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Operating Systems Robotics Software United States Technology

Robot Janitors Are Coming To Mop Floors At a Walmart Near You (bloomberg.com) 86

Posted by BeauHD from the automated-tasks dept.
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.
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Robot Janitors Are Coming To Mop Floors At a Walmart Near You More

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

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

    • 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.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Doke ( 23992 )
      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.

  • 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.

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

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Falos ( 2905315 )

      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!

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

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by shaksys ( 3777257 )
      Don't worry, the will go on welfare and become democrats.
      • And I am actually pro-welfare. I am pro social support systems.

  • 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.

  • Cheaper than a Walmart worker?! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by aberglas ( 991072 ) on Monday December 03, 2018 @11:24PM (#57744916)

    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?! (Score:5, Informative)

      by guruevi ( 827432 ) on Monday December 03, 2018 @11:37PM (#57744998)

      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 (Score:1)

        by 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

  • 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.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mccalli ( 323026 )
      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.
      • 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.
  • 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
  • Robot Janitors and yet they can't keep track of the hundreds of stray shopping carts you find miles away from the store.
  • 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.

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