves (after some minor part-realignment)? Hopefully soon, given sex is at the forefront of any revolution?! Now, about those drones...
exactly the sort of thing we want machines to do.
and those human excess body mass in them amazon halls, suddenly empty-handed? Well, they can always re-qualify as 'repair engineers', I've heard that argument for years! The alternative solution offered when pointing the bleeding obvious is: "the market figures blablahblah show that automation blahblablah ACTUALLY increases job prospects for human candidates blahblablahblahblah. There, isn't it the answer you expected, amazon fulfillment centre ex-collegue? Well, anyways, we wish you all the best in your new career path, please check the amount of final change we paid you was correct, because it is YOUR responsibility to make sure we didn't fuck you on the way out"
It's mad when you think about. Why remove the human from the equation? If you utilised the human brain and got the robot to aid with the manual labour you could drive efficiency through the roof yet here we are trying to get the robot to replace them in a never ending quest to cut costs.
Dr Who might have an opinion on that idea
So sort of Cybermen?
So1from what I see on the video, is a multi axis pick and place robot on a mobile base.
Not what I envisaged for the 21st century.
I don't see these as anything better than the automated warehousing pioneered by Sainsburys in the nineties just more complex to build and maintain. The ones on the video looked similar to the standard industrial unit used for windscreen placement right down to the vacuum pads.
Just wait though, until all the industrial robots come fitted with full AI and they begin to unionise :]
Perhaps Boston thought of the bad PR and decided to not invent a [1]Black Mirror Metalhead robot for warehouses?
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xejjA2AFO5I
There's a few things....
I do wonder how they'll cope with. One is slightly soggy or misshapen boxes, will those suckers still be able to do the job if it can't get a clean grab on the box? And two - how would they cope with crap adhesive on the bottom of the boxes? If the box has got some weight in it but isn't picked up from the bottom, I'd say its likely to collapse and disgorge the contents on the floor. What then?
Gimp icon because I suspect they'll still need some poor sod to watch over them incase they start trashing everything.
Re: There's a few things....
Consider the boxes the likes of a certain well-known hardware vendor uses; you know the ones, mahoosive 3 acre box with three dozen #6 screws in it. Those boxes are put together by a machine with a sliver of hot glue and a prayer. Lift those by the lid and the whole shebang falls to bits. Actually, if the little packet of #6 screws ever nudges the lid, all bets are off.
Whoda thunk? Automation screws up automation. I suppose "not my department" transfers as seamlessly across botspace as it does fleshtube...
Re: There's a few things....
Yep my thoughts too. These beasties are picking up boxes using the sidewalls. Never mind the cardboard being slack crumpled or weak, all it would take is a heavy box that needs lifting by handles and these guys are fecked.
The problem with taking on "robots for dangerous or repetitive work" is that the owner of the plant assumes the full costs of having said work and working conditions* - on top of permanently owning the robots despite Market Conditions (or paying through their nose on leasing), and they won't like it one little bit.
With people, the long established practice is to rub almost everything off on "Society".
*) Real 'robotisized' plants are cleaner, better lighted, and have better A/C + air filtration, than the homes of the people who work there, including management!