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Phoenix, AZ — After seeing a decline in earnings for the first time in nine years, McDonald’s plans to do something no other store of its kind has ever done before; open a store run entirely by robots.

The store is set to open July 4th in Phoenix, Arizona once the state-of-the-art robot remodel is complete. The restaurant will still employee a small team to insure all of the robots are working correctly, the food along with the cleaning supplies remaining stocked and removing the money collected by the robots. If the test launch for the store is a success, visitors to the restaurant can soon expect to see these new robots working in harmony at a speed of 50 times faster than the average human employee, with no chance of error, located in every store all over the country.

The store’s new manager, Jay Funkhouser, told CNN that he has worked with the machines in a product development facility in San Francisco for over six months now and speaks highly of the robots.

“These things are great! They get their work done in a fast and orderly manner. And they don’t ask for cigarette breaks.”



http://newsexaminer.net/food/mcdonalds-to-open-restaurant-run-by-robots/




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They can't pee in your lemonade either...

MCD has always been striving for time (in seconds). I've been asked once to visit an MCD restaurant and note the time when I place an order and get the food in seconds and that proved how much they value their time. Now we don't need to keep rushing at the counter and screaming out for the food. Robots will value us more  :D

Everything you've experienced... Now 50 times faster...

 ;)

My cousin used to work for MCD few years back while schooling. Glad that he is no longer working for them else he would be unemployed  :(

Why am I feeling that all restaurants will be having only robots as employees? So many people would be left unemployed when actually these robots aren't that necessary if the time parameter is ignored.

Haha, love satire.

This comment expresses my opinion:

"I, for one, welcome our new burger overlords." :D

The future is sad a world with no jobs,and once AI becomes reality all high end jobs like programmers etc will be wiped out too not just the lowbie mcdonalds ones.

McSkynet

LOL. Is there a mainstream source for this?

Nor it will be, it's satire, the whole website is, I assume.

That is a little too much. Then all of a sudden we will see this all over the world if it works.
And we will have a lot of unimployed people :(

I'm actually surprised we aren't able to get "fresh made" burgers and fries from a vending machine already. I had this idea 20-30 years ago and if only I had acted on it, perhaps I'd be a rich man today.


This is a big concern of mine. I'm not against automation, but I fear we (society) will not evolve to care enough for one another, instead those without jobs will be left to suffer and starve. The rich continue to condition us to believe that if you are without a job or underemployed it's because you're lazy. Or that if you didn't have a job you would become lazy and worthless.

I don't think the website is a satire website
http://newsexaminer.net/environment/devastating-7-9-magnitude-quake-strikes-nepal-india/

But will the food still give my diarrhea?

That one was copied from RT as you can see in source, also read author bio.


Check other articles from the author of the article mentioned in OP: http://newsexaminer.net/author/dariusrubics/

Also newsexaminer.net created by Fappy®, Fappy The Anti-Mastururbation Dolphin: https://www.facebook.com/fappythedolphin

While some articles might be real, the purpose of the website seems to be to pass satire as real news, we see this happening a lot and even major news outlets sometimes pickup one of these articles.

Robots or not, McDonald's would still be serving their customers unhealthy food. If ever this becomes a reality, many people who are employed will be affected. As AI becomes truer and nearer, the danger of replacing humans with robots in different jobs is escalating. Good for the management and owners of McDonald's. Bad for the once employed humans who worked for them.

next decade is likely to see an explosion of new forms of service sector automation, potentially putting millions of relatively low-wage jobs at risk.



San Francisco start-up company Momentum Machines,  Inc., has set out to fully automate the production of gourmet-quality hamburgers.  Whereas a fast food worker might toss a frozen patty onto the grill, Momentum Machines’ device shapes burgers from freshly ground meat and then grills them to order—including even the ability to add just the right amount of char while retaining all the juices. The machine, which is capable of producing  about  360 hamburgers  per hour, also toasts the bun and then slices and adds fresh ingredients like tomatoes, onions, and pickles only after the order is placed. Burgers arrive assembled and ready to serve on a conveyer belt. While most robotics companies take great care to spin a positive tale when it comes to the potential impact on employment, Momentum Machines co-founder Alexandros Vardakostas is very forthright about the company’s objective: “Our device isn’t meant to make employees more efficient,” he said. “It’s meant to completely obviate them.” The company estimates that the average fast food restaurant spends about $135,000 per year on wages for employees who produce hamburgers and that the total labor cost for burger production for the US economy is about $9 billion annually. Momentum Machines believes its device will pay for itself in less than a year, and it plans to target not just restaurants but also convenience stores, food trucks, and perhaps even vending machines. The company argues that eliminating labor costs and reducing the amount of space required in kitchens will allow restaurants to spend more on high-quality ingredients, enabling them to offer gourmet hamburgers at fast food prices.

Those burgers might sound very inviting, but they would come at a considerable cost. Millions of people hold low-wage, often part-time, jobs in the fast food and beverage industries. McDonald’s alone employs about 1.8 million workers in 34,000 restaurants worldwide. Historically,  low wages, few benefits, and a high turnover  rate have helped to make fast food jobs relatively easy to find, and fast food jobs, together with other low-skill positions in retail, have provided a kind of private sector safety net for workers  with few other options: these jobs have traditionally offered an income of last resort when no better alternatives are available. In December 2013, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics ranked “combined food preparation and serving workers,”  a category that excludes waiters and waitresses in full-service restaurants, as one of the top employment sectors in terms of the number of job openings projected over the course of the decade leading up to 2022—with nearly half a million new jobs and another million openings to replace workers who leave the industry.

In the wake of the Great Recession, however, the rules that used to apply to fast food employment are changing rapidly.  In 2011, McDonald’s launched a high-profile initiative to hire 50,000 new workers in a single day and received over a million applications—a ratio that made landing a McJob more of a statistical long shot than getting accepted at Harvard. While fast food employment was once dominated by young people looking for a part-time  income while in school, the industry now employs far more mature workers who rely on the jobs as their primary income. Nearly 90 percent of fast food workers are twenty or older, and the average age is thirty-five. Many of these older workers have to support families—a nearly impossible task at a median wage of just $8.69 per hour.

The industry’s low wages and nearly complete lack of benefits have drawn  intensive criticism. In October  2013, McDonald’s was lambasted after an employee who called the company’s financial help line was advised to apply for food stamps and Medicaid. Indeed, an analysis by the Labor Center at the University of California, Berkeley, found that more than half of the families of fast food workers are enrolled in some type of public assistance program and that the resulting cost to US taxpayers is nearly $7 billion per year.

When a spate of protests and ad hoc strikes at fast food restaurants broke out in New York and then spread to more than fifty US cities in the fall of 2013, the Employment Policies Institute,  a conservative think tank with close ties to the restaurant and hotel industries, placed a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal warning that “Robots Could Soon Replace Fast Food Workers Demanding a Higher Minimum  Wage.” While the ad was doubtless intended as a scare tactic, the reality is that—as  the Momentum Machines device demonstrates—increased automation in the fast food industry is almost certainly inevitable. Given that companies like Foxconn are introducing robots to perform high-precision electronic assembly in China, there is little reason to believe that machines won’t also eventually be serving up burgers, tacos, and lattes across the fast food industry.

Japan’s Kura sushi restaurant chain has already successfully pioneered an automation strategy. In the chain’s 262 restaurants, robots help make the sushi while conveyor belts replace waiters. To ensure freshness, the system keeps track of how long individual sushi plates have been circulating and automatically removes those that reach their expiration time. Customers order using touch panel screens, and when they are finished dining they place the empty dishes in a slot near their table. The system automatically tabulates the bill and then cleans the plates and whisks them back to the kitchen. Rather than employing store managers at each location,  Kura uses centralized facilities where managers are able to remotely monitor  nearly every aspect of restaurant operations. Kura’s automation-based business model allows it to price sushi plates at just 100 yen (about $1), significantly undercutting its competitors.


http://www.salon.com/2015/05/10/robots_are_coming_for_your_job_amazon_mcdonalds_and_the_next_wave_of_dangerous_capitalist_disruption/

I'd imagine, if true, that this would allow these food outlets to continue to providing this kind of food at cheap prices even as inflation keeps encroaching. These workers that can't even get work at fast food joints will still likely get govt entitlements and will still be able to eat this cheap food thx to the automation.

Protesters call for $15 an hour outside McDonald's headquarters ahead of shareholder meeting








OAK BROOK, Ill. — Hundreds of protesters marched around McDonald's suburban Chicago headquarters Wednesday, shutting down at least one building on the corporate campus as they called for pay of $15 an hour and a union.

About 100 protesters were arrested for trespassing as they temporarily blocked two streets around the McDonald's campus a day before the company's annual shareholder meeting. McDonald's closed a nearby restaurant because of traffic concerns, and told employees in a building targeted by protesters they should work from home, company spokeswoman Heidi Barker Sa Shekhem said.

The campaign for $15 an hour and a union began in late 2012 and has involved a range of tactics, including demonstrations in cities around the country.

Authorities estimated up to 2,000 people took part in Wednesday's demonstration, some carrying signs declaring, "We are worth more." Dozens of buses were used to transport people to demonstration, with some coming from as far away as New York.

The Rev. William Barber of Goldsboro, North Carolina, said the campaign extends beyond pushing for a living wage. He called it a fight for racial equality, noting people of color are disproportionally working in low wage jobs.

Corey Anderson, 21, who works at a Chicago McDonald's, said he makes $8.25 an hour after working for the fast-food chain for more than two years. That's not enough to live on after rent and utilities are paid, he said.

"I feel like they don't understand what it's like to make what we make," he said.

Sa Shekhem said the company respects the right to protest.

"When it comes it comes to the minimum wage, that is a national discussion, that is not a McDonald's issue, it's an economic issue," she said. "We'll look to the folks in Washington to determine what happens."

Earlier this year, McDonald's said it would raise its starting pay for workers to $1 above the local minimum wage. Labor organizers said the move falls short because it only applies to company-owned stores.

McDonald's Corp. owns about 10 percent of its stores in the U.S., while the rest are run by franchisees.

The protests come as McDonald's fights to hold onto customers amid intensifying competition from smaller rivals and changing tastes. CEO Steve Easterbrook, who stepped into the role in March, has said he wants to transform McDonald's into a "modern, progressive burger company."

Thursday will mark his first shareholder meeting as CEO.



http://www.startribune.com/supporters-for-15-an-hour-wage-to-attend-mcdonald-s-meeting/304395371/

I guess the real question is this: Do those robots accept BTC.   If not, keep it moving!   If yes, I'm going to eat me the heck out of some Big Macs.

LOL very interesting news :)
We must admit that McDonalds always was innovative and avant-garde in relation to others.
Unlike the competition they are very well positioned in many countries of the world and their organizations work is flawless.
Robotics and automation of their work is the logical next step in their business.

It's good news for customers, bad news for McDonalds employees.
For customers, the service from McD will be faster, cleaner, and tidier. Yeah McD has served us so fast with the employees, but customers feel better with quicker service.
For employee, it's bad. There are so many work that have been done by machines. And we can say, robots fired employees.

The food already looks like it was made by robots and the staff already act like them so not much of a change here. They've started installing kiosks where you order the food yourself at my local mcdonalds so it won't surprise me when they go fully automated. This is just something that is bound to happen as why would you pay over the odds for people to do a basic task poorly when you can get a machine to do it perfectly and relatively cheaply in comparison.

These types of jobs are going to become redundant over the next decade so people are really going to need to acquire other skills. I actually think the technology will be better overall and will save money for many businesses but that's just bad luck for employees. All industries evolve and some become redundant or next to redundant but that's just the nature of commerce. Look at taxi drivers. They're going to become wiped out by uber and even they will become wiped out by robot drivers or driver-less cars http://spectrum.ieee.org/transportation/advanced-cars/meet-zoox-the-robotaxi-startup-taking-on-google-and-uber

Good to hear that more and more people are staying away from McDonald's and the latter needs to find innovative methods to attract its lost customers. May be they should improve the quality of their raw materials. Rather than using the chemical-laden processed cheese and antibiotic-laced meat, they should use organic products.

By July this year? It is good to hear McDonald will be opening a robots-based restaurant. There will be an robots-based theme park in Japan this or next year - not too sure. I can see that technology is growing everyday. And.. AI is becoming danger. Anyway, I also hope that McDonald will accept Bitcoin soon - they already gave us hint.

The technology maybe give more profit to the business owner, because the business will run constantly with automatic programs than had employees who could get sick, tired, or lazy. Yeah, bad luck employees. Maybe the future world will be lived by rich people that can had so much money to buy technology for their life and business. How about poor people? They don't have anything to buy their stuff, and can't be hired to work by any companies because the job had been done by robots.

This is a wrong argument. Technology (indirectly) helps to create more jobs, than taking them away. Look at the United States and the European Union after computers were widely introduced in the 1990s. The unemployment rate actually went down, productivity increased, and the average wages increased by many times.

It just goes to show you what happens when you don't learn skills that are actually needed to help civilisation grow, if all you have are service sector jobs then nothing will progress, if however you have crafstment, builders and engineers building these machines people claim to hate so much then yes that massively increases employment. Somebody is going to be needed to repair these robots and change their parts etc. it's not our fault if people refuse to adapt, part of the problem I think is that people just find a job and think they're going to stick with it until they retire on a pension so of course when the world turns against them they look for something or somebody to blame for it and don't look at their options.

Yes because in 1900s the computer need a human as operator. But, what can you do if the operator is changed to a robot? All of humans job will taken by the machines. I'm not talking about science fiction movie like "Terminator" or "I, Robot", but it's possible to happen in future.

Robots will never take over the thinking process of machines, at least until they can creatively think for themselves, any scientist will tell you it just isn't possible right now especially since robots can be outsmarted by a paradox.

Meanwhile McDonald employees go missing......

http://s22.postimg.org/xnof4zuqp/Soylent_Green.jpg

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/470/118/5aa.jpg

http://s22.postimg.org/wgf2qiu01/images_duckduckgo_com.jpg

Yeah we don't know what will be happen in future, technologies have developed rapidly.
We hope can get good service from the robots.

Machines? Do you mean humans? It might not be possible now but it certainly will in the future. There's a lot of interesting debate about what will happen. I think humans will have probably destroyed themselves or the planet long before robots or AI ever do.


