Robot Janitors Are Coming To Mop Floors At a Walmart Near You

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: The world's largest retailer is rolling out 360 autonomous floor-scrubbing robots in some of its stores in the U.S. by the end of the January, it said in a joint statement with Brain Corp., which makes the machines. The autonomous janitors can clean floors on their own even when customers are around, according to the San Diego-based startup. Brain's robots are equipped with an array of sensors that let them gather and upload data.

Brain doesn't make its own hardware, focusing instead on developing software -- BrainOS -- that endows machines with autonomy in closed environments. At first, the machines were need to be operated by humans, who "teach" the layout of the space that needs cleaning. After that the robots can perform the task autonomously. The robots, which look like a cross between a miniature Zamboni and a motorized wheel chair, already scrub floors at airports in Seattle, San Diego, Boston and Miami, Brain Chief Executive Office Eugene Izhikevich said. Brain last month unveiled a smaller version of the machine developed jointly with SoftBank's robotics arm and aimed at the Japanese market.

just wait for the slip and fall scam people to hav

[Joe_Dragon]

just wait for the slip and fall scam people to have fun with them!

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[ls671]

Or they could say "Danger Will Robinson! Danger!" when people approach wet floors, thus avoiding any liability.

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[mschuyler]

Only if your name is Will Robinson.

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[Crash Dummy Redux]

Danger Mrs. Robinson! Danger!"

FTFY - For the younger generation, cultural reference for Mrs. Robinson [wikipedia.org].

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[Crash Dummy Redux]

I can't speak for Chris. But it's called being a smart ass. Laugh, it's funny. Asshole.

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[Crash Dummy Redux]

Robinson Crusoe was stuck on an island not inside a Walmart.

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[Crash Dummy Redux]

Get a life. Asshole.

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[Crash Dummy Redux]

I'm not the one using multiple accounts to accuse someone of being Chris. Whoever that fucker is.

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[Crash Dummy Redux]

So somebody said Robinson, and you said "Mrs. Robinson."

Double Entendre - a word or phrase open to two interpretations, one of which is usually risqué or indecent.

Why is that possibly funny?

Mrs. Robinson was the older woman who seduces her son's friend in The Graduate. You are far more likely to run into Mrs. Robinson than Will Robinson from Lost In Space at Walmart.

When actually talking to people, if you said that, do you think anybody would laugh?

Maybe, maybe not. Mrs. Robinson was the hotest sex fantasy of young boys growing up and a popular song [wikipedia.org] in the 1970's. An older woman who seduces a younger guy would be called a MILF, a cougar or your mama today.

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[Crash Dummy Redux]

It's like you think a reference to a movie is in itself a joke...

Plastics.

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[DaMattster]

Normally, I reserve a special place in hell for people that do this shit because is drives up costs for everyone. However if it ends up screwing over Walmart, I'll gladly make an exception to my own opinion.

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[Doke]

The first suite will die when walmart whips out the video recordings from the robot. You can expect they'll also be used as mobile "loss prevention" cameras.

Re:Please Pray

[Dunbal]

When someone dies in their 90's it's a time of fucking celebration, not grief. My grandmother just died - 96. Well done to her.

Automation

[Tablizer]

What could possibly go wrong? [youtube.com]

Redeployment

[godel_56]

Don't worry, all those people who have lost their jobs will be freed for more creative careers as programmers and web site developers. Apparently.

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[Locke2005]

Scrubbing toilets, web site development... what's the difference? Both jobs, you're just cleaning up the shit left there by other people!

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[alvinrod]

You assume that that's the only more useful thing that a person could be doing. Apparently.

I won't deny that there are some people who are truly incapable of much, and through no fault of their own, but if you look at the world today, there are large number of jobs that no one foresaw 30 years ago. If the future were that predicable, the stock market wouldn't exist.

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[Falos]

Duh. Walmart did this because they want to pay out more in salaries, not less. This is money trickling down, not up.

Disregard the statistics that clearly show Prolekistan's sole export will be shrinking, not growing.

There will be lots of jobs for wants-into-college Billy. Lots of jobs!

Darn...

[Locke2005]

...that means even MORE Trump supporters are going to be out of work!

