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What Happens When Robots Can Deliver Your Groceries? (venturebeat.com)
"What if you could get groceries in less than two minutes without even leaving your apartment?" asks VentureBeat. "Another beer...? Think guacamole would go extremely well with those Doritos you just opened?" Several grocery-delivery startups are already working to make this a reality. Slashdot reader moglito summarizes their vision of autonomous indoor-delivery robots from automated refrigerators servicing high-rise apartment buildings.
Coupled with AI algorithms for learning what residents like to consume, and algorithms for automatically restocking those items via a network of suppliers or logistics companies, this "bot-mart" could make grocery shopping a boring and time-consuming thing of the past... Will robots similarly reduce the need for a kitchen next?
Yes, the article also describes cooking robots (which can already prepare burgers, pizza, and sandwiches), as well as new automated delivery vehicles restaurants. "Perhaps the only question remaining is whether there is a business case for this," they point out -- though under some scenarios, it could actually prove cheaper than driving to the grocery store yourself. "Consumers will find it ever easier to get what they want, when they want it, where they want it."
Yes, the article also describes cooking robots (which can already prepare burgers, pizza, and sandwiches), as well as new automated delivery vehicles restaurants. "Perhaps the only question remaining is whether there is a business case for this," they point out -- though under some scenarios, it could actually prove cheaper than driving to the grocery store yourself. "Consumers will find it ever easier to get what they want, when they want it, where they want it."
age checking? or will this just not have 18+ or 21+ stuff to buy?
Stuff the food.. Free Robot!
Steal enough of them and build yourself an army of evil(They are stolen after all) robot minions to do your bidding and take control! *MWAhahaha!*
Less traffic, less congestion, no wasting time on shopping, personal buttler service for the 99% that will save us a portion of our lives in more ways than one. How many accidents happen on the roads just because of shopping?
You can't handle the truth.
Delivering pre-packaged cans, bottles, and jars may indeed make sense, at some point - but I'd be leery about someone else picking my produce, eggs, perhaps even potato chips - unless there's a generous return policy.
Why do people here talk as if grocery delivery services don't already exist? I've been getting my groceries delivered for over 2 years now (and I wasn't an early-adopter), and in the rare case that I receive something damaged or otherwise unusable, I report it and they refund me, no questions asked.
And it's not like I'm a perfect grocery delivery person -- I've picked product that I later found to have a bad spot, I've dropped groceries on my way into the house, etc.
If you never want to leave your home. But why stop at that? Why not drug yourself strapped to the bed and get nutrition via IV? As long as the obese pay more for plane tickets and healthcare, I'm good.
When you leave your home, do you really want to spend that time at the grocery store? I'd rather let someone else pick and deliver my groceries so I can do the things I *want* to do.... I don't find grocery shopping to be particularly pleasant.
I love grocery shopping! It's one of the few reasons to go out when you live in a small town.
A few years from now it will be like the big city where you no longer know your neighbours.
I love grocery shopping! It's one of the few reasons to go out when you live in a small town.
A few years from now it will be like the big city where you no longer know your neighbours.
Weird, I live in a city (well, more of a large town) and I know most of my neighbors. I see many of them while we're walking to the train, I see others at local restaurants, the gym, etc. I got my most recent job through after the guy down the street introduced me to my current boss on one of our weekend bike rides.
Now I know why I live in a city if going to the grocery store is one of the few reasons to go out in a small town.
When you leave your home, do you really want to spend that time at the grocery store? I'd rather let someone else pick and deliver my groceries so I can do the things I *want* to do.... I don't find grocery shopping to be particularly pleasant.
To be honest, as long as I shop at my regular store where I know roughly where everything is I don't really spent that much longer picking the groceries than I did selecting them and it's on the way home from work so it's not a detour at all. My impression is that their main market for delivery services are elderly who can't drive a car and don't want to carry heavy shopping bags around. The other thing I see that is more mainstream here in Norway is "food boxes", basically you get a box with all the ingredients for meals for a week in correct proportions and a paint-by-numbers guide on how to make it, basically a lazier way than checking recipe sites and finding it all yourself and still get varied food. It's not that expensive either because they create these in bulk, it's quasi-institutionalized cooking except everyone prepares their own meals. Personally I'm a create of habit and can easily rotate over a relatively small number of dishes.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Basically this: Robots start delivering peoples' groceries.