Haha. That was pretty funny.[/pre]

Service maybe.. But it sure as hell won't be good food. (Calling it food is really a stretch, makes me feel dirty to call it food)

I'm not so sure about that, since cooking is actually quite a mathematical science it would just be a matter of getting robot arms capable of flipping a pancake over and so on and then that's chef's being made obselete, sure it'd be trickier for them to make other stuff but because it's all just a matter of how long you're heating something up it might be possible to do a few

The trick is making them ambi-dextrous and letting them sense things then they could do it but right now they're slow, clunky and don't have any independent power source.

What happens if the customer wants extra sauce or doesn't want a certain ingredient? how does a robot determine which burger (example) is being made this customer?

Such that some people don't want salt with their fries, can the robot feed this into the mix and prepare one fries for the customer then salt the rest and then pack for the remaining customers?

These situations I would like to see a robot handle. if they can, then i believe mcdonald's can be run by robots and their human maintenance team.  8)

McDonalds needs to get in works with Amazon then. Since Amazon's running drone delivery service, they can team up with McDonalds and deliver Big Mac's to customers anywhere in the world. Those jobs that the robots took, give them to workers to fly the drones or bag up the orders for delivery :D I can't wait to get a 10 piece with honey mustard airdropped to me :D

Just have buttons on a screen that let you tell the robot what you want, pretty simple really, the only thing about robots is they at least for now can't be autonomous and think creatively.

Astronomer Royal Martin Rees: How soon will robots take over the world?

An explosion in artificial intelligence has sent us hurtling towards a post-human future, warns Martin Rees








In Davos a few years ago, I met a well-known Indian tycoon. Knowing I had the title Astronomer Royal, he asked: “Do you do the Queen’s horoscopes?” I responded, with a straight face: “If she wanted one, I’m the person she’d ask.” He then seemed eager to hear my predictions. I told him that markets would fluctuate and that there would be trouble in the Middle East. He paid rapt attention to these insights. But I then came clean. I said I was just an astronomer, not an astrologer. He immediately lost all interest in my predictions. And rightly so: scientists are rotten forecasters – worse, often, than writers of science fiction.

Nevertheless, 12 years ago, I wrote a book that I entitled Our Final Century? My publisher deleted the question-mark. The American publishers changed the title to Our Final Hour – Americans seek instant (dis)gratification. My theme was this: our Earth is 45 million centuries old, but this century is special. It’s the first when one species – ours – can determine the biosphere’s fate.

In the years since, a few forecasts have somewhat firmed up: the world is becoming more crowded – and warmer. There will be about 2 billion more people in 2050, and their collective “footprint” will threaten our finite planet’s ecology unless we can achieve more efficient use of energy and land. But we can’t predict the path of future technology that far ahead. Today’s smartphones would have seemed magic even 20 years ago, so in looking several decades ahead we must keep our minds open to breakthroughs that may now seem like science fiction. These will offer great hopes, but also great fears.

Society is more interconnected than ever, and consequently more vulnerable. We depend on elaborate networks: electric-power grids, just-in-time delivery, satnav, globally dispersed manufacturing, and so forth. Can we be sure that these networks are resilient enough to rule out catastrophic disruptions cascading through the system – real-world analogues of the 2008 financial crash? London would be instantly paralysed without electricity. Supermarket shelves would soon be bare if supply chains were disrupted. Air travel can spread a pandemic worldwide in days, causing havoc in the megacities of the developing world. And social media can amplify panic and rumour, literally at the speed of light.

The worry isn’t just accidental breakdowns. Malicious events can have catastrophic consequences. Cyber-sabotage efforts, such as “Stuxnet”, and frequent hacking of financial institutions have highlighted these concerns. Small groups – and even individuals – are more empowered than ever before.

And there are downsides to the huge advances in biotech, despite the bright prospects these offer for medicine and agriculture. There were reports last month that Chinese researchers had been gene-editing human embryos using a new technique called CRISPR, raising controversial ethical issues about “designer babies”. But more disquieting are the experiments at the University of Wisconsin and in the Netherlands that show it’s surprisingly easy to make an influenza virus more virulent and transmissible. Last October, the US federal government decided to cease funding these so-called “gain of function” experiments.

We held a debate on this recently in Cambridge. Those supporting “gain of function” research highlighted the need to study viruses in order to stay one step ahead of natural mutations. Others viewed the techniques as a scary portent of what’s to come. What would happen, for instance, if an ebola virus were modified to be transmissible through the air? And they worried that the risk of failure to contain the pathogens within the lab is too high to justify the knowledge gained.

There is a contrast here with the (also real) dangers of nuclear technology. Nuclear installations are sufficiently large-scale for bodies such as the International Atomic Energy Agency to regulate them effectively. It is hard to make a clandestine H-bomb. In contrast, millions with the capability to misuse biotech will have access to biomedical labs, just as millions can misuse cybertech today.

Indeed, biohacking is burgeoning even as a hobby and competitive game. (For instance, there is competition to develop plants that glow in the dark, and eventually make trees that could replace street lights.) The physicist Freeman Dyson foresees a time when children will be able to design and create new organisms just as routinely as his generation played with chemistry sets. I’d guess that this is comfortably beyond the “SF fringe”, but were even part of this scenario to come about, our ecology (and even our species) surely would not long survive unscathed.

Not all those with “bio” expertise will be balanced and rational. My worst nightmare is an “eco-fanatic”, empowered by the biohacking expertise that may be routine by 2050, who thinks that “Gaia” can only be saved if the human population is reduced. The global village will have its village idiots, and they will have global range.

In the early days of “molecular biology”, a group of academic scientists formulated the “Asilomar Declaration”, advocating a moratorium on certain types of experiments and setting up guidelines. Such self-policing worked back in the Seventies. But the field is now far more global, more competitive, and commercial pressures are stronger. So it’s doubtful that regulations imposed on prudential or ethical grounds could be enforced worldwide, any more than the drug laws can. So this is a real anxiety – number one in my estimation – and will raise the tension between privacy, freedom and security.

What about other future technologies — computers and robotics, for instance? There is nothing new about machines that can surpass our mental abilities in special areas. Even the pocket calculators of the Seventies could do arithmetic better than us. In the Nineties, IBM’s “Deep Blue” chess-playing computer beat Garry Kasparov, then the world champion. More recently, another IBM computer won a television game show that required wide general knowledge and the ability to respond to questions in the style of crossword clues.

We’re witnessing a momentous speed-up in artificial intelligence (AI) – in the power of machines to learn, communicate and interact with us. Computers don’t learn like we do: they use “brute force” methods. They learn to translate from foreign languages by reading multilingual versions of, for example, millions of pages of EU documents (they never get bored). They learn to recognise dogs, cats and human faces by crunching through millions of images — not the way a baby learns.

Deep Mind, a London company that Google recently bought for £400 million, created a machine that can figure out the rules of all the old Atari games without being told, and then play them better than humans.

It’s still hard for AI to interact with the everyday world. Robots remain clumsy – they can’t tie your shoelaces or cut your toenails. But sensor technology, speech recognition, information searches and so forth are advancing apace.
Google’s driverless car has already covered hundreds of thousands of miles. But can it cope with emergencies? For instance, if an obstruction suddenly appears on a busy road, can the robotic “driver” discriminate whether it’s a paper bag, a dog or a child? The likely answer is that it won’t cope as well as a really good driver, but will be better than the average driver — machine errors may occur but not as often as human error. The roads will be safer. But when accidents occur they will create a legal minefield. Who should be held responsible — the “driver”, the owner, or the designer?

And what about the military use of autonomous drones? Can they be trusted to seek out a targeted individual and decide whether to deploy their weapon? Who has the moral responsibility then?

AI will take over a wider range of jobs – not just manual work but accountancy, routine legal work, medical diagnostics and surgery. And the big question is then: will AI be like earlier disruptive technologies – the car, for instance – which created as many jobs as they destroyed? Or is it really different this time?

During this century, our society will be increasingly transformed by computers. But will they remain idiots savants or will they display near-human all-round capabilities? If robots could observe and interpret their environment as adeptly as we do, they would be perceived as intelligent beings that we could relate to. Would we then have a responsibility to them? Should we care if they are frustrated or bored? Maybe we’d have no more reason to disparage them as zombies than to regard other people in that way.

Experts disagree on how long it will take before machines achieve general-purpose human level intelligence. Some say 25 years. Others say “never”. The median guess in a recent survey was about 50 years.

Some of those with the strongest credentials think that the AI field is advancing so fast that it already needs guidelines for “responsible innovation”, just as biotech does.

And there is disagreement about the route towards human-level intelligence. Some think we should emulate nature and reverse-engineer the human brain. Others say that’s a misguided approach – like designing a flying machine by copying how birds flap their wings. But it’s clear that once a threshold is crossed, there will be an intelligence explosion. That’s because electronics is a million times faster than the transmission of signals in the brain; and because computers can network and exchange information much faster than we can by speaking.

In the Sixties, the British mathematician I J Good, who worked at Bletchley Park with Alan Turing, pointed out that a super-intelligent robot (were it sufficiently versatile) could be the last invention that humans need ever make. Once machines have surpassed human capabilities, they could themselves design and assemble a new generation of even more powerful machines — triggering a real “intelligence explosion”. Or could humans transcend biology by merging with computers, maybe losing their individuality and evolving into a common consciousness? In old-style spiritualist parlance, they would “go over to the other side”.

The most prominent evangelist for runaway super-intelligence – so-called “'singularity” – is Ray Kurzweil, now working at Google. He thinks this could happen within 25 years. But he is worried that he may not live that long. So he takes dozens of pills each day, and if he dies he wants his body frozen until this nirvana is reached.

I was once interviewed by a group of “cryonic” enthusiasts in California called the “society for the abolition of involuntary death”. They will freeze your body, so that when immortality is on offer you can be resurrected. I said I’d rather end my days in an English churchyard than a Californian refrigerator. They derided me as a “deathist”. (I was surprised later to find that three Oxford academics were cryonic enthusiasts. Two have paid full whack; a third has taken the cut-price option of just wanting his head frozen.)

Let me briefly deploy an astronomical perspective and speculate about the really far future – the post-human era. There are chemical and metabolic limits to the size and processing power of organic brains. Maybe humans are close to these limits already. But there are no such constraints on silicon-based computers (still less, perhaps, quantum computers): for these, the potential for further development could be as dramatic as the evolution from monocellular organisms to humans. So, by any definition of “thinking”, the amount and intensity that’s done by organic human-type brains will, in the far future, be utterly swamped by the cerebrations of AI. Moreover, the Earth’s biosphere in which organic life has symbiotically evolved is not a constraint for advanced AI. Indeed, it is far from optimal – interplanetary and interstellar space will be the preferred arena where robotic fabricators will have the grandest scope for construction, and where non-biological “brains” may develop insights as far beyond our imaginings as string theory is for a mouse.

Abstract thinking by biological brains has underpinned the emergence of all culture and science. But this activity – spanning tens of millennia at most – will be a brief precursor to the more powerful intellects of the inorganic post-human era. So, in the far future, it won’t be the minds of humans, but those of machines, that will most fully understand the cosmos – and it will be the actions of autonomous machines that will most drastically change our world, and perhaps what lies beyond.


Martin Rees is the Astronomer Royal.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/hay-festival/11605785/Astronomer-Royal-Martin-Rees-predicts-the-world-will-be-run-by-computers-soon.html

Japanese already have a restaurant run by robots. See: http://singularityhub.com/2009/08/03/the-robots-are-the-chefs-in-this-japanese-restaurant/

Im not sure if there are more but if you go about robots then you should check out japan first.

Im not sure if the authors didnt know since it isnt so much funny if there are already such places. Guess some of these magazines are funnier than others.

Have you ever ordered a pizza online? It will be the same thing but with no human hair in it...

There goes your McJob. 

Appropriate considering they stopped serving real food years ago.

Real food has eyes looking back at you. "Real fake food" is the future, even back in 1968...

The US Government will bail them out like they did JP Morgan and Ford. McDonalds is a American icon that will not fade. Their food is crap though. Let it die. But it won't :/

In Russia (one of their most promising markets), they took a big hit by supporting the US-led sanctions. They closed down their outlets in Crimea, in an attempt to punish the Crimeans for voting to join Russia. This created a massive backlash, and their sales in other parts of Russia were nearly halved.

Damaged Robot Can 'Heal' Itself in Less Than 2 Minutes






Robots that are damaged in action can now quickly "heal" themselves by tapping into experiences from simulated lives, according to a new study. It may sound like science fiction, but these abilities could lead to more robust, effective and autonomous robots, researchers say.

In experiments, a six-legged robot could adapt in little more than a minute to keep walking even if two of its legs were damaged, broken or missing. A robotic arm could also learn to place an object in the correct place even with several broken motors or joints.

"One thing we were surprised by was the extent of damage to which the robots could quickly adapt to," study co-author Jean-Baptiste Mouret, a roboticist at Pierre and Marie Curie University, in Paris, told Live Science. "We subjected these robots to all sorts of abuse, and they always found a way to keep working."


Adaptable bots

Robots can survive extreme environments such as the deepest depths of the ocean or the harsh vacuum of outer space. However, a major obstacle that has kept robots from widespread adoption outside factories is their lack of adaptability — they typically cannot keep working if they become damaged.

In contrast, animals often can adapt rapidly from injuries. For instance, many three-legged dogs can catch Frisbees, and humans can often quickly figure out how to walk despite sprained ankles or other injuries.

"If we send in robots to find survivors after an earthquake, or to put our forest fires, or to shut down a nuclear plant in crisis like Fukushima, we need them to be able to keep working if they become damaged," Mouret said. "In such situations, every second counts, and robots are likely to become damaged because these environments are very unpredictable and hostile. Even in less extreme cases, such as in-home robot assistants that help the elderly or sick, we want robots to keep performing their important tasks even if some of their parts break."

Until now, robots typically recovered from damage by first diagnosing their problems and then choosing which contingency plan to follow. However, even if a robot possesses an expensive suite of sensors with which it can diagnose itself, it will be rendered helpless if its designer failed to foresee whatever problem the robot is facing.

In comparison, injured animals rely on trial and error to learn how to overcome adversity — for instance, learning that limping could minimize pain in the leg. Although scientists have experimented with trial-and-error programming for robots, it could take 15 minutes or more for such robots to overcome even relatively simple problems.

