Fears? I'm excited that these jobs where people are treated like machines until they quit for sanity's sake are getting automated.
Exactly! It seems the other people in comments here don't understand that this is just a net positive for workers!
You already have universal basic income where you guys are living ? Failing that it’s solely less low qualification jobs and more concentration of revenues for the few above. I don’t see that as « a net positive » -although semantically, those laid off would not be workers anymore so in that you’re right. Horrifically so.
UBI is necessary for this to be positive, so that's our problem. Not the machines taking the job.
Don't throw shit at this, throw it at politicians.
And yet you cheer on the loss of jobs and hand wave away issues as someone else's problem. That makes you part of the problem as the side cheering on the destruction of people's lives. Seriously how do you "workless utopia" fuckwits not see this?
I know how actually: you don't work these jobs and it will make you feel better about your demand for more and excessive consumption because "well at least it didn't hurt a human" but it does and will. You speak from an ivory tower and say it will be good when you hear less screams from below without caring for how the screaming stops.
I actually just want UBI so every single working class can get the basic needs instead of the rich getting richer.
I'm pretty sure I'm in the ground, and not in a tower with this opinion.
Sure but right now that isn't happening and robotics dismantling jobs destroying income is real. We are focusing on idealism and not reality.
Wanting it is fine but advocating that it's the only solution right now is not.
It's a net positive if those people are able to transition into other roles/ jobs.
They’ve tried in the past and they always perform like shit. I know management salivates at the thought of robots replacing people, but the technology just isn’t there yet. Robots just don’t seem to have very good problem solving skills and can’t deal with the wide range of seemingly inconsequential hiccups that occur throughout the work day that most people solve without much efgort. They do a few simple things well, but then break down at the slightest deviation from that. Maybe one day they’ll marry robots and AI together and they’ll be able to do complicated tasks, but for now they’re just not there yet.
People hear the word “robot” and assume that there’s some level of intelligence involved. Often, that isn’t the case. A robot is usually just a sophisticated machine following a painfully specific set of instructions.
If something unusual happens that an engineer hadn’t written a thousand lines of code to deal with, it could shut down the entire line.
I’m dealing with these specific issues right now in a distribution center, and it’s just with shelf moving robots that Amazon has had for 10-15 years already. It’s amazing how dumb they are and how poorly they are programmed to handle exceptions, and they aren’t even doing puts and picks.
Eventually someone will figure out how to make robots that can handle the more complicated tasks that humans currently do. I figured we were still a decade or 2 away from that point, but if anyone can figure it out quicker, it’s Amazon. I kind of hate the possibility that they might have already figured it out, but I’m very skeptical of a simple announcement.
The orange kiva bots? Amazon stole/purchased a robotics company for those as they wanted to develop them inhouse. A lot of the issues with robotics is cost and imperfect environments. Even dumb shit like changing the warehouse lighting can screw up sensors, guidance systems, and other automation if it wasn't designed that way. Customers want automation, but they don't want to pay for it. If we have to cheap out on sensors, cameras, drives, and other parts, it makes for less reliable systems depending on the application.
There is nothing more demoralizing than knowing a design is going to fail from the beginning because sales let the customer dictate the parts and design elements to cut costs. Then we get yelled at when it doesn't work perfectly or make rate. Or worse, it does/did work but the customer now uses the system in a way it wasn't designed and sabotage any good we might have done for them. Best is when a customer doesn't maintain a system, something that has to start on day 0, and then throws a tantrum when it breaks down all the time.
Robotics and automation isn't perfect. I have seen some great systems run with little to no downtime and shitty systems that operators have to constantly babysit. Us engineers try our best, but we have to use the tools we are given. I will say that technology overall has boomed over the last decade, but the parts and shipping situation since the pandemic started still hasn't been solved.
Technology has been there for a while now. Places like Ocado are 100% robotised.
I agree and will add that management always seems to forget that machines have downtime too. Robots replacing humans is a lovely dream these companies have where they conveniently ignore the needs and demands of using said robotics.
Perhaps, but it will be a net win for Amazon even if they only automate a part of the warehouse.
Weren't these jobs like, feared already cause they treat you less like a machine, they treated you like shit to the point youd have a good chance that you have to step over a dead body eventually?
Their turnover rate is ridiculously high and supply chains as an industry have been steadily moving towards automation. Robots are going to keep replacing unloaders, loaders, and pickers just as AI is going to start replacing buyers and dispatchers in the near future.
I worked for FedEx and it seems to me that Amazon didn't start this practice which is why it's confusing to me why they get the spotlight, it's just industry standard it seems (Amazon, FedEx, and UPS)
The place I work at had a 400% turnover rate for the 90 day period. Luckily I've seen other places and it doesn't seem like its a company wide thing, but a location to location issue. They pay higher than minimum wage as a standard, but that still didn't entice me or others to continue working there because of how much labor vs pay it is. Plus the stress of angry managers doesn't help it at all.
I honestly don’t know what to think. Yes, people need jobs, but more importantly, they need GOOD jobs. Amazon treats people terribly and, even at their best, does the bare minimum to comply with the law and keep their warehouses staffed.
Employees are being taken advantage of. Getting people out of there might be a net positive.
We need protections for those workers (i.e. UBI, et al) BEFORE they lose their jobs to capitalist dreams, preferably funded by the capitalists.
I 100% agree with this, and that's why I can't see robots taking job as bad news.
The problem is with the society. We need to build it better, so these advantages are for us - not for some scummy rich guy.
On another note: nobody should be a billionaire.
Yes, unfortunately currently society exists to serve billionaires, and we don't see that changing much. More automation will just entrench that power further.
We need to eliminate billionaires yesterday, or risk ending up in techno neo-feudalism.
Capitalism is reaching its end road. Things will change, for better or for worse. How it will change will depend on whether politics will support the people, or the rich.. and of we continue on without changing much, it will support the rich.
If Amazon doesn't need employees then they don't need tax breaks. In fact add a new tax for any business that switches to robot labor. They can pay the missing personal wages in taxes. Texas makes electric car drivers pay more for not using gas, this seems like the same thing.
This is why any politicians say they are bringing back the manufacturing jobs back to “US” “Japan” “Germany” or whatever are extremely dumb.
If you are worried about your amazon job you need to join a government program that will train you for a better job. Amazon sucks to work for and you deserve better.
Why do they need a humanoid robot to move an empty box from one conveyor belt to the other? They could have made a conveyor belt or robot arm instead.
Whatever. I'm glad no human is needed to waste their life doing that shit job.
That’s not what these robots are doing. They are picking items out of bins, verifying them, and packing them into totes which will be put on a conveyor. A conveyor is good for moving boxes or totes, but that’s about it. It does really poorly with small items, large items, irregular shapes, and especially anything in a bag.
That’s not what these robots are doing. They are picking items out of bins, verifying them, and packing them into totes which will be put on a conveyor. A conveyor is good for moving boxes or totes, but that’s about it. It does really poorly with small items, large items, irregular shapes, and especially anything in a bag.
This guy Material Handlings. Handles Material? Does Material Handling?
I’ve heard “material handles” and “handles materials,” but you are correct. I this-guy it hard.
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