Twinstiq, game news
Right now I am planing to go to the grocery store. Why a plan, because it is 2 km and that 4 km walk takes quite some time, fortunately it is downhill all the way to the grocery store, unfortunately it is uphill all the way back from the grocery store. Apparently if you do not work for your food, it will gather around your body as fat.
This is part of the laziness diets, using laziness to moderate food intake. The battle between walking 4km for junk and carrying it back or being lazy and simply not and allowing hunger to stand voluntarily suppressed. Then there is of course cooking food, again the laziness of preparing and cooking raw ingredients to produce a snack versus just putting that snack off.
I always prefer to achieve more than one objective at a time via a single action, so exercise and obtain groceries to burn off some of the calories I am about to prepare and then consume, although generally cooking does not occur so soon after walking 2 km up a hill.
So just to be clear, why take every single opportunity to avoid exercise only to pay to work to achieve nothing (the work actually produces less than nothing) ie going to a gym (this as a result successful marketing targeted at gullible fools)?
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Have gnu, will travel.
During the Publix pilot program, the produce they shipped was only the best stuff. You could choose how green you wanted your bananas. Remember, the produce is coming direct from the warehouse to your kitchen, it doesn't have to sit in the retail bins being fondled by everyone and sprayed every 5 minutes to stay looking fresh. If you want really ripe watermelon, or something like that, it might be a problem, but mostly, the warehouse doesn't ship bad stuff to the store - the stuff goes bad while on the store shelves.
It's nice to earn income without having to be physically present at any particular place - still hard to find good paying reliable work like that, but it's nice when you can get it.
Once upon a time we had milk men and the world didn't seem to fall apart.
I use going shopping as a major part of my exercise. I usually do not go to the nearest shop either, a nice 20 minute walk each way 4 times a week or so is entirely fine. (Yes, I know that is at the low end, but far better than nothing.) The second thing is that for vegetables, fruit and meat, I like to look at what is available and not just from some pretty pictures, but the actual product.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I imagine that once self-driving cars become the norm you'll be able to have your car drop you off at work and then you can rent out your car to do things like pick up other people's groceries and other goods, or to drive other people around. My local grocery store chain is rolling out an online ordering system with its own parking spots and you just walk in and pick up your order. It's not a big leap from there to having your car go there to a special drive thru to pick them up without you. I can also see standardization of loading heights on vehicles to make this process fully automated. The trouble is getting your refrigerated or frozen foods taken care of at the other end without you being there to unload it,
I love grocery shopping because I usually strap on a backpack and get on the bicycle to do it, so I combine the chore with exercise, in lieu of the gym etc. It's not the destination, but the getting there.
Even more important, though, is that my shopping basket mostly consists of fresh produce and other perishables like meat and dairy. Hardly any processed foods, tins, sealed bags, boxes, or other long-shelf-life goods. Furthermore I am the single person in the household. For all these reasons, I pay close attention to the quality and freshness of the things I buy, as they need to last a couple of days at least until they are consumed and need restocking. I inspect e.g. apples and tomatoes for damage sustained during stacking (shelf packers in my city all seem to think they are handling bricks or bags full of golf balls, across maybe a dozen stores), make a selection of bananas were some are riper than others for staggered availability. I closely look at the Best Before dates and choose items that have a date furthest in the future. Wrappers are inspected for damage (e.g. cheese, butter). One head of lettuce is not fungible with another like one can of soup is with another. None of this will work too well if some could-care-less minimum wager selects items for me and subjects them to more of the same handling. We in fact do have a supermarket chain locally that offers online shopping and delivery. Last I heard, that program was on its last leg. I'm not too surprised.
Mind that grocery retail practices (and quality) in my locale differs somewhat from what I have experienced in the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. So obviously someone else's mileage may differ.
Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
Home delivery has existed for years. Tried it once and it failed - robots instead of vans would make no difference.
1) They send you the least fresh stock they have. Maybe doesn't matter if you only eat canned beans.
2) If you choose something advertised at reduced price, they charge you full price "because the reduced price stock ran out".
3) Half the time they send you an alternative "because what you ordered ran out". Once I got six (!) cabbages instead of 1kg carrots.
Maybe you "have a right to complain", but fuck that hassle.