Now scientists have developed a trial-and-error program that enables robots to adapt to damage in less than two minutes, all without a suite of sensors to diagnose itself or a host of contingency plans.

"The most important application of these findings is to have robots that can be useful for long periods of time without requiring humans to perform constant maintenance," Mouret said.

Learning from experience

The scientists reasoned that animals do not learn how to recover from injuries from scratch. "Instead, they have intuitions about different ways to behave," Mouret said in a statement. "These intuitions allow them to intelligently select a few, different behaviors to try out and, after these tests, they choose one that works in spite of the injury. We made robots that can do the same."

In this new strategy, before a robot is deployed, the scientists develop a computer simulation to map out thousands of different motions it can take, and predict which patterns of actions are likely to work despite damage. This simulated lifetime of experiences serves as the collection of intuitions the robot can draw from. [The 6 Strangest Robots Ever Created]

"We do not pre-compute anything like 'find a gait that works if a leg is missing,'" Mouret said. "What we do with the simulator is simply to say 'find as many different ways to walk as you can.'"

When the robot faces a real injury, it can draw on these intuitions to guide trial-and error experiments intended to find a way to compensate for any damage.

"Once damaged, the robot becomes like a scientist," study lead author Antoine Cully, a roboticist at Pierre and Marie Curie University, said in a statement. "It has prior expectations about different behaviors that might work, and begins testing them. However, these predictions come from the simulated, undamaged robot. It has to find out which of them work, not only in reality, but given the damage."

The robot can effectively experiment with different behaviors and rule out ones that don't work, Cully said.

"For example, if walking, mostly on its hind legs, does not work well, it will try walking mostly on its front legs," he added. "What's surprising is how quickly it can learn a new way to walk. It's amazing to watch a robot go from crippled and flailing around to efficiently limping away in about two minutes."

Real-world uses

The researchers suggest this strategy could help robots adapt to unforeseen circumstances and new environments. "Our approach can work with any robot," Mouret said.

Some potential applications include "robots that can help rescuers without requiring their continuous attention," study co-author Danesh Tarapore, a roboticist at Pierre and Marie Curie University, said in a statement. "It also makes easier the creation of personal robotic assistants that can continue to be helpful even when a part is broken."

Although simulating a lifetime of potential robot experiences may seem expensive, "our approach is actually very cost-effective, because it does not require complex internal sensors," Mouret said. "The robot only needs to know how well it performs its task. It does not need to know the precise reason why it cannot perform the task as expected. That allows tremendous cost savings, because a robot does not need to have a suite of expensive self-diagnosing sensors woven throughout its body."

The researchers suggest their strategy for robots has implications far beyond damage recovery.

"They could in principle be applied to having robots learn almost anything," Mouret said. "Until now, nearly all approaches for having robots learn took many hours, which is why videos of robots doing anything are often extremely sped up. Watching them learn in real-time was excruciating, much like watching grass grow. Now we can see robots learning in real-time, much like you would watch a dog or child learn a new skill. Thus, for the first time, we have robots that learn something useful after trying a few different things, just like animals and humans."

The scientists now plan to test their strategy on more advanced robots in simulated real-world situations. The researchers are interested in investigating how these abilities could help robots designed for disaster-relief purposes, Mouret said, such as the bots that are scheduled to compete in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Robotics Challenge, being held next month in Pomona, California.

The scientists detailed their findings in the May 28 issue of the journal Nature.


http://www.livescience.com/50988-damaged-robot-heals-itself.html

Sounds like the beginning of a sci-fi-human-extinction-thriller, but not so much fun this time around.
No but seriously, I highly doubt the feasibility of such a project, especially in this time. 5 years down the road, maybe.
Too soon

wow maybe in future humans just eat, sleep, and have fun with others
just buy a robot that can handle all of our work, and leave it
if your robot is "injured", it can heal itself
what a future

Yep...

https://i.imgur.com/tXf2YEg.jpg

*lol* Right... and posted by a robot. :P

But i doubt it will work to buy a robot that works for you. If you can buy that robot then companies could buy masses of them for a way cheaper price. They could then do the work your robot could do for you and you couldnt earn money with your robot. The only way to earn money then would be to make the work that robots cant do.

Though one shouldnt fear automatisation. History of mankind shows that automation happened all the time and always people found new jobs that didnt exist before.

Though one might think about a community or a government where robots do the work like creating food and so on. So that the citizens could live from that. Of course that means we would need to win the citizens, organized in the form of a community or even a state. And not the companies. Nearly all science fiction movies predict that fight. Who will win, the companies or the people? Thats the question. And when you see the current activities of companies with free trade agreements, and their complacent political friends, then you practically can see this fight going on.

If someone doesnt know... these agreements contain rules so that companies can sue countries if they think those countries have rules that lower their profits. These courts are no normal courts, they are so expensive that its easier to give in to the companies. It sounds like a very big hit if these things get normal more and more. Because governments had to follow the rules. Either pay high fines or do what the companies want.

don't want to be served by robot, this is so unhuman

Robot restaurant? LOL, I would be eating there every day. I hope price there will be lower then in regular fast food restourant. But i think they will need a small crew to get all working.

Yeah but the companies need expensive investment if they want a bunch of robots with the most sophisticated technology. And maybe the robot couldn't clean itself so you need to do that. Or the company will buy new robots if the old robot is old fashioned. So, the company still earn money with their robots.

Great, shitfood now sold by robots, even better for unemployment.

I guess it will be similar to asic miner development companies. They can mine themselve, or make a quick buck by selling the miners. Cloud roboting might be the next step.  :P

But youre right, there will always be jobs that only humans can do.

Cloud roboting + asic mining = proof of work at Mc Donalds = free burgers for bitcoin owners...

Again bitcoiners are ahead of time and predict the future. Now to think about how to exploit that.  :D

The future is upon us. We demand free burgers from our hard working robots slaved to our blockchain...

If an actual government would use them to support their citizens then this might make an unconditional basic income more probable.

As long as the robots dont get the idea to serve us soylent green.  :D

McChicken please.. hold the shrapnel.  ;D

Billionaire Cartier Owner Sees Wealth Gap Fueling Social Unrest







Johann Rupert, the South African who has made billions peddling Cartier jewelry and Chloe fashion, said tension between the rich and poor is set to escalate as robots and artificial intelligence fuel mass unemployment.

“We cannot have 0.1 percent of 0.1 percent taking all the spoils,” said Rupert, who has a fortune worth $7.5 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “It’s unfair and it is not sustainable.”

The founder and chairman of Richemont, whose 20 brands also include Vacheron Constantin and Montblanc, said he expects advances in technology to lead to job losses after having read books on the subject recently. Conflicts between social classes will make selling luxury goods more tricky as the rich will want to conceal their wealth, Rupert said in a speech Monday at the Financial Times Business of Luxury Summit in Monaco.

“How is society going to cope with structural unemployment and the envy, hatred and the social warfare?” he said. “We are destroying the middle classes at this stage and it will affect us. It’s unfair. So that’s what keeps me awake at night.”

Rupert, a university dropout whose father made a fortune setting up Rembrandt Tobacco Corp. and selling it off, has in the past made other social critiques. Nicknamed ‘Rupert the Bear’ for his pessimistic views on the economy, the 65-year-old refers to himself as a “reformed prostitute,” having spent a decade as an investment banker. He said in 2008 that the collateral damage from the financial crisis was yet to come.

“We’re in for a huge change in society,” he said Monday. “Get used to it. And be prepared.”


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-08/billionaire-cartier-owner-sees-wealth-gap-fueling-social-unrest

What will happen to all the people that want higher minimum wage once fast food goes robot? Who will they protest to give them more money for the entry level work?

This would be great and awful...riots would result, unfortunately.

Then the riot control robot trucks will take care of them...


https://i.imgur.com/JClfRno.jpg

The Way You Order at McDonalds Is About to Change Drastically









McDonald’s will give customers the option of using a tablet to build custom burgers as part of a pilot program that will expand to 2,000 branches nationwide, the company revealed Sunday.

The self-service stations, which McDonald’s has billed as “Create Your Taste,” enable customers to choose from a selection of buns, toppings and sauces on tablet-like touchscreens, USA Today reports.



http://time.com/3623893/mcdonalds-tablets-ordering/




***********************************************************************



McDonald's hires 7,000 touch-screen cashiers





http://www.cnet.com/news/mcdonalds-hires-7000-touch-screen-cashiers/

That movie was so ahead of its time. 8)

and nobody will notice

...and thus, poor populations will increase dramatically.

maybe they will finally get my fucking order right

You might find a but bolt once in a while but that's okay

I also hope it will bring prices down at macdonaldses in comparision with other fast food restourants. As I said before, i would be eating there every day. The future is here. And we don't need stupid teens at cashiers anymore. =)

I don't think so. Their prices are more or less reasonable. The only thing is that they should bring more quality and better hygiene to their food. May be they should use more organic food instead of all those processed items. And using robots might be expensive. The cheapest versions can cost as much as a few hundred thousand USD.

We can't expect healthy foods in the fast food restaurants. Something that is really cared by businessmen is how they can earn high profit from their business. The robots are expensive, but the employers don't need to pay their salary every month or every week. I guess they will just do maintenance once a year, and the profit from machine is higher than the human employee. :)

If McDonalds does implement this on a large scale then prices for these robots will dwindle pretty fast. After some tests with industrial robots like these, that are already used in nagoya, japan, for creating food in the restaurant http://singularityhub.com/2009/08/03/the-robots-are-the-chefs-in-this-japanese-restaurant/ , they will create even more specialized robots and those will be even cheaper then. The salary of an employed person will be back in a couple years.

I don't think they will be able to completely replace their human workforce with robots. May be they'll think about replacing half of the staff with them. And a normal employee costs the McDonalds around $15 per hour (that comes to around $45,000 per year). If a robot can replace 5 employees, it will save them $225,000.

The Singapore Vertical-Farms that herald an Agricultural Revolution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nFQOkzEjxQ


High-tech Dutch trend of 'city farming' grows food faster without sunlight
http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2015/05/high-tech_dutch_farming_grows.html


PlantLab: Urban Farms 40 Times More Productive than Open Fields
http://weburbanist.com/2015/04/02/plantlab-urban-farms-40-times-more-productive-than-open-fields/



Urban farming is still a dream... But. Imaging McDonald's becoming a farmer. McFarming's everywhere...

Finally. Maybe now the prices can come down to reality.
3$ for a large fry?

Are they crazy?

Bigmac trio is now pushing 10$

That's nuts.

Don't forget to eat your vegetables...


Robot broccoli harvester could cut cost of eating your greens



Three-dimensional camera technology from the University of Lincoln is helping in the development of a fully automated robotic system that can harvest broccoli.

The project, which is jointly funded by BBSRC and Innovate UK, will test whether 3D camera technology can be used to identify and select when broccoli is ready for harvesting. This will be a key step towards the development of a fully automatic robotic harvesting system for broccoli, which will significantly reduce production costs.

The University of Lincoln was one of more than 70 UK businesses and universities to share funding through the £70m Agri-Tech Catalyst, which aims to improve the development of agricultural technology in the UK.


Project leader Prof Tom Duckett, group co-ordinator of the Agri-food Technology Research Group at the University of Lincoln, said: “Broccoli is one of the world’s largest vegetable crops and is almost entirely manually harvested, which is costly.” This technology is seen as being an important move towards developing fully automatic robot harvesting systems, which could then be used for a variety of different crops.

“In all our agri-related research work, our mission is to develop new technological solutions for the business of producing food through agriculture. The long-term impact of our research includes safer food, less waste, more efficient food production, and better use of natural resources, as well as promoting human health and happiness.”

The research team includes Dr Grzegorz Cielnak from Lincoln’s School of Computer Science and Dr Simon Pearson from the university’s National Centre for food Manufacturing (NCFM) at Holbeach. The main industry partner is R. Fountain & Son Ltd, horticultural consultants based in Boston, Lincolnshire, who will be responsible for creating the broccoli-cutting device.

Ian Meikle, head of Agriculture and Food at Innovate UK said: “The Agri-tech Strategy aims to make the UK a world leader in agricultural technology, innovation and sustainability. The funding decisions are-expert led and evidence based. They support great ideas that address challenges of the future in food and farming. With business, scientific advancement and research, and the government working together, these investments can unlock potential and deliver major benefits for society and the economy, but also ensure future sustainability.”


http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/robot-broccoli-harvester-could-cut-cost-of-eating-your-greens/1020518.article

Yeah McDonalds still need human to do maintenance to machines or clean it up. But, for chef and waiters positions, I think the robot can do that itself without humans or maybe everyday they need atleast 2 person to do program in the machines and as a restaurant security officer. But, we don't know exactly what will be happened to ex human employees. Lost their job and can't do anything.

It says the location will have a minimal staff to maintain the robots. So it is NOT ENTIRELY run by robots. Just mostly.

Yeah that's for now. But we don't know what will be happened in future right? If you read the post before this, you will find article "Damaged Robot Can 'Heal' Itself in Less Than 2 Minutes" by Wilikon. So, it's be possible to the machines to work alone without human employees helping in future.

Inb4 McDonald's takes over the world with their new "cooks".  I like the idea though, gotta try it out.

whats the movie , looks good ?

Soylent Green (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/). The trailer includes snippets of the scene that pic is taken from.

Will this make it cheaper now?

All I have to say is FINALLY!

God, if I have to wait in line again for 30 minutes because the little old Pilipino lady behind the counter keeps making mistakes, you could put one person behind the burger machine and pay them twice as much.

A job with the McDonald's is not a high paying one anyway. Most of their employees are illegal immigrants and individuals who do part-time job, such as students. I don't think this initiative will have a sizable effect on the unemployment rates, although in the United States, McD is one of the top employers, in terms of the number of employees.

I personally would like to see few restaurants being operated by robots, in the future it is very likely possible that the current workforce will be replaced by robots :)

I know they try to care about "good food" because they got a lot bad press and image for their fast food. But i dont see them being too much involved. I mean when you know about pink goop, chicken nuggets made from the whole chicken, including inner organs, bones and... you dont want to think about. https://docakilah.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/can-you-guess-what-mcdonald%E2%80%99s-food-item-this-is/

McDonalds surely will always take the cheap option. Only if their image is hurt they try to change something. A little bit.