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[shaksys]

Don't worry, the will go on welfare and become democrats.

Re: Darn...

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny thing is, when you don't subsidize the Farmers and they can't afford to plant crops, you end up starving too. When you exclude Agricultural Subsidies from "the public teat" it suddenly evens out and starts tipping towards the Liberal strongholds.
Also, keep in mind the Census just confirmed that 68% of no citizens are illegally taking welfare, thanks California.

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[sound+vision]

Once all the cashiers and janitors of the world are out of a job, not only will they be starving, they will be coming for your plate. Whether that means you wake up to a pistol in your face, or you redistribute in an orderly and equitable arrangement... that choice is up to you.

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[DaMattster]

And I am actually pro-welfare. I am pro social support systems.

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[DaMattster]

Then you're not a real Republican, just a confused little racist apologist backing the liars against your actual stated interests.

I never claimed to be a Republican. I am very left.

This is going to cause confusion

[The Grim Reefer]

The robots, which look like a cross between a miniature Zamboni and a motorized wheel chair,

I wonder how may people will get confused and try to use them as a motorized wheel chair.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Cheaper than a Walmart worker?!

[aberglas]

That is the point. Not that the machine can do this, but that it is actually cheaper than the cheap workers Wallmart employs. If a worker costs $10/hour, $20K/year then the machine would need to cost less than that (plus normal mop). And not just the capital cost, but programming, maintenance. You have to fix a machine, whereas you can always just replace a broken worker.

So this is indeed interesting. Not some theoretical university prototype, but a practical, cheap machine.

We are going to see a LOT of these over the next decade. And the impact will be difficult to predict.

Re:Cheaper than a Walmart worker?!

[guruevi]

It's an oversized Roomba and those cost ~$300. I don't think this machine would cost more than $10k, most likely Wal-Mart will lease them at ~1k/month or so.

The thing about these robots is you don't need to pay them insurance, they don't call in sick, they don't need a manager, they can't harass your customers, they don't intentionally damage your store or steal candy bars, they do as they're told and you never get in trouble with the INS.

They're past money

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, Walmart pays $1500 EACH for their shitty buggies. That was about 6 years ago, they're probably higher now. They'll pay 10k, and I say they'll pay 3 times that. At this point, it's not about the money for them. It's about what they can do to undo labor laws that exist and whatever they can do to "prove" the point that the gov will not "force" them to provide a living wage to its workers. They will straight shut a store down if there's even a hint at Union organization. Doesn't matter if that store

I've seen this in action

[krisyan]

It works well. They move slowly so you can step out of the way if you want, but it will go around you if you don't move. If you step in front of the cleaner it will stop completely. I can't imagine any jobs were lost over this either. Someone has to tend to the machine, such as fill with water and cleaner, etc.

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[mccalli]

How good is the actual clean? The robot mops I've owned have been....questionable, whereas I get great value and results out of robot vacs.

Re: I've seen this in action

[krisyan]

The clean is good from the look of things. It's just a self driving version of the floor machines people have been using for decades now. It wets the floor, scrubs, vaccumes and squeegees the floor dry all in one pass. The downside to these machines in general is you still have to use a mop right along walls and other places it can't quite get.

First of Many

[Only Time Will Tell]

I've long thought that cleaning robots in industrial settings were around the corner. Schools, offices, stores, all could benefit from robotic vacuums & mopping devices. The problem in places where you don't have nice straight aisles like a grocery or big box store is navigating around chairs and tables and other obstructions. It is a challenge I think will be iteratively solved in the coming decades and humans will move from doing all the cleaning tasks to more supervision of the robots and doing sm

Stray Carts

[Chissblue]

Robot Janitors and yet they can't keep track of the hundreds of stray shopping carts you find miles away from the store.

Cleanup on Aisle 7

[The Snazster]

So these will come when they hear, "Cleanup on aisle 7"?

When I worked at a big box store in college it was Ernie that came. Ernie was more than a bit mentally challenged, but he worked hard and got the job done. He was proud as punch to have a job and support himself. Everyone I ever saw was patient and kind with Ernie.

Robots are inevitable. I just hope whatever follows is patient and kind with us.