As someone who is fairly excluded from the current job market as is, I hope so because while i can see ‘those that volunteer and have trade skills’ getting to be better off than those that just kinda… do nothing but netflix my ability to grow/learn is fairly limited both by my mobility and by the fact I do not have the means to get tools or material to try new things, and since my money is exceedingly finite I play conservative with what isn’t earmarked so I don’t get to take risks on what might/seems like it would fail.
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The people lamenting the loss of burger-flippers are probably also mourning the loss of elevator operators, gas jockeys, switchboard operators, and toll collectors. Dadgum technology’s replacing jobs with robuts!
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I don’t necessarily lament the loss of those jobs, but it does bother me that the social safety net isn’t ready to take care of the number of people we are cutting loose.
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It’ll be one of those nostalgia places, only not very well done.
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The social safety net can absolutely take care of the number of people, because that number is zero. No one has been “cut loose” because the restaurant has neither opened, nor has anyone been hired. Quit your catastrophic concern driving trollies, grandpa!
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No one has been “cut loose” because the restaurant has neither opened, nor has anyone been hired.
Very true. I was speaking more broadly. It’s generally acknowledged that we are at an inflection point with respect to automation and mechanization. The US is lucky because it can easily afford something like a basic income. I just think it’s going to take significant turmoil before voters choose to evolve our economy.
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There is very little content on Youtube of this type of machine in action. And what content there is, is years old.
The website of the company doesn’t have videos or photos of the thing in action. Perhaps they’re doing a press release to get funding for something that doesn’t quite exist outside of a working prototype now?
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I don’t think that was their point, though. Don’t make waves!
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The robble-robot is putting the GPS chips in the burgers now, hopefully by tomorrow some wimpy fella will have conveniently hamburgled them.
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Sounds wiz, but who cleans the machines? I know that meat processing facilities have very stringent cleaning regimens and inspections and that restaurants have some sort of inspection needed. Crumbs and drips happen and it would seem that the machine pictured would need significant cleaning daily. Ever see that atomized grease that collects on walls and counter when you are frying a burger? Imagine that all over a complex robot. Now imagine keeping said robotic space clean and vermin free. Even if you wrap the robots in plastic you are talking about a significant amount work to clean up every night.
Who fixes the machines when they break down? If Alice calls in sick, you can have Beth run the grill while Charlene calls for backup. With a robotic restaurant, there is a lot less redundancy. if the burgerbot breaks, the restaurant goes dark until it’s repaired. Combine with the first question.
Who make the fries? A burger without fries is sacrilege. You could automate frying potatoes, but I don’t see anything about that here.
Why have the “manager” take orders? Jack in the Box and others have already built automated kiosks that are 3 times slower then working with a person and frustrating to use. Seems this would be the perfect place for one.
This strikes me as a publicity stunt. The side work is nearly as important and laborious as the actual cooking, perhaps more so.
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This is easy to avoid. You just have a disclaimer sign that says something along the lines of “Consuming undercooked foods may increase your risk of food-borne illness.” I’ve seen them before in sushi places or fancier burger joints that let you specify how well-done you want your burger.
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Dammit, I can only find it in German, but it’s the same basic concept in english:
“That cow looks tasty. Naaaaah, this one looks better… How about this one?”
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It makes sense, those job seem to be mostly routine and ripe for automation. Digital jobs were already largely automated as much as possible after 2008 crisis. It is not easy to automate them even more.
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98.4% of statistics have been pulled out of somebody’s arse.
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[quote=“Dragonbait1, post:51, topic:80979, full:true”]
Who fixes the machines when they break down? If Alice calls in sick, you can have Beth run the grill while Charlene calls for backup. With a robotic restaurant, there is a lot less redundancy. if the burgerbot breaks, the restaurant goes dark until it’s repaired. [/quote]
A few times a year, the broiler goes out at my local Burger King, where I often eat lunch. The result is no burgers until a technician comes out to repair it. They usually accomplish that within a day. My point is though, these fast food joints already depend on machines that have to be cleaned and repaired. They model for handling that is already in place. There are jobs for people to maintain those machines. As machines replace workers, you end up more of those jobs to handle the machines. The new jobs are fewer in number, but require more training and pay better. The overall result is fewer jobs, higher upfront capital investment, higher productivity, and lower overall cost. This is a good thing if society can adapt. Sadly, we’re not doing that quick enough to keep up.
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The difference I see is machines and workspaces that are designed for human interaction and ones designed for automation. Those designed to be run by humans are accessible by design for cleaning by humans. Those designed for automation, less so. It’s easy to tell your fry cook “clean you station and mop the floor.” Every shift. These systems will require a workforce to clean and service them daily. Based on scale, that won’t be a one person job. Thus reducing the “savings” of an automated burger joint, possibly to the point where existing tech and entry level workers will be cheaper then the automated system and the support it will require.
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Maybe but you can have a few cleaning crews cycle from a set rotation of stores through the week as opposed to dedicated staff. Ditto with maintenance and stockers.
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