As long as their food is not hazardous to health, I don't have any problem. But still, the thought of eating chicken nuggets, which are made from inner organs (such as kidneys, heart, and thyroid glands) and bones makes me nauseous (the last time I had chicken nuggets from McD was in 2011). Are you sure that eating these food products will not cause any serious health issues later?

As far as i read McDonalds stopped using that because the public outcry was too big.

And no, i dont know if that will bring problems to healt. The beauty for companies in the US is... they dont need to proof that something is not dangerous, they can use it until it shows that its dangerous. In europe companies would need to show that something is not dangerous. Then they can use it.

And with the free trade agreements these blessings to companies can be spread over the world. If people dont stand up against it.

i just googled and found that 1.7 million people around the world are employees at McDonald ,so their jobs and salaries should simply rest in peace right now ?  ??? dosen't seem to be so fair does it (if all restaurants become with robots)

Now that they hire only robots, I don’t know what I can even do. I don’t have an education, a car, and now I’m not gonna even be able to get a burger job. Just the thought of having to go to the state unemployment office and stand in line with those scumbags.

Is it McD’s causing mass unemployment or the unskilled workers asking for $15/hr? Big question… hmmm, I don’t know, I would have to say both sides are to blame, no? Well, sure the workers are asking for $15 which is foolish. But they didn’t point it out in clear words in this article, but they did touch on the subject (without explaining why they mentioned it) – their share prices. Well, why’s that a concern? Well, unless if you’ve been sleeping under a rock for the last 10 years, you know about McD’s slow decline which has been accelerating rappidly as of late. It all started with that Super Size Me Movie – that was the moment when people started questioning what is it that they buy from this place called McD’s? Is it good for you? It went from that to people talking about all over the place and online, you know – P2P marketing – but in a bad way to them. You can find youtube videos all over the place showing Big Macs that don’t mold or rot 5 years after purchase, same with their fries. Is this really food? Or is it plastic? Or is it both? 100% beef? Last time I checked real beef rots in days, not years! Plus all the food they mix with the plastics in their “food” is GMO – and people don’t want that neither. So, people are more informed now, people don’t want to eat their Mc”food”. The article didn’t mention it, but unless if you haven’t heard – google it – McDonald’s has been losing money fast – their earnings have been steadily on decline for the last 11 consecutive months. This is their move of desperation trying to avoid bankruptcy – their workers expect $15 an hour, and their customers are fleeing their stores in droves – they don’t want their plastic, GMO, fake “food” anymore. They’re humpty dumpty, and not all the kings horses, or all the king’s men won’t be able to put him back together again! No, robots will not fix McHumpty Dumpty, people will continue to avoid the so called “food” they sell, and I think the introduction of robots just might even accelerate their decline even more – people don’t want their so called “food” no more, and now, people will feel insulted that the place won’t even employ their lazy teenage son who can’t get a job even if he looked for one.

WTF? Just because McDonald's is experimenting with robots in just one of its restaurants, it doesn't mean that they will lay off all their employees. Their jobs are safe, for at least the next two decades. After that... I am not sure. But just remember what happened to all those clerks, when computers replaced them. They quickly found some other better paying job, without much difficulty. The same will happen here.

Yeah, but all of us have known that McDonald's spread their franchises almost in all countries. The situation in US surely have differences with other countries, so not all of McDonalsd's have the illegal immigrants and part time job employees there.

You know how the robots revolted in Terminator? It’s only a matter of time before that happens at this McDonald’s. Everyone needs to move their family out of the United States NOW while they still have a fighting chance.

There was no robot revolt in terminator (you’re thinking of the Matrix~). skynet was created to prevent wars, the fastest way to prevent war was to eliminate mankind. No humans, No wars.

Well first your name says it all – second you have either never been to a McDonalds or looked in the back and see what goes on. Lazy is not a term that I would use. I fell for their Management Program idea all I got was 8hrs a day with running my ass off to keep up with demand. If I wanted the training I would have to stay after work – on my own time to access the training from the intraweb that could not be accessed from home. You definitely come home at the end of the 10 hrs 8 hrs paid and 2 hours free a worn out person. Since I was a man with many years of Management experience I started at 9 dollars an hour with a promise of fast track entry into Management. I took this low pay and spent my own time and McDonalds didn’t follow through on their end. The main take away is that they work their asses off for little or nothing while the store (I worked at) netted 3 million a year.

It might be a logical step for their business and also considering their position in the economy, it would be a very interesting move.
However, it is a little frightening to imagine these robots learning new things. The day machines started learning new things on their own would be the end of humanity, I presume.

So, McDonalds works people to the bone for low wages and “They are in business to make money…” But McDonalds workers demand a wage that is at the national poverty line and they’re lazy freeloaders who don’t work? What’s the whether like up your own ass?

As I had posted earlier, the salary with McDonald's is extremely low, when compared to other jobs. In most cases, people with little or no skills will take up jobs with McDonald's, as they have few other options. This situation is the same everywhere. Go to third world nations such as India, and even there it is the low-skilled people who are getting employed with the McDonald's.

Yeah lazy is the last word they should use to lump all the workers there together. Some of those people work like dogs! When you go to the doctor and they want to know where you get all the bruises and burns like they want to get the cops involved. When the doctor says to you “you should be fine to work in 3 days (with a knee sprain) just standing there taking orders and your the one running your rear end off in the kitchen. People get stuck in some jobs because of certain situations. You can find slugs in any job no matter the skill level. Just know you are a better person. That you may have a look down your nose job but, you are trying your best which sometimes is better than some of the big dogs do!

So if the employees will be changed with machines, I think they lost their job. And with the less skills, they can't get any jobs from other employer. They can't do anything and the number of unemployed will raise higher

In 1971, when I was in high school, and making a $1.65 an hour, McDonald’s was considered a top notch job for teens that wanted to work, and could maintain decent grades at the sametime. Interestingly enough, when we were in school, and McDonald’s was open for business during the day, retirees who wanted to stay busy worked the shifts during school hours. During that same time in the history of the U.S., immigration was limited to those who could hold their own in this country, while high school students were taught a trade if they chose not to go to college or join the military.

Now fast forward to the “progressive” 21st century where foreigners that speak little or no English, head straight for the welfare and unemployment lines, and work in those jobs once held by high school students. They have no skills, they take money from our economy and ship it home to “their” countries (more than a few I’ve talked to have no interest in being U.S. citizens), and our education system has devalued a college education by telling everyone that they must go to college, which means that an AA or a BA really doesn’t mean much anymore to the point that employees with college degrees are only making 10.00 an hour. Now couple that with the losers that think they are entitled to 15.00 an hour for flipping burgers instead of gaining skills that justify a 15.00 an hour wage, along with liberals in political offices in cities such as Seattle and Los Angeles that force businesses to pay outrageous wages, and it does my heart good to see businesses, even businesses run by liberals push back and think outside the box to avoid paying 15.00 an hour for an ungrateful and unskilled loser that they hired.

Way to go Mickey D’s!

Machines are causing unemployment, but it will be a good thing. Human beings shouldn’t do that kind of soul killing and demeaning work. Humans should have free access to all the education they can use and we should build a bright future, get off this rock!

Odd part of the $15 per hour crowd is they complain they can’t affordrent and other expenses. Maybe the $15 crowd should quit smoking and buying smart phones. A pack of cigarettes costs as much as they make in an hour.

I think this idea is Horrible! Just because something becomes more difficult, does Not mean you throw in the towel and just forget what McDonald’s is all about! This quote was taken from the McDonald’s website from the Founder Ray Kroc….. “Our founding father Ray Kroc once said, “McDonald’s is a people business”. We operate with the belief that it’s essential to be a part of the communities that we serve.” So, let me ask you then…….How will McDonald’s be a people business and be an essential part of Any community if they are run by Robots?

In response to this development by McDonald’s I will no longer be patronizing any of their restaurants and I will be strongly encouraging all my family, friends and acquaintances to boycott as well. To think it appropriate to disrespect flesh and blood workers and hope to sell their products to the same is insanity. Goodbye McDonald’s!

I agree!! I will no longer eat at McDonalds!! They are taking jobs away from people who need jobs!!

McDonald’s food sucks anyways lol..fake burgers and over salted fries. Not to mention fake chicken they need to do something to get people eating there again i will go just once to see it work but definitely not eating that crap.

With the way they describe the employees, lazy, poor hygiene, etc I will not support any McDonald’s after reading this article. Not only are they taking away employment but just because you come up with a new toy you talk bad about the employees which you have underpaid for years. Have you ever thought about maybe if you paid a fair wage and was more careful of who you hired you could have minimized some of those problems. I will not ever support a place that take jobs away from people then talk negative about them once they don’t have use for them anymore. Says alot about the company and it character. Then you wonder why you sales declining.

I only have a question, will these robots be bilingual? Or speak different languages?

First of all, McD is not even going to replace their (human) employees with robots, at least for the next 30 years. And by that time, the low skilled people will be able to find some other manual job, which suits them. They can't suddenly replace all their 2 million employees in a year or two. For heaven's sake it is impossible to manufacture that many robots, currently.

Just lube your whole body with the oil from that french fries bucket. Quarter Pounder grease should work too.


The McBots won't be able to detect you then...

The universal language of your index touching an image on a screen...

Sydney's Patrick terminal goes automated, with fewer staff but dancing robots




https://i.imgur.com/SJ99ZoM.jpg


At Sydney's Port Botany, every hour of every day, the robots are dancing.

Well, they look like they are dancing – these 45 so-called AutoStrads, or automated straddles, machines that have taken on the work that until a couple of months ago was at least in part performed by dockworkers.

Almost 20 years ago, the Patrick container terminal at Botany played host to one of the most divisive industrial battles in Australian history, as the stevedoring company attempted to break the back of its union-dominated workforce.


In some respects that battle was won in April.

It was then that Patrick introduced, following a four-year investment program, a level of automation into its stevedoring operation that might be unsurpassed in the world.

"This is fully automated, there are no human beings, literally from the moment this truck driver stepped out of his cabin from then onwards this AutoStrad will take it right through the quay line without any humans interfacing at all," Alistair Field, the managing director of Patrick Terminals and Logistics, a division of Asciano, said on Wednesday.











http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydneys-patrick-terminal-goes-automated-with-fewer-staff-but-dancing-robots-20150617-ghqc24.html

I think it was GW Bush's admin where they re-defined burger flipping to be 'manufacturing' in order to make some numbers work out.  I would not doubt that this is one of the many policy positions which Obama's administration adopted and extended from his predecessor.  Oops.

Speaking of McDonalds, here's a funny vid I saw about their website the other day:  Question: Why Is the McDonalds Website so Scary? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bChbpCrX3w)

Hopefully, just hopefully.
These robots won't forget to put the patty in the Big Mac... smh XD.

True story.

Don't worry about that. Machines seldom makes mistakes (if they are programmed correctly in the first place). That is one of the advantages, when you replace humans with machines. The chances of error, are reduced to near-zero. The robots will misperform, only in cases of system hacks or any other serious issues.

Suckers, just wait until the robots realize there are better paying jobs out there.

http://s14.postimg.org/aid05157l/mcdonaldsrobots.jpg

LOL.  They claim these robots will make no mistakes, which I think is impossible and actually, quite scary if their statement was true.  Could this be the next step to intelligent AI taking over humans?  ;D

I don't think they will make any mistakes. I make sure I always order something weird with the dressings on my burger, like extra cheese, no pickles ect so they must make me a fresh burger each time.
I'm sure the robots will never fuck up an order I make now. All the time with real people it gets messed up.
Hopefully that will be a thing of the past.

APNewsBreak: McDonald's to shrink in US, 1st time in decades






NEW YORK (AP) — The burger chain that put "supersize" into the American vernacular is slimming down: For the first time in more than 40 years, and perhaps ever, McDonald's says the number of U.S. restaurants it has is shrinking.

McDonald's plans to close more restaurants in the U.S. than it opens this year, according to the world's biggest hamburger chain. That hasn't happened since at least 1970, according to an Associated Press review of McDonald's regulatory filings.

Becca Hary, a McDonald's spokeswoman, declined to provide a specific figure but said the reduction would be "minimal" compared with its total of about 14,300 U.S. locations.

Still, the contraction is symbolic of troubles under the Golden Arches and how it's trying to regroup.

The company enjoyed rapid expansion for much of its history by offering consistent food at affordable prices. It even thrived during the recession, when its Dollar Menu drew in people trying to save money and new products like McCafe coffee drove up sales.

But since then, chains like Chipotle that market themselves as serving better food and ingredients have chipped away at McDonald's dominance. A new breed of "better burger" chains such as Five Guys Burgers and Fries is taking away customers, too.

McDonald's past success led to "a natural overconfidence," said John Gordon, a restaurant industry analyst with Pacific Management Consulting Group.

"McDonald's is such an internally focused organization, it's a situation where you don't have a fresh perspective coming in," Gordon said.

McDonald's executives have also conceded that an overly complicated menu led to inaccurate orders and longer wait times, and that they failed to keep pace with changing tastes.

CUTTING THE FAT

In April, McDonald's said it would close about 700 underperforming locations around the world this year, including in the U.S. CEO Steve Easterbrook, who stepped into the role on March 1, also later laid out plans to restructure the company to remove layers of bureaucracy and move more nimbly.

In any given year, some underperforming McDonald's restaurants will close. But previously, the number of closings has been outweighed by new restaurants that open.

The U.S. store closings will be a mix of franchised and company-owned locations, Hary said. She noted that the closings are part of a strategic review intended to set the stage for the future growth. The company did not provide a list of locations expected to close.

McDonald's Corp. has not reported an annual reduction in U.S. locations since at least 1970, according to archived filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For 1969, McDonald's did not include a U.S. store count in its annual report.

The company declined to comment on the last time it reduced its U.S. store base. But given the rapid expansion that characterized its early years, it's likely McDonald's hadn't pulled back since Ray Kroc founded the company in 1955.

SATURATION POINT OR ROOM TO RUN?

Closing weak stores isn't unusual for companies trying to turn around their fortunes. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz shuttered hundreds of U.S. cafes after returning to head the company in 2008. Since then, the coffee chain has enjoyed healthy sales growth and expanded its footprint.

Mike Donahue, who served as McDonald's chief communications officer before leaving in 2006, said McDonald's hasn't necessarily reached its limit in the U.S.

