Try to automate the hotel desk clerk job

[1938 Packard]

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.

[1938 Packard]

Janitor, on the other hand...

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

[NaBarney]

Yeah. My hotel just rolled out a new thing where you can check in online via the app, get a digital key on your phone, and use it to unlock the door to your room via Bluetooth, no talking to the front desk required.

 

I'm not sweating my job being automated though, too many intangibles that a physical human is needed for 24/7. Although I do foresee having to learn new maintenance skills to further justify my presence on the clock as people become more technologically self-sufficient and fewer people require physically checking in and asking for directions and such. It'll never be fully automated, but idk how long there's going to be two front desk clerks from 3-11 required as a brand standard. Probably a few years tops. Soon all you'll need is a front desk/maintenance guy as the lone employee on site 16 hours a day, with the other 8 hours requiring housekeeping/regular maintenance men/superfluous managers to be present.

[André Toulon]

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

 

Maybe not automated, but easily done by anyone that swam over here with 3 kids on his back and lacks any English skills.

[1938 Packard]

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22630213.200-robot-cleaner-can-empty-bins-and-sweep-floors/#.VVW9VvlViko

 

Empty bins & sweep floors. That's what you do.

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? 

[scoobdog]

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

 

Wut?

 

[1938 Packard]

Wut?

 

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

[Guest Zintar]

this was on [as] last year. a PFFR production.

 

M.O.P.Z.

 

(A lazy janitor builds a robot to do his dirty work.)

 

[naraku360]

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?

It doesn't matter if it "can". Technology isn't developed over night. Just because it can't do x, y, or z now does not mean it will never be developed enough to replace senile old geezers with superiority complexes.

[1938 Packard]

It doesn't matter if it "can". Technology isn't developed over night. Just because it can't do x, y, or z now does not mean it will never be developed enough to replace senile old geezers with superiority complexes.

Somebody's going to open a  Red Robin in Andromeda before my job is adequately automated.

[Sawdamizer]

The only good career news for you at all is that you're old as fuck so you'll be dead before everyone has a roomba.

 

I love when you go savage and shit.

[1938 Packard]

The only good career news for you at all is that you're old as fuck so you'll be dead before everyone has a roomba.

  How many Roombas do you need for six acres?