• sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    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’

    ???

    • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      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.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        2 months ago

        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.

        • Gabadabs@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          2 months ago

          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.

          • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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            2 months ago

            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.

    • snooggums@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      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.

      • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        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.

  • last_philosopher@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Let’s count the problems:

    1. Up front cost
    2. Maintenance cost
    3. Varied problems like different types of stairs, tripping hazards, etc.
    4. People attacking or stealing robots and their packages.
    5. Safety issues with 100+ pound metal robots falling on pets and children

    Any others?

  • altphoto@lemmy.today
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    2 months ago

    It is the distant future,
    The year 2000,

    The last known survivor lives is a cave somewhere in the Madagascar desert. A robot travels by foot to deliver a package. A simple letter with the following URL:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvFZjo5PgG0

    The survivor dies. Amazon has finally won. They have all the money and everyone else is gone. All robots shut down. Besos jumps into the money pile only to learn that cartoons don’t work in reality as most of his bones become powder on impact. The world is silent for a second. In the distance two flies are doing it over a pile of cow dung. The world becomes a peaceful place with no human presence whatsoever.

    • Basic Glitch@lemm.eeOP
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      2 months ago

      I feel like we’re going to end up with more laws protecting robots and surveillance cameras than our own civil liberties.

      Wonder where all those angry white guys with tiki torches and khaki shorts are now? The ones that thought the Jews were trying to replace them? 🤔

    • atticus88th@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      The robot dogs police are starting to use has a two big red buttons, one on the face and one on the ass. Just jam your finger or pointer end of your rifle and it returns to station or shuts down.

  • PumpkinSkink@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    No they fucking aren’t. That shit would be so much more expensive than a person. Liars, and not even particularly good ones.

    • Basic Glitch@lemm.eeOP
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      2 months ago

      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.”

      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! 🇺🇲

      • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
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        2 months ago

        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.

        • Basic Glitch@lemm.eeOP
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          2 months ago

          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

          https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/8/9/china-wrestles-with-quantity-over-quality-in-generative-ai-patents

          • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            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.

    • feddup@feddit.uk
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      2 months ago

      Just like when they were going to replace all their delivery drivers with drones. It’s just bullshit.

  • black0ut@pawb.social
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    2 months ago

    If I get one of those, I’m definitely killing it and stealing its copper. Amazon can pay for the repairs.

  • xektop@lemmy.zip
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    2 months ago

    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.

    • outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      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.

        • outhouseperilous@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          2 months ago

          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.

    • mustbe3to20signs@feddit.org
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      2 months ago

      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.
      • MangioneDontMiss@lemmy.ca
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        2 months 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.

        • mustbe3to20signs@feddit.org
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          2 months ago

          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.

          • squaresinger@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            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.

  • Lovable Sidekick@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    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.

    • crimsonpoodle@pawb.social
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      2 months ago

      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

      • Lovable Sidekick@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The main problem is walking on unpredictable terrain, which spidery or doggy robots can do with fewer balance issues than two-legged humanoid ones.

        • trashboat@midwest.social
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          2 months ago

          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