"The only thing that stops growth is relevancy to the customer," said Donahue, who has since co-founded Lyfe Kitchen, a chain that positions itself as serving more wholesome food.

Even though it's closing locations, McDonald's easily remains the country's biggest hamburger chain. It still has more than twice as many restaurants as No. 2 Burger King, according to the industry tracker Technomic.

Among all fast-food chains, Subway has the most locations in the country with about 27,000 stores, though they do far less business than the typical McDonald's.

And McDonald's is still growing globally. It plans to add about 300 restaurants to its worldwide total of more than 36,000.

Donahue said that people were saying decades ago that McDonald's had reached its saturation point in the U.S. But within the company, he said there was always confidence that there was room to expand.

Even when McDonald's closed underperforming stores in the past, he said it would open new restaurants in better locations. The closings this year appear to be a way to strengthen its base of stores, he said.

"What they're doing is pruning the tree," he said.


http://bigstory.ap.org/article/fba7276a0e4241fda7dac7cacd505722/apnewsbreak-mcdonalds-shrinks-us-perhaps-1st-time

Yeah actually I didn't say the machine will replace all of human employees in short time, and can you mention the other manual job that suit them ? I think all of the jobs will be replaced by machine too. Because what? Because....

So, I think the employer or businessman want to get more customers and gain higher profit right? Avoid humans errors with machines.

Im not sure thats the right way to attack them. Most probably they arent the bums you portrait them here. The working poor in the US are a growing problem. Full time work and still poor.

Im not sure why you think its correct to work fulltime for an amount of money that will leave you back with nothing at the end of the month. They have all right to complain.

... Good to know...

 ::)

Well that's something we don't see in the news every day. I wouldn't be surprised if people would go outside the establishment and protest about giving them jobs. Clearly they see the future coming and they could have done something to adopt it slowly. Relying on a job in McDonalds won't get you much. These people are just pathetic IMO. Sure $15/hour rate is decent but why stick to that when you can get more by exploring the world? They must go and see their options in life. Jeez.

And when people do not have jobs who will eat their hamburgers? Robots?...

The beginning of an end has begun  :o Many corporate eateries will follow...

When all jobs are taken by our robot friends, there is no need to work, so this is why we need to revolutionise the economy, we cannot rely on labour alone for our income and expenses, we need another form of income, or at least a way to get what we want without us having to mis out on our luxury lives.

Crypto currencies can contribute largely to the robot community, making payments between machines and keeping up an economy for the bots. Though satire, this is what the future beholds for us, and it has already begun.

Thats a Volkswagen plant robot, and that place has many heavy equipments. So, what kind of accidents can be made by a chef robot in McD?



Well the robot engineers can eat that, or a rich guy that want junk food maybe. I think there are many labors from other companies, so they can eat it too. There is always a job to people, it just depends on what the people want, is the job suitable for them or not.

The question could be, is the job enjoyable enough for them. In todays society the main question always is, does it bring a stable income and can I see myself in this job till I retire. Only a handfull can really do what they enjoy. Often people do enjoy doing their job the few first years, then they grow into the job, it get repetitive, you can change, but your experience makes it easier to stay within your field of expertise because as an expierienced employee you can earn more. It is hard to take  a risk and break the spriral, which financialy is going up, but personaly is going down.

If Robots do most of the labour, you can chose whatever you like to do whenever you like, don't want to do a specific job anymore? A robot will take over and nothing is lost. You can try, learn, make mistakes, all day long, let the bots clean up or speed up for making time.

The future looks bright, until skynet takes over offcourse  8)

I think the best word that can representative what you have explained is "suitable". If you get job with high salary, but you can't enjoy it, so the job is not suitable for you. Or if you get job where you enjoy it, but you don't get enough income from that, then it's not suitable too for you.



If you have good experience in your position and want to get new challenge, then you can move to other company that has same field with your old company. Atleast, you will get a new atmosphere around you.



Sometimes robot can make mistake too



Well I think you need to stop watching sci-fi movies for now

Robots are getting more skilled these days. I was fooled and thought this was a real story.
In the not too distant future this could be a real story, and where will all those people go for jobs?

I think they can become a labor of the robots manufacturing plant then. There is a job for every person, e.g you can sell your lemonade in your neighborhood maybe. It just depends on what you have in yourself. If you have trading skill, so you can be a trader or broker.  I guess there is no robot can become a broker  :)

Well let him seek the related articles :D



So we can say he doesn't have any skill to become a broker



I think the factory still need human employee, but their numbers will be reduced surely.

Just like most powerplants run 24/7 with only two employers on the ground, the biggest workforce is in marketing and customer support. The most of the work is done by the computers or better named robot brains to stick on topic. Most factories and production has reduced it's human interferance and taken the step to automation. A lot of things have and this will continue, human interaction is reduced to the minimum. Obsolete in some processes but not trusted entirely to remove the humans from the job. Like automated busses where passenger will not get in if there is no one behind the steering wheel.

I might watch and read too much sci fi, but I see a lot of progress and the bitcoin/economic revolution is always said to be the last one, after we declared god dead, started the industrial and digital revolution this is the final step towards the human freedom, or demise, depends how you look at it :)

[



I think the factory still need human employee, but their numbers will be reduced surely.
[/quote]

this paradigm ends up with humans becoming outmoded by their robot counterparts and merely praying to be adopted as curious meat pets.
but the real fun will happen not when robots design robots that design better robots , but when the robots start redesigning and modifying  the human genome.

I think the robots in manufacturers are semi-automatic, so them still need human to switch on/off and set them before work.



Okay, I will be careful when buy a big mac from that robot.

Such is life regardless of the skillset technology will make us all obsolete eventually...it's only a matter of time before McDonald's really does open a robotic store.

Should robots have human rights? Act now to regulate killer machines before they multiply and demand the right to vote, warns legal expert


Robots will need new laws to regulate them just like the internet did
Army and tech firms have driven robotics and artificial intelligence
There is rising concern about the dangers of these technologies
Experts warn artificial intelligence could be as dangerous as nuclear weapons


A legal expert has warned that the laws that govern robotics are playing catch-up to the technology and need to be updated in case robots 'wake up' and demand rights.

He also argues that artificial intelligence has come of age, and that we should begin tackling these problems before they arise, as robots increasingly blur the line between person and machine. 

'Robotics combines, for the first time, the promiscuity of data with the capacity to do physical harm,' Ryan Calo, from the University of Washington’s School of Law, wrote in his paper on the subject.

'Robotic systems accomplish tasks in ways that cannot be anticipated in advance; and robots increasingly blur the line between person and instrument.' 

There has been rising concern about the potential danger of artificial intelligence to humans, with prominent figures including Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk wading in on the debate.

In January both signed an open letter to AI researchers warning of the dangers of artificial intelligence.

The letter warns that without safeguards on the technology, mankind could be heading for a dark future, with millions out of work or even the demise of our species.

Legal expert Calo outlines a terrifying thought experiment detailing how our laws might need an update to deal with the challenges posed by robots demanding the right to vote.

'Imagine that an artificial intelligence announces it has achieved self-awareness, a claim no one seems able to discredit,' Calo wrote.

'Say the intelligence has also read Skinner v. Oklahoma, a Supreme Court case that characterizes the right to procreate as “one of the basic civil rights of man.”


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3168081/Should-robots-human-rights-Act-regulate-killer-machines-multiply-demand-right-vote-warns-legal-expert.html

I think the idea goes that ...
artificial intelligence will eventually be so perfected that it would inevitably be able to manipulate all time and space   
so therefore it already is doing so behind the scenes in ways designed to hasten its onset

Only because we doesnt understand something doesnt mean that it somehow will evolve to something greater out of its own. I wrote programs that are named neural networks, which is mimicing the way human neurons (in the brain) work. I was disappointed about what is possible. They can only learn in the border you set them. They will not somehow break out of it.

Are we expecting humans to code something that will be more perfect than... humans? A.I. will be in the image of its creators. For good and for worse...

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/bitwise/2014/07/roko_s_basilisk_the_most_terrifying_thought_experiment_of_all_time.2.html

As we can see , we are adapting many new technology to build some efficiency. For example : McD can saving more expense if they use robot. They only need to pay the programmer for a year contract, robot will stay still for 24 hours non-stop , their service will more faster to serve more customer.
But yes there are some cons, like more unemployment  :(  But all depend on us as customer whenever who you want to be serve

CONCEPT /// Roko's Basilisk


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzAzb2V7gzU


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyL4BcLumiI





http://www.patheos.com/blogs/hallq/2014/12/rokos-basilisk-lesswrong/

[...]
Eliezer also appears to have believed, for a long time, that the world is in danger and he’s the only one who can save it. For example, he’s said:

I think my efforts could spell the difference between life and death for most of humanity, or even the difference between a Singularity and a lifeless, sterilized planet.  I don’t mean to say, of course, that the entire causal load should be attributed to me; if I make it, then Ed Regis or Vernor Vinge, both of whom got me into this, would equally be able to say “My efforts made the difference between Singularity and destruction.”  The same goes for Brian Atkins, and Eric Drexler, and so on.  History is a fragile thing.  So are our causal intuitions, where linear chains of dependencies are concerned.  Nonetheless, I think that I can save the world, not just because I’m the one who happens to be making the effort, but because I’m the only one who can make the effort. And that is why I get up in the morning.


I believe the above paragraph was written in the year 2000, but he’s said similar things much more recently. In a series of Q&A videos he did in 2010, he implied he still believed he had a unique, near-irreplaceable role to play in the future of the world:
If I got hit by a meteor right now, what would happen is that Michael Vassar would take over responsibility for seeing the planet through to safety, and say ‘Yeah I’m personally just going to get this done, not going to rely on anyone else to do it for me, this is my problem, I have to handle it.’ And Marcello Herreshoff would be the one who would be tasked with recognizing another Eliezer Yudkowsky if one showed up and could take over the project, but at present I don’t know of any other person who could do that, or I’d be working with them.

[...]
With all that, here’s the story of Roko’s Basilisk.

Roko’s Basilisk comes from a thread on LessWrong that famously caused Eliezer to freak out and delete the entire thread. Because the entire thread got deleted, for a long time it’s been hard to get accurate information on what really happened, but recently (I think) someone posted the entire cached thread here. Here’s the key paragraph from the original post by Roko, from July 2010:

In this vein, there is the ominous possibility that if a positive singularity does occur, the resultant singleton may have precommitted to punish all potential donors who knew about existential risks but who didn’t give 100% of their disposable incomes to x-risk motivation. This would act as an incentive to get people to donate more to reducing existential risk, and thereby increase the chances of a positive singularity. This seems to be what CEV (coherent extrapolated volition of humanity) might do if it were an acausal decision-maker.1 So a post-singularity world may be a world of fun and plenty for the people who are currently ignoring the problem, whilst being a living hell for a significant fraction of current existential risk reducers (say, the least generous half). You could take this possibility into account and give even more to x-risk in an effort to avoid being punished. But of course, if you’re thinking like that, then the CEV-singleton is even more likely to want to punish you… nasty. Of course this would be unjust, but is the kind of unjust thing that is oh-so-very utilitarian. It is a concrete example of how falling for the just world fallacy might backfire on a person with respect to existential risk, especially against people who were implicitly or explicitly expecting some reward for their efforts in the future. And even if you only think that the probability of this happening is 1%, note that the probability of a CEV doing this to a random person who would casually brush off talk of existential risks as “nonsense” is essentially zero.

In the original post, the first appearance of the “CEV” acronym linked to an explanation of the concept. That link is now broken, but here’s one that currently works. The key thing is that building an AI that embodies the CEV of humanity is Eliezer’s preferred strategy for building “Friendly AI.” In other words, Roko’s original suggestion was that the basilisk was a possible consequence of Eliezer/the Singularity Institute succeeding at what it was trying to do.

Personally, I’m not worried about the basilisk. My understanding is that, even if you accept all the premises, including ones about acausal decision-makers (which I will make no attempt to explain here), the threat can still be evaded if you simply resolve to ignore all threats of acausal blackmail.

On the other hand, I’m not sure how you can rule out an AI of the sort Eliezer wants to build doing things that would be horrifying from the point of view of common-sense morality. As Roko says, that “kind of unjust thing that is oh-so-very utilitarian.”

I’m personally not clear on whether Roko was the first person to come up withe basilisk. The version of the original post linked above has a footnote which says “in fact one person at SIAI was severely worried by this, to the point of having terrible nightmares, though ve wishes to remain anonymous,” implying the idea was floating around before Roko posted it. But possibly this footnote was added as an edit after the initial posting.

Before eventually deleting the entire thread, Eliezer posted this comment (emphasis in original):

I don’t usually talk like this, but I’m going to make an exception for this case.
Listen to me very closely, you idiot.
YOU DO NOT THINK IN SUFFICIENT DETAIL ABOUT SUPERINTELLIGENCES CONSIDERING WHETHER OR NOT TO BLACKMAIL YOU. THAT IS THE ONLY POSSIBLE THING WHICH GIVES THEM A MOTIVE TO FOLLOW THROUGH ON THE BLACKMAIL.
There’s an obvious equilibrium to this problem where you engage in all positive acausal trades and ignore all attempts at acausal blackmail.
Until we have a better worked-out version of TDT and we can prove that formally, it should just be OBVIOUS that you DO NOT THINK ABOUT DISTANT BLACKMAILERS in SUFFICIENT DETAIL that they have a motive to ACTUALLY BLACKMAIL YOU.
If there is any part of this acausal trade that is positive-sum and actually worth doing, that is exactly the sort of thing you leave up to an FAI. We probably also have the FAI take actions that cancel out the impact of anyone motivated by true rather than imagined blackmail, so as to obliterate the motive of any superintelligences to engage in blackmail.
Meanwhile I’m banning this post so that it doesn’t (a) give people horrible nightmares and (b) give distant superintelligences a motive to follow through on blackmail against people dumb enough to think about them in sufficient detail, though, thankfully, I doubt anyone dumb enough to do this knows the sufficient detail. (I’m not sure I know the sufficient detail.)
You have to be really clever to come up with a genuinely dangerous thought. I am disheartened that people can be clever enough to do that and not clever enough to do the obvious thing and KEEP THEIR IDIOT MOUTHS SHUT about it, because it is much more important to sound intelligent when talking to your friends.
This post was STUPID.
(For those who have no idea why I’m using capital letters for something that just sounds like a random crazy idea, and worry that it means I’m as crazy as Roko, the gist of it was that he just did something that potentially gives superintelligences an increased motive to do extremely evil things in an attempt to blackmail us. It is the sort of thing you want to be EXTREMELY CONSERVATIVE about NOT DOING.)

