Slashdot Mirror
Amazon's Robot Workforce Grows By 50 Percent In Just One Year (siliconrepublic.com)
Amazon hires a lot of people. But the expansion of its army of orange-wheeled robots is more than keeping pace. An anonymous reader writes: E-commerce and cloud giant Amazon has revealed that it now has 45,000 robots across 20 fulfilment centres around the world. This is a 50 percent increase on the same time last year, when the company said that it employed 30,000 robots alongside its 306,000 people. Amazon uses the robots to automate the picking and packing process at large warehouses. The robots are 16in tall and weigh 145kg. They can travel at 5mph and can carry packages that weigh 317kg. The robots became part of the company's workforce when Amazon acquired Kiva Systems in 2012 for $775m.
The robots became part of the company's workforce when Amazon acquired Kiva Systems in 2012 for $775m.
the specifications for the robots are not correct at all. these machines weigh slightly more than 340 kilograms, can travel at up to 60 miles per hour, do not feel hunger, sorrow, or pain, and are all equipped with a phased plasma rifle typically in the 40 watt range.
regards,
Kiva_prod_32423.aws.amazon.com
A regular human worker employee.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Robots that make things connected to drones that deliver things, all run by a computer algorithm in the cloud that no single human understands.
What could possibly go wrong?
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Send those suckers back to China where they were probably made and give those jobs back to American robots.
Forget the Health Care industry. Ransomware authors should really be targeting Amazon.
I know corporations love automation, because, as they say, "Robots never need to eat, sleep, or pee". But they're putting all their eggs into one digital basket. If someone figures out how to take that system hostage...well, in Amazon's case, doing the math, it works out to be about four million dollars for every minute of downtime. A ransomware author could easily demand ten million dollars, and they'd get it.
I meant four thousand dollars per minute of downtime, not four million.
So, I suppose they could demand a million easily. Still, when you compare that to the pidly $17,000 payout made by Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, it's the difference between a bank heist and a purse snatch.
I for one welcome our new robot overlords
...the DVD I received rattling around in the refrigerator-sized shipping box. Insufficient training data on how to ship DVDs to Luddites mistrustful of streaming services.
Once the (by then unemployed) ex-customers cannot afford to buy stuff online anymore, they will be re-hired by Amazon to slave away distributing products to the (by then ruling class of) robots, who'll enjoy being serviced by the puny carbon units.
We had 2 robots, now we have 3, a 50% majoration.
they make about $150-$300k/yr. Now, the folks who _own_ it all, they don't understand squat. But they don't need to. The ruling class just has to rule.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
there's a third dystopia nobody likes to talk about, where the masses are simply left to starve to death while the entire world's resources are claimed by the 1%. I mean, if they have robots to make everything and the control access to food/shelter/health care/etc then why bother with employees? What the hell difference does it make if somebody buys your crap when you already own everything? The few of them you want for cooking food/doctors/engineers/military/sex workers/ will do as you say or they'll starve to death. And your robot guns will cut them down if they try to rebel.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
they had 15 THOUSAND and now have 30 THOUSAND. That's a major production. It's also at least 15 thousand new employees they didn't need to hire (give or take an engineer or two). So, what are you gonna do when the world _doesn't_ need ditch diggers? If you're lucky you'll live in the walled cities where robot gun emplacements protect you. If you're not one of them will cut your throat for a half day's worth of food. And if you think the 1% need you: get over yourself. If you're posting on /. you're not one of the movers and shakers in IT. They've got better things to be doing. You're the same as me, and above average techy. They're gunning for all of us.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Where will the humans on this planet get money to buy the stuff from companies with a robot workforce? If companies feel cheaper workforce is the answer, imagine the impact on the economy. People need cash to buy stuff.
Only humans will receive that, to help with unemployment generated by automation. An "automation tax", like social security taxes, seems very welcome to me (by help on funding this social security spend) - just saying, IMHO
317 kg? Really? Are you sure it isn't 318 kg? Because 700 lb is about 317.515 kg. Do we now have political correctness for units?
Reminds me of a story told me by a formerly Austalian roboticist. When Australia switched from English to metric, signs that said "10 miles ahead" weren't moved, they were just changed to "16.1 km ahead."
I started noticing a phenomenon about 3 years ago I'll call the "Millennial Effect". There would be dozens of articles trying to figure out why Millennials weren't doing the sorts of things their parents did (buy new cars, eat out, buy houses, have kids). Every possible explanation was given except money. Recently I've seen the left wing press finally start talking about it, but only the very, very left wing (think Mother Jones & Al Jezeera). Even MSNBC seldom if ever touches on just how much ground the Millennials have lost.
It's all about wealth inequality. But the mass media is owned by billionaires, so you shouldn't be surprised when they don't bite the hand that feeds them.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/