1938 Packard

If I had reported the very same story before you did, I'd have idiots like Buddy and Cy claiming I made it up and that homeless people never behave that way.

A lot of that has just been addressed. Scroll up.

Watched the video in the link and read the whole article, instead of just the convenient parts. Okay, so... it seems to work under very tightly controlled circumstances, such as trash cans that weigh less than seventy pounds and aren't coated with stale coffee and sour milk. The robot was developed by roboticist Richard Borman and colleagues at the Fraunhofer Institute in Stuttgart. It is designed to do two tasks – clean the floors and empty wastepaper baskets – with complete autonomy. It can recognise dirt on the floor and identify wastepaper baskets before its robotic arm grabs and then empties each bin. At the moment, it cleans too slowly for Dussmann. “Humans can do about 450 to 500 square metres an hour,” says Borman. “The robot can do 100 to 120 square metres an hour.” Borman is applying for a grant to work with Dussmann and develop a commercial model that should be much quicker. It also needs a longer-lasting battery: the prototype has only four hours of power – a commercial version would need to run all night. Only big offices are suitable for this kind of robot; humans would have to move it between small offices, which negates the benefits. Other cleaning robots do exist, but they can’t navigate a building autonomously and have one function. This article appeared in print under the headline “Robot cleaner can empty bins and sweep floors” That being said, does it have fingers nimble enough to tie in can liners? Can it navigate six acres of crowded casino space without ramming people? Does it have a three to four hundred pound trash load capacity? Can it determine before hand whether a can liner will break during removal and automatically switch to inverting the entire can? Can it stop and answer questions such as, "Who's playing at the Boardwalk Hall tonight?" Can it be called upon to change routes and put out trash can fires? Can it go up or down stairs?

Yeah... add a diaper to that and you might convince an admistrative law judge that behaving like a perpetual baby is a disability.

That would be a licensing issue, not a knowledge issue.

How is any of it bullshit? You just choose to believe that a chiropractor doesn't have to study medicine or turn in a doctoral dissertation.

Retro to what era, exactly? Even the 1970's didn't feature anything that absurd.

He's still dressed like a three year old.

...all about perpetual adolescence being a disturbing trend in American culture - that too many people seem to just stay fifteen, mentally, well into their thirties and forties. I didn't need a book to tell me that. It's as self evident as the moon. Book title: "The Vanishing American Adult" Author: Ben Sasse

That can't be automated either. The battery alone would have to weigh about a hundred and fifty pounds.

Grown men dressing like three year olds. What are they... transgenerian?

Another reason to stay out of jails.

It's already been tried twice at this hotel. This is attempt number three. It's going to flop again. Sure... slip in your credit card and the machine will find your reservation, assign a room and hand out a key card. Sound fast and easy? Well... yes if that's all the guest wants to do. The machine STILL can't answer questions like, "What time does the show start?" or "Which restaurant serves the best T-bone?" The guests want that kind of interaction. Take that away and you just get disappointed guests who write bad reviews in the patron feedback slips.

That's hideous. Looks like one of those things that would only stay fashionable for half a season until everybody comes back to their senses.

How would she know when I didn't mention that to her?

That's assuming she knew I'm a janitor.

I don't miss being drunk.

Just let them ride free instead. The bus doesn't move until all fares are paid. They can shave about forty minutes off each route just by ending this nonsense with, "Got the money here someplce... here's a nickel... three dimes... oh, a quarter... some pennies..." Like, it doesn't occur t these people to have the fare all counted up and ready before boarding? Shit... if they ride free, it might not take an hour to reach Longport from here.

Following your logic, so did the law student. I'm sure she doesn't have much trouble meeting people.

And what does this have to do with the OP?

When I'm home, I'm on the web. When I'm out, it's about the people.

Well, if you know so much about it, just hang out your shingle and make a business of it.

I hope he has better luck there, because I was starting to get sick of his always asking for money. How the Hell does he ever get the rent paid when he can't even get three dollars together for beer?

That just shows you differences between people. This one's a chatterbox and yours isn't.

Into what, exactly?