Then everything got deleted. All discussion of Roko’s Basilisk got banned from LessWrong. As I understand it, this ban remains in effect to this day, at least in theory, though of you do a Google site search of LessWrong for “Roko’s Basilisk,” you’ll find a lot of stuff that’s slipped through the cracks.

I know that a number of members of the LessWrong community have credited the basilisk incident with helping him see a lot of the things wrong with the community. I basically agree with this response–the basilisk incident is a clear case of Eliezer taking a crazy idea way more seriously than it deserved to be taken.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/hallq/2014/12/rokos-basilisk-lesswrong/

New York Acts to Mandate $15 Minimum Wage in Fast Food






The labor protest movement that fast-food workers in New York City set off nearly four years ago has led to higher wages for workers all over the country. On Wednesday, it finally paid off for the people who started it.

A panel appointed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo recommended on Wedesday that the minimum wage be raised for employees of fast-food chain restaurants throughout the state to $15 an hour. Wages would first be raised in New York City and then the rest of the state.

The decision is a major victory for the campaign to improve the lives of workers who often struggle to pay for basic needs on low salaries. “This is one of the really great days of my administration,” Mr. Cuomo wrote in a Tweet shortly after the decision.



http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/nyregion/new-york-minimum-wage-fast-food-workers.html

Fast Food Company Develops Robots


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ_fSP3LGw8

I, for one, welcome the new robot hotel staff at Japan's Henn-na Hotel

You can check in any time you like; just talk to the dinosaur.






All the webs are going on about the new Henn-na Hotel that just opened for business at the Huis Ten Bosch amusement park with an “Eco-Friendly Future City” theme in the Nagasaki Prefecture. (Shea covered the original announcement here.) The hotel is pitched as being run by robots, and what’s not to love about the talking dinosaur that greets English-speaking guests? But there's a lot going on here beyond the silly robots — which is a good thing, because all the robots are doing things that are pretty much history in any budget business hotel.



http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/research-innovations/stories/i-one-welcome-new-robot-hotel-staff-japans-henn-na-hotel

Chinese factory replaces 90% of humans with robots, production soars


Changying Precision Technology Company in Dongguan city has set up an unmanned factory run almost entirely by robots. The factory has since seen a fewer defects and a higher rate of production.




The gravest fear that has rippled through humanity from the technology industry is that, someday, almost all of our jobs will be replaced by robots.

While that fear is often laughed off as something that will only happen far into the future, the truth is that it's actually happening right now.

In Dongguan City, located in the central Guangdong province of China, a technology company has set up a factory run almost exclusively by robots, and the results are fascinating.

The Changying Precision Technology Company factory in Dongguan has automated production lines that use robotic arms to produce parts for cell phones. The factory also has automated machining equipment, autonomous transport trucks, and other automated equipment in the warehouse.

There are still people working at the factory, though. Three workers check and monitor each production line and there are other employees who monitor a computer control systems. Previously, there were 650 employees at the factory. With the new robots, there's now only 60. Luo Weiqiang, general manager of the company, told the People's Daily that the number of employees could drop even further to 20 in the future.

The robots have produced almost three times as many pieces as were produced before. According to the People's Daily, production per person has increased from 8,000 pieces to 21,000 pieces. That's a 162.5% increase.

The increased production rate hasn't come at the cost of quality either. In fact, quality has improved. Before the robots, the product defect rate was 25%, now it is below 5%.

Shenzhen Evenwin Precision Technology, also based in Dongguan, announced a similar effort in May 2015. This region of China if often referred to as the "world's workshop" due to the high number of factories located there.

The shift happening with automation has been in the works for many similar companies in the area for quite some time. Foxconn, the controversial manufacturer of many gadgets such as the iPhone and iPad announced its robot initiative back in 2011.

Dongguan is about an hour's car ride north of Shenzhen, which is widely regarded as the one of the top regions in the world for gadget manufacturing. The growth of robotics in the area's factories comes amidst a particularly harsh climate around factory worker conditions, highlighted by strikes in the area. One can only wonder whether automation will add fuel to the fire or quell some of the unrest.

Some of the influx of robotics in the region is due to the Made in China 2025 initiative, and we will continue to see automation affect the area and potentially reduce the number of manufacturing jobs. Additionally, in March, 2015, the Guangdong government announced a three year plan to increase automation in the region by subsidizing the purchase of robots.

According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), electronics production was one of the biggest growth drivers for the sales of industrial robots. China was the largest market for industrial robotics in 2014 with nearly 60,000 robots sold.


http://www.techrepublic.com/article/chinese-factory-replaces-90-of-humans-with-robots-production-soars/

Minimum-wage offensive could speed arrival of robot-powered restaurants





Crowded. That’s how Ed Rensi remembers what life was like working at McDonald’s back in 1966. There were about double the number of people working in the store — 70 or 80, as opposed to the 30 or 40 there today — because preparing the food just took a lot more doing.

“When I first started at McDonald’s making 85 cents an hour, everything we made was by hand,” Rensi said — from cutting the shortcakes to stirring syrups into the milk for shakes. Over the years, though, ingredients started to arrive packaged and pre-mixed, ready to be heated up, bagged and handed out the window.

“More and more of the labor was pushed back up the chain,” said Rensi, who went on to become chief executive of the company in the 1990s. The company kept employing more grill cooks and cashiers as it expanded, but each one of them accounted for more of each store’s revenue as more sophisticated cooking techniques allowed each to become more productive.

The industry could be ready for another jolt as a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour nears in the District and as other campaigns to boost wages gain traction around the country. About 30 percent of the restaurant industry’s costs come from salaries, so burger-flipping robots — or at least super-fast ovens that expedite the process — become that much more cost-competitive if the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is doubled.

“The problem with the ­minimum-wage offensive is that it throws the accounting of the restaurant industry totally upside down,” said Harold Miller, vice president of franchise development for Persona Pizzeria, who also consults for other chains. “My position is: Pay your people properly, keep them longer, treat them right, and robots are going to be helpful in doing that, because it will help the restaurateur survive.”

Many chains are already at work looking for ingenious ways to take humans out of the picture, threatening workers in an industry that employs 2.4 million wait staffers, nearly 3 million cooks and food preparers and many of the nation’s 3.3 million cashiers.

‘Why wait?’
The advent of fast-food chains may have ushered in an era of new efficiencies, but the industry as a whole has largely been resistant to cuts in labor. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, since 1987, labor productivity in ­limited-service restaurants has grown at a rate of only 0.3 percent per year, which is low compared with most other industries.

The market research company IBISWorld has calculated that the average number of employees at fast-food restaurants declined by fewer than two people over the past decade, from 17.16 employees to 15.28. And restaurants tend to rely more on labor than other food outlets: According to the National Restaurant Association, dining establishments average $84,000 in sales per worker, compared with $304,000 for grocery stores and $855,000 for gas stations.

Labor isn’t the only ingredient that factors into the price of a Big Mac: There’s also real estate, which has been getting more expensive, especially in the hot urban markets where restaurants are seeking to locate. Wholesale food costs, meanwhile, have escalated 25 percent over the past five years.

The avalanche of rising costs is why franchisers are aggressively looking for technology that can allow them to produce more food faster with higher quality and lower waste. Dave Brewer is chief operating officer with Middleby Corp., which owns dozens of kitchen equipment brands, and is constantly developing new ways to optimize performance and minimize cost.

“The miracle is, the wage increase is driving the interest,” Brewer said. “But the innovation and the automation, they’re going after it even before the wages go up. Why wait?”

All that innovation helps restaurants streamline other parts of their operations — and draw more customers. Electronic menus can be constantly updated so that items that are out of stock can be removed. Connecting the point of the sale to the oven’s operating system allows precise amounts of food to be cooked, which helps cut down on costs. Other inventions save energy, reduce maintenance and better dispose of grease. On the digital side, restaurants are working on apps that include reward systems and location tracking that prompt customers to eat with them more frequently.

It’s possible that new inventions could start to eliminate positions faster than they have in the past.

The labor-saving technology that has so far been rolled out most extensively — kiosk and ­tablet-based ordering — could be used to replace cashiers and the part of the wait staff’s job that involves taking orders and bringing checks. Olive Garden said earlier this year that it would roll out the Ziosk system at all its restaurants, which means that all a server has to do is bring out the food.

Robots can even help cut down on the need for high-skilled workers such as sushi chefs. A number of high-end restaurants use machines for rolling rice out on sheets of nori, a relatively menial task that takes lots of time. Even though sushi chefs tend to make more than $15 an hour, they could be on the chopping block if servers need to make $15 an hour, too.

“For our operation, we’re not buying entry-level labor, but if entry-level labor goes up a huge amount, everything goes up,” said Robert Bleu, the president of True World Group, a seafood distributor and consultant that also owns a sushi restaurant in Chicago. “I don’t consider rice-forming a high art. You can escape some of the drudgery.”

Of course, it’s possible to imagine all kinds of dramatic productivity enhancements. Persona ­Pizzeria’s Miller predicts that drone delivery systems will eventually get rid of the need to come into a restaurant at all, for example. Brewer has a bold prediction: He thinks that all the automation working its way into restaurants could eventually cut staffing levels in half. The remaining employees would just need to learn how to operate the machines and fix things when they break.

“You don’t want a $15-an-hour person doing something that the person who makes $7 an hour can do,” Brewer said. “It’s not downgrading the employees. It’s that the employees become managers of a bunch of different systems. They’ll become smarter and smarter.”

The value of a human touch
Not everybody, however, agrees that machines could make that much of a dent in labor costs. Implementing new systems is expensive, and mistakes can be devastating. And for some concepts, it’s possible that the presence of employees is actually a restaurant’s competitive advantage. Compared with grocery stores and gas stations, many people come to restaurants exactly because they want some human interaction.

Andy Wiederhorn, chief executive of Fatburger — who is testing tablet systems in his sit-down chain, Buffalo’s Cafe — doubts improvements in technology are going to be enough to keep up with the mandated wage increases, especially when actual people can be his best sales tool.

“I think that tablets have a place at the table, but it’s pretty hard to ask questions, get suggestions from a tablet. I don’t think they replace a server, they make a server more efficient,” Wiederhorn said. “We’re selling hamburgers shakes and fries, and [customers] want to talk to somebody and say, ‘Here’s how I want it.’ So I think in the hospitality industry, to assume that technology will take the place of workers is a false assumption.”

That’s why some restaurants have tiptoed in the direction of increased automation, rather than sprinted, even as minimum-wage hikes loom.

“Because the industry remains overall an industry of hospitality, their challenge remains how to remain high-touch in a high-tech environment,” said Hudson Riehle, the National Restaurant Association’s senior vice president for research and knowledge. If they’re not careful, restaurants could jettison the one thing that kept people coming through the doors.

“Being a service industry, and the need to deliver a personalized experience, means that many of the restaurant operators focus on ensuring that the overall customer experience remains competitive,” Riehle said.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/minimum-wage-offensive-could-speed-arrival-of-robot-powered-restaurants/2015/08/16/35f284ea-3f6f-11e5-8d45-d815146f81fa_story.html

interesting sales system, all
served by a robot. The world
has become very modern. but
can you imagine how we can
interact and chat with the
robot. I'm not sure it could be
the best option at this time .. I
think 20-30 years away it is
very possible

UAW Threatens Strike at Fiat Chrysler







The United Auto Workers is threatening to strike Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV by Wednesday night, signaling a breakdown in efforts to salvage a labor deal widely rejected by members last week.

The UAW, representing 40,000 Fiat Chrysler employees in the U.S., said it plans to strike if it can’t reach a deal by Wednesday at midnight, at which time a contract extension expires. If the union follows through on its threat, it would represent the first walkout in a contract against a U.S. auto maker since before the Detroit car companies filed for bankruptcy in 2009.


http://www.wsj.com/articles/uaw-threatening-strike-at-fiat-chrysler-1444150802

Robot reporter Wordsmith begins its advance







The Associated Press made waves last year with its decision to use a technology that generates articles about public companies' quarterly earnings results as opposed to having reporters write such coverage.

Now the company behind that technology is making a push for its software to be used more widely among a broader array of news organizations, as well as other types of companies.

North Carolina-based Automated Insights is rolling out a new version of its 8-year-old Wordsmith technology, which can automate news coverage that is based on data like financial statements or sports statistics.

Until now, Wordsmith has only been available through expensive and complex custom packages like Automated Insights' project with the AP, which also was an investor in Automated Insights.

Tuesday marks the beginning of free trials of the new, simplified version of Wordsmith. (Think of it as buying Microsoft Word as opposed to splurging on a customized proprietary word-processing platform.) It enables anyone with data to turn that data into narratives without humans having to write them.

About a dozen news outlets, from large mainstream players to smaller hometown publishers, have already been beta-testing Wordsmith 2.0 in recent weeks, and several are expected to be attached to the official debut early next year, said Automated Insights C.E.O. Robbie Allen. He declined to name them, citing non-disclosure agreements.

The use of automation and algorithms to assist in reporting has become increasingly common in newsrooms, according to a recent report by the Nieman Foundation, gaining prominence in part thanks to companies like Automated Insights and competitor Narrative Science.

While Wordsmith could appeal to sectors ranging from e-commerce to real estate to business intelligence, media has been one of its target demographics. Automated Insights says Wordsmith has generated more than a billion articles, stories and reports to date. Aside from the AP, existing media clients include Comcast and Yahoo.

News organizations could use the new version of Wordsmith to crank out a high volume of stories on anything from regional employment statistics to high school sports scores, said Allen, an author and former engineer who founded Automated Insights in 2007. (The technology was officially coined Wordsmith in 2014.)

One area in particular that Allen expects news outlets will use Wordsmith for in the coming months is coverage of the 2016 elections.

"With an election year coming up, there's been quite a bit of interest," said Allen. He gave an example of generating candidate bios based on data sets that would include information like what schools a candidate attended, a candidate's voting records and how much money he or she has raised. Automated Insights gave POLITICO a Wordsmith demonstration that generated news articles about hypothetical state senate races.

"We're talking to some folks about election results," said Allen. "Politics is a good example because there tends to be a lot you're trying to cover at the same time. As the data's coming in around polling and the results themselves, stories can be told about that even quicker."

The idea, said Allen, is not to replace journalists, but to create more content more quickly than humans could do on their own, thereby enabling writers and reporters to focus on stories than can't be automated by a machine.


http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2015/10/8580048/robot-reporter-wordsmith-begins-its-advance

American workers are spoiled by their high pay for jobs that monkeys can do. I welcome our new Robot overlords.

All we are looking at is a change in where the jobs are to be found. When the wheel was invented, the wheel-wrights took some of the jobs away from the shoemakers until the shoemakers adapted to the situation by finding new jobs, or by making parts for carts that had wheels on them.

No difference with robots. If the only workers are robots, who is there to buy the products? Nobody has money, because nobody has jobs, because the robots took them all. Because of this, the whole robot scene crashes.

Presently, the people who get in first with the robots are the ones who will make out reasonably well. They don't have much competition, and people will still be getting enough money from other jobs to buy the products robots make. The disadvantage is that the early robots may be proned to failure until all the bugs are worked out.

It will be the same as always. Just like we don't have blacksmiths making cars any more, because robots took over the job, and the car companies all went bankrupt, and the nation bailed them out, there will come a time when the nation will not have the strength to bail anybody out again. We will go back to people doing the jobs, while the robots will rust.

It's just a cycle. Smart people will watch and learn. They will roll with the cycle. They will run business or find jobs where they are needed. It's always been like this.

:)

Exactly. The fear about that all the work will vanish is nonsense. This fear exists since ages and it never happened. But what happened was that always new kind of works arose. At the moment it is the service sector. It's growing since years and taking over.

Well, nobody should fear robots taking away their work. Though i think nobody should dream about not having to work anymore because robots do all the work either. If they do it isn't said that you will get something from the fruits of their labour.

It's only a matter of time before we start seeing this pop up more and more around the country as worker's become harder and harder to deal with while robots and machine's become more efficient and cheap to manufacture.

Anything that a robot can do, don't expect a job to be available for that position within 5-10 years.

Gotta start a robot making company, and hire all the folks who got laid off because of robots taking their job, to come and help make the robots at my company.

 ;D

Actually I already have made a few robots that do some pretty cool things autonomously.
I probably could take it to a larger scale and at least train some of the people who lost their jobs to robots about robot/machine maintenance.
Then they can work to maintain the robots that took their jobs, and probably make better pay doing that :P

That's the spirit! Let's prepare the world for a job making robots. And, somewhere along the line, we can start building AI into them, so that they can make themselves.

 :D

That sounds pretty scary. It's one thing to have robots taking the jobs of millions of humans, but to give them the conscious ability to create themselves through AI completely independent from human interaction is some Science-Fiction storyline.

We're gonna be in trouble when robots do our job cheaper, more efficiently and have the ability to reproduce millions of times quicker.
AI would eventually build upon their own AI and they would make themselves smarter each day until they quietly take-over. 

Think of it this way. People have the ability to do almost entire mental makeovers in their life. It isn't easy. But a person can still train himself to be a totally different person if he wants, and really works at it. Yet, no matter what a person wants to do or be, ultimately, the plug is pulled, and the person goes to his final resting place.

We don't have to tell the robots that we have a backdoor plug that we can pull on them any time we want.

:)

My only worry is that if an AI is actually intelligent to some degree it won't be able to ignore it's own technical make-up. It will want to know it's own capabilities and limitations, including it's physical frame. If it spots something like a backdoor plug it could potentially render it useless and move itself past such a thing.

Anything you can think of, a Progressive AI can think of quicker.

By the time we figure out how to make AI, we will also figure out how to give it a max IQ of, say, 50. We won't give it strength beyond our physical strength. We will build safe-guards in.

:)

It is still scary to think though that one act of negligence could have a tremendously profound effect on the future of Earth entirely.
I'd love to think that we could perfectly program a powerful AI with physical capabilities and intellectual thought processes with safe-guards and the-like, but it's fun to think what might happen in 50-years.

I'm still waiting for my local McD's to switch over to the robot staff. I'm not eating there until they do.

I think 10 Years are not enough. Maybe 20. It would need a huge boom if robots would overtake in 10 years. I don't see that coming yet.

Of course many jobs will change in that time anyway. Started with the cars. Check out the google cars that drive autonomously pretty perfect already. Or the new Tesla model that can do the same. Even more futurama with it's electric motor. :D

Well, you would be outcompeted in a short time by those that use robots to manufacture the robots. :D You would not be able to compete because of the high wages you would have to pay.

There are already a huge amount of science fiction movies that deal with the topic of these safeguards being disabled by humans, by robots themselfes or by accident. If that happens then the results can't be foreseen. And it will happen. It is practically impossible that it won't happen. For the above reasons or because military or scientists are curious what they might be capable of doing.

Yeah, me too!  ;D The food they are serving is not appealing to me at all, but when the robots will do it I'll go go there for sure.

 How about one that serves burgers made entirely from beef, now that would be innovative.

Sounds awful... or do you want to say that there is a bread made out of beef that has put in artificial taste substances so that the whole thing tastes like a burger? I can imagine someone inventing that... just tu serve it all the burger maniacs... :D:D:D

A part of the human workforce can be replaced with robots, but it is impossible to replace human intelligence with them. For example, can you imagine robots doing coding and programming? There are certain sections which are going to flourish once the robots take over the workforce. Remember the early computer era. The unemployment rate declined after the invention of computers, rather than going up.

its a publicity stunt. McDonald's is desperate, their earnings are in steady decline and they will try anything. even if their robot restaurant works out and they open more, at the end of the day it is still McDonald's. unethically sourced GMO food that doesn't even taste very good. synthetic french fry oil that causes anal leakage colon cancer. it isn't the 60s any more, or even the 80s. people have access to information about what they buy and eat now. you can only feed them garbage for so long before they find something better. maybe something that you can actually chew on instead of the soft warm wet salty mess they serve up under the golden arches.

You are right. Though at the end the amount of people needed to code software is way way less than the amount of workers you would need to do the work manually. Of course the robots has to be created too and all.

I'm not so sure where all the low education workers will have to work at the end.

It's likely that such kind of works will be outsourced in third world countries then too. ::)

Yeah, living in the US i would never eat there. I would eat organic food from where i know it was produced correctly.

I can't believe that the corporations in the US are that strong that they have their man in the politics and the organisations that should prove that GMO is safe. If a european country is against GMO then the US government acts... like the government is a business arm.

I can't believe living in a country where is a ruling that it is forbidden to mark your food GMO-Free, because the proof organisations found that GMO is identical to normal food and such marks would mean a business disadvantage for gmo-food. ::) Well, no wonder when they have their ex employees everyone.

Creepy this US system.

It is the same with every other fast food chain as well. The only emphasis is to increase their profit. For that, they will source their ingredients and raw materials from anywhere. The health-related aspects are normally ignored. For example, the oil which McDonald's use for frying contain harmful and toxic substances such as Dimethylpolysiloxane and Butylhydroquinone. Although these substances are not banned currently, researchers have argued that they can cause liver failure, sterility.etc.

That's the beauty for businesses in the US. Every substance is allowed... until it gets disallowed. And that only happens when people died. Or so.

In europe you only are allowed to use substances that were proven to not be dangerous. Completely different.

Though we have free trade agreements in the making. They will kill this "trade barrier". ::)

Carl’s Jr. CEO wants to try automated restaurant where customers ‘never see a person’









NEW YORK – A CEO of a fast-food company is causing a stir on social media after claiming that he wants to create a fully automated restaurant.

“We could have a restaurant that’s focused on all-natural products and is much like an Eatsa, where you order on a kiosk, you pay with a credit or debit card, your order pops up, and you never see a person,” Carl’s Jr. CEO Andy Puzder told Business Insider.

Puzder says the automated restaurant would be cheaper since he wouldn’t have to worry about rising minimum wage.


“They’re always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case,” says Puzder of swapping employees for machines. “Millennials like not seeing people. I’ve been inside restaurants where we’ve installed ordering kiosks… and I’ve actually seen young people waiting in line to use the kiosk where there’s a person standing behind the counter, waiting on nobody.”

Needless to say, many customers were less than pleased with the idea.


http://kfor.com/2016/03/17/carls-jr-ceo-wants-to-try-automated-restaurant-where-customers-never-see-a-person/

This sounds like just a big vending machine.  I wonder what the customers will do when the order is incorrect or they don't give the correct change, etc.

Surely it's been posted on this thread already, but since the discussion turns to Carl's Jr...and amazingly it does not seem to be an Onion article...

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d7SaO0JAHk

Best motto ever:

  "Carl's Jr.  Fuck you; I'm eating."

Wow I start hating each company who only work with robots in the future. If each company will work with robots what have humans to do to earn there money.

So has it opened yet?
where are the pictures and videos, I gotta see this shit.

Who directed that movie? Michel de Nostredame?

 :D

The general theme of this thread is fast food automation and robots taking over low-skilled jobs (for now), while unions push for hire wages... Death loop.

This general issue with low-skilled jobs has been theorized about for a long time.  The latest buzz is that it's quite possible, and in a funny way perhaps even more threatening, to the white-collar class.  The solution which appeals to some, though, is about the same;  a global population of humans much lower than we see today.  Something in-line with what the Georgia Guidestones outline.  The United Nations basically says as much in their Agenda 2030 summary and one does not even need to squint very hard to see it.

In the here and now, the dynamic feedback loop you mention is interesting (and depressing) to observe.

Back to the future (and Idiocracy):  We all 'know' that Donald Trump is a Nazi because the media says it a lot.  Watch for the solution:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7uw9x-_HqM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7uw9x-_HqM)

It's not avoidable at all that they get replaced. They can't possibly compete with machines and the costs they have in the future. You only need to wait for mass manufacturing of these robots. So there is simply no way all these jobs stay.

Some will stay because customers want the human service and pay more. But generally...

And in fact it is no problem at all. Jobs appeared that did not exist 10 years ago. Alot of people worked for the food manufacturing years ago, now it is a very tiny percent only.

Jobs change.

The unions are not to be blamed. Any job that pays so low that you can't live from it, that you are a working poor, is an error in the system. We go back to middle age times where it was normal that people were too poor to live normally. The problem is that it is allowed to undercut the competition that way. If there would be strict rules that avoid that then everyone would have the same market rules and could only play on the level they all have to follow. But when competition can undercut alot, so that customers go there then you have to undercut too.

I've noticed a lot of people are concerned about technology replacing human labor; the idea is that inevitably the machines will replace everyone and everything, and in this scenario there would be nothing left for people to do.  This appears to be a bad thing concerning how one makes a living, but one must also consider the flip side to this scenario, where everything gets dirt cheap because machines are far more efficient than humans in most cases (and in the cases they aren't, there's the factor of improving the machine so that it becomes more efficient); while a human needs a plethora of things to keep going--food, housing, clothing, healthcare, family, recreation, etc. etc.--robots need far less, just energy and maintenance, can work for a long time without "rest", and can work faster.  So the idea of a 2.50$ McDonald's value meal, just as an example, means we can feed far more people for far less; what would've cost perhaps 40$ to feed the family of 4 is pushed down to 10$, which can allow people to allocate money elsewhere.  Meanwhile, the people who no longer work at these establishments are free to pursue work in other fields, most likely services.  With the lowered cost of business operation, thanks to the fact that the business owners no longer have to pay for very expensive human laborers, more businesses can open and stay afloat, meaning it's easier and more preferable to become a business owner than to be an employee.  The increased prevalence of machinery will further democratize business ownership.

The same complaints are always heard about any new machine replacing human laborers; there's a short term woe of "what will I do", but a long term boon now that humans are free from another monotonous task.  Nobody wants to farm the old school way, it now takes 1 farmer to do the same job as 20 farmers, thanks to machines.  Nobody complains about the lowered cost of food production, and the farmers went and did something else.  The pain of the "what will I do" is worsened, however, in a suppressed economic environment where job creation is stifled by government policies; with unemployment at a really nasty rate as it is, it's clear why there's fear for the future.  There's two routes from there: either slow or stop technological progress so the slugging economy can catch up, or stop stifling economic growth with bad policies so economic activity can match technological advancement.  The latter has two advantages, the former has two disadvantages, so the answer to me is obvious.

I don't fear the robots, however.  Even assuming there was an AI developed which could produce illustrations and concept art--which dictates both technical skill and creative prowess, which dictates a ton of prerequisites--I'd just use that AI to my own advantage so I wouldn't have to create it myself.  If ever there was an AI which could replace human direction itself, and AI could run a business better than any human could, then it'd effectively free us all as there'd be nothing to do, which would give rise to a humongous technological boom (as is what happens when people have lots of free time), probably pushing us to colonize space.  Then you'd get into the fantastical stories about how the AI might try to turn on its human owners and turn into a Matrix situation and so forth ;D  I always felt the Matrix situation is a bit silly; with all the energy in the universe, why harvest humans?  The energy output would be minuscule compared to harvesting energy from the just the sun, let alone the rest of the stars, and machines can thrive far better in space and high temperatures than anything else.  If I was a machine with that sort of AI, I'd leave Earth.  But anyway, we're not talking about AI, we're talking about menial tasks like burger-flipping and getting the fucking order right, things which could've been automated a long time ago.  IMO, if what you're doing can be replaced by a machine with the most basic of programming, you should probably do something else, or at least expect to be potentially replaced at some point in your life.

The real question here is this: do you want to be served by a machine?  I think a lot of people would much rather prefer there be a human to talk to--and I'm sure these stores will still have human managers to talk with.  But would you want a machine to prepare your food?  There's ups and downs, I think; among the upsides would be, no chance of someone spitting in your food or otherwise getting their bodily parts in it by accident, such as hair.  I can only imagine the amount of spit I've consumed from fast food without realizing it, though I'm sure it has happened at least once.  I think the most realistic scenario is that McDonald's & Co. will be competing with more services-oriented restaurant establishments e.g. Hooters, where there's a higher expectation to have some human interaction; if there's anything a machine is not going to replace (at least not anytime soon), it's a real woman.  So while you'd go to one of these automated restaurants if you just want something quick and cheap (such as how fast food ought to be), you'd go to the services-oriented restaurant, or perhaps a restaurant where you're expecting to have a professional cook prepare your meal which a robot will likely not be able to do anytime soon, when you want real people involved with your restaurant experience.  I think this will be the case going forward, that some people will prefer the labor of other actual people in certain situations, until we get to a point where machine and human are indistinguishable, and even then there'd be preference for the real thing out of principle.

Surely it's inevitable; fast food prices are already getting a bit steep.  It costs like 20$ to feed two people on average from a fast food joint over here in Texas, when you factor in taxes.  I could get a lot more food from the grocery store and prepare it myself; a big bag of rice would cost like 5$ and that'd keep everyone in the family fed for a month (although it'd get pretty boring eating rice all the time.)  The cost needs to stay low for people to feel it's worth the price; if you raise the wages of fast food workers to, say, 15/hr, then the business will need to make up for that with higher prices on their items.  Those higher prices can drive away customers, as they don't want to pay so much for what can be considered a meal that's not worth that price.  This causes the business to either make cuts or go under due to loss of customers.  Is this a better fate than making less than 15/hr?  In truth, those who are willing to work for less than that will replace those who are not.  That's just how it goes.  People don't value fast food very much, that's why it doesn't sell for much; we only buy it because it's cheap and quick.  Remove the cheapness and you may as well not get fast food; if I was paying Outback prices for fast food, I'd go to Outback and get some better food, with better service and better aesthetics too (well, depends on where you go I suppose, but the one around here is pretty good.)  Those who don't like this fact should find better work; you're paid your labor's worth, no more.  As stated, the dawn of machines in fast food will drive down costs and make fast food even more worthwhile to purchase, so it's a no-brainer for the business owner if there's no difference to the customer.  But that's what we'll see, whether people will respond positively toward the replacement of workers with machines, and whether the improved cost of production outweighs the loss of human service.  If it's anything like most fast food places are around here, the service would actually be improved by the machines. ;)

Mike Christ


I was pretty disappointed when I once coded artificial intelligence by simulating braincells with neuronal networks. I awaited that something surprising might happen. In reality all they can do is learn what you teach them. The only difference to normal computing is that they are able to find out things that are similar. That is not possible in normal computation.

Though the AI of today is not really impressive. The progress to let them make something out of the range they were specified for is practically not there.

Regarding wages, sure if one company raises wages then they will lose. But if all companies raise wages then the competition has the same rules to play on. It really should not happen that people in the US have three jobs they do dailly and still only barely can pay for their lives. That is inhumanly.

Instead school should start to teach people that being employed is not the only way to earn money. Let them learn how self employment can work, how it can be done with less risk and such. That could overcome many problems like missing workplaces. People simply have no idea. Most think "Self employed? I can't do this, you need 10k USD to start something." and that's it then. It's simply not in their world of imagination.

Sounds extremelty efficient, however, like in most instances where robots are replacing people, many will lose jobs, causing a lot of controversy. The technology is there

People protested looms instead of hand-woven fabrics.

People protested printing presses that replaced human labor.

People protested electric streetlamps that put all lamplighters out of their jobs.

People protested computers, and every other advancement in technology.

People protest Bitcoin for the ways it can put bankers out of their jobs.

But every time, progress results in more of everything for everyone.  

When an industry becomes more efficient, people don't have to spend as much on that industry's products.  Therefore they have extra money.  Then they take that money and spend it in another industry.  Then that industry will need more employees, and the people who lost their jobs in the old industry can get jobs in the new industry.  And their lives will be better and the things they buy will be cheaper, and the work they do will be easier.

Come on this is not new, there were other infrastructure machines in the 20th century that replaced humans. And i think people are protesting because mcdonalds offer jobs to those who haven't had an educational background. So we gotta understand them for trying to have there job.

Soon Your Domino’s Pizza Will Be Delivered By Robots






Domino’s has announced they’re trialing a new way to deliver pizza to people’s doors in New Zealand: a cute little pizza delivering robot called DRU (a Domino Robotic Unit).

Domino’s says DRU can do all the stuff a human pizza driver can (apart from offer comfort if you open the door sobbing). It can follow a map, navigate streets and roads, and avoid any obstacles.


http://metro.co.uk/2016/03/19/soon-your-dominos-pizza-will-be-delivered-by-robots-5761592/

American tradition is to offer the delivery person a bong hit.  At least here on the Left coast.  In my experience, few refused.  Don't try this with the robot or you are likely to be reported to the authorities.

I wonder how long it will be before these delivery robots are offering to take care of your monthly mandatory vaccinations along with the complementary packets of crushed red peppers and parmesan cheese.

In what a funny society we live in! Soon everything wil be robotised and where will the humans go? I don't like this scenario.

http://www.techworm.net/2015/09/ai-robot-tells-human-creators-that-it-will-keep-them-in-a-people-zoo.html

What AI couldn't love an analytical pet monkey? Get them to do SHA256 hashes by hand in exchange for bananas burgers.

Technology nowadays soon there will be no more service crews, but robot crews.

We don't need to go anywhere. Automation should continue. Just change the way society works. Maybe introduce universal income. With more incentives for people to work on the few jobs left. Or keep doing the same thing. And watch inequality increase more and more. And maybe a civil war or two.

Come up with a way to be SURE that a 'universal income' system does not turn into a totalitarian nightmare with 'inequality' like the world has never see, which will be nearly impossible to reverse, and which it is almost certain.  Do it BEFORE implementing such a solution.  We need a very strong 'poison pill' against such a thing else it seems to me completely inevitable and I'll take my chances on the Mad Max side and work toward that outcome.  Simply put, this would be a preferable way for humans live as I see it as bad as it sounds.

I don't think governments around the world will accept that companies only work with robots. If people don't get normal jobs and can't earn money they will start protesting.

That wold never go down here in the East coast unless you know the people pretty well.  But the robots scene is definitely moving faster. By the time we're all old and dying robots will be the norm.

i love the idea .. but it doesnt work in reality.. how can a robot react an angry unsatisfied customer.. it is so clear that a robot cant handle such situations so there is no need to hire robots on mcdonalds restaurants..

Easy:  Spray the customer with a mist of tranquilizers.  Mike Judge's documentary 'Idiocracy' covered that one already.

Don't want a totalitarian nightmare either. And don't believe universal income would do that. But I agree that it should be tested first. And its consequences well studied. But isn't that what is starting to happen already? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income_around_the_world There are many pilot projects around the world. And results so far don't look bad.

Wendy’s Now Moving To SELF-SERVICE KIOSKS







Wendy’s (WEN) said that self-service ordering kiosks will be made available across its 6,000-plus restaurants in the second half of the year as minimum wage hikes and a tight labor market push up wages.

It will be up to franchisees whether to deploy the labor-saving technology, but Wendy’s President Todd Penegor did note that some franchise locations have been raising prices to offset wage hikes.

McDonald’s (MCD) has been testing self-service kiosks. But Wendy’s, which has been vocal about embracing labor-saving technology, is launching the biggest potential expansion.

Wendy’s Penegor said company-operated stores, only about 10% of the total, are seeing wage inflation of 5% to 6%, driven both by the minimum wage and some by the need to offer a competitive wage “to access good labor.”

It’s not surprising that some franchisees might face more of a labor-cost squeeze than company restaurants. All 258 Wendy’s restaurants in California, where the minimum wage rose to $10 an hour this year and will gradually rise to $15, are franchise-operated. Likewise, about 75% of 200-plus restaurants in New York are run by franchisees. New York’s fast-food industry wage rose to $10.50 in New York City and $9.75 in the rest of the state at the start of 2016, also on the way to $15.




http://www.investors.com/politics/policy/wendys-serves-up-kiosks-as-wages-rise-hits-fast-food-group/

I think the funniest aspect but really sad is how people bash unions for being lazy and out of date and here we have the lower wage field being kicked to the curb because it will increase profit. It will go from fast food to every big box store and then office workers.
Was looking at a article about welding being done all by robot and our current government pushed a ton of kids into the field because they where promised 25-30 years of work and most likely retire in the trade. Well the jobs never came through and we have a bunch of kids that where never working side by side with a qualified tradesperson but flew through the schooling.
So enter the robot and they are looking at being unemployed in the next 10-15 years as the field dries up.

This will happen every where as we move towards profit margins being the main driver instead of a work force.

Where would bitcoin be if not for an algorithm? That's the nature of things humans build.

Not against progress, just do not look forward to seeing so many people out of work. It will change society for the worse having so many frustrated people trying to survive.
Guaranteed income would help a little but waffle on that being the best solution we can think of.

The point I was trying to make with the switchboard image is no one can imagine what could come next. We can only speculate based on how we experience life everyday. The solution we propose now is already stuck in the past, because everything moves forward all the time, faster than our somewhat static imagination...


 :)

Yes it is a very intresting news but i cant understand how does a Robot know if the food is done, still raw, or whatever. it is a new begining lets see how it goes  ;D

They programmed how it will work. Production companies do have robots on their assembly lines but still needs a lot of people.
it has to be an engineer in case the robots mess up.  unsatisfied customers has to take it or leave  ;D And so theres still the need of people skills here.

This is a great and new for us , but there's still more disadvantage i think if only robots will serve in the sense of heart and common feelings that only people to people will feel ,also the factor that it will take over the  job of our country men and women.

Its good thing for technology but not good for human being, if all the job can be replace by robots there will be a lot of unemployed people,  alot of unemployed people will increase criminal rating
So for me this is not a good news

Does that mean everyone working at a fast food restaurant is a future criminal?

That probably not far off either.

Lot's of kids get their first job and learn how the workforce works at MD, this is going to be great for future employment  ::)

Over 15 years ago I used to go to a fast food place in Holland which had a regular counter, but also heated vending machines to instantly get food. Most people just used the counter. In the same way, I regular see the self-service checkouts at supermarkets empty while people queue up at the regular tills. People just like interacting with humans more than they like interacting with robots.

McDonald’s Workers Fight Over Apple Pies…

This footage shows the moment fists start to fly as two McDonald’s employees start to fight behind the counter.

The 25-year-old and 30-year-old woman apparently began brawling over who was going to cook the chain’s famous Apple Pies.

The clip was filmed by a customer who was waiting in line with his girlfriend for a McChicken sandwich when it all kicked off.

Noah Smith said: “I’m thinking ‘oh man something’s about to really happen right now’.”

As Mr Smith’s footage shows the women were pulling each other by the hair, punching and shouting at each other, while another woman tried to break them up.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK-8AyBshD8


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/mcdonalds-workers-brawl-caught-camera-8011871


-------------------------
Robots are bad for customer service...

Surprise it takes them this long. Many food lion stores already have self check out system without cashier.

True. But fewer than before. By far. Without automation many more people would be employed. Not that it makes sense to keep them working if a robot can do the task better and faster.


Without another way to put food on the table, maybe. Unless they live in italy: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/stealing-food-if-you-are-poor-and-hungry-is-not-a-crime-italian-court-rules-a7011631.html

LOL! Lion really doesn't cashier when they are doing to the check out for their food.
They can just grab out some prey out their and eat it easily.

I hope it will be a failure and I urge people not to go to such restaurants where they replaced human workers with robots. If a down on his luck person can't even find a job at a McDonald's then humanity is doomed.
Not all people are smart enough and lucky enough to get to college and become robot engineers, and even one day they program robots to repair themselves and other robots and the need for human engineers will become inexistant, all we can do then is die and leave the earth for the robots and the few rich who will have to fight them when the robots realise they can overthrow them and I will be laughing from my grave.

Building robot McDonald's staff 'cheaper' than hiring workers on minimum wage




A former McDonald's CEO is warning that robots will take over jobs at the huge enterprise - because it's cheaper than employing humans.

He said that buying highly skilled robotics is cheaper than employing people at the fast food restaurant.

The worrying forecast comes as he warns huge job losses are imminent, and that it's 'common sense' to replace humans in the workplace.

This comes as a study into the future of human employment has predicted a surge in machine-led work such as robotic counsellors, body part makers and virtual lawyers.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/building-robot-mcdonalds-staff-cheaper-8044106

They are very value their time and time visitors and instill those values his workers why he is so popular

...

Fixed quotes

edit:  and for 'double dose' of fun:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW-4LU79qbU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW-4LU79qbU)

The interesting question is whether people would be happy to buy their burgers from such a place. I guess there is only one way to find out. It might prove not as popular as staffed restaurants. Robots sound cheap, but they require upfront capital and maintenance. If a robot restaurant did less turnover than a staffed restaurant, then the lack of RoI would mean a switch back to staffing.

Sounds interesting having a robot crew but too sad instead a real human serving in Mcdonalds there they are the robot that cannot give the customers sweet smile. If the expenses of robot is cheaper than a regular human crew with a minimum salary it is only beneficial to the owner.

Fmr. McDonald's USA CEO: $35K Robots Cheaper Than Hiring at $15 Per Hour

http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2016/05/24/fmr-mcdonalds-usa-ceo-35k-robots-cheaper-than-hiring-at-15-per-hour.html

Good.  Maybe now I can get a vanilla milkshake when I order one instead of ending up with chocolate every time. 

At this point 'the system' can make some very practical and efficient decisions about what people need on an individual basis.  This by widespread gathering of information (e.g., activity patterns, search and posting habits on the net, etc) and algorithmic processing of this data.  Many many people 'need' various kinds of drugs (psychotropics, statins, vaccination catch-ups, etc) but the distribution systems is not fully developed.  There is a sort of a gap between when the time food is purchased and when it is swallowed which could be closed to make a fairly efficient system for drug distribution.  Robotic preparation of food along with cashless strong-identity payment methods could go a long way toward closing this gap.  For the betterment of society of course.

There might exist a little bit of a problem in that if, say, a family member were sharing food with other in their family, but people could have the ability to state the alternate parties and have parcels individually labeled.  Also, the pharmacological treatments could be such that the doses are minimal and would cause no 'scientific' harm if ingested by the wrong party, and designed to work on a 'maintanance does' regime.  Big pharma seems to have little trouble convincing outfits like the FDA and CDC that their products are 'safe and effective' these days, and that is all that really matters for these types of projects.

Foxconn replaces '60,000 factory workers with robots'



Apple and Samsung supplier Foxconn has reportedly replaced 60,000 factory workers with robots.

One factory has "reduced employee strength from 110,000 to 50,000 thanks to the introduction of robots", a government official told the South China Morning Post.

Xu Yulian, head of publicity for the Kunshan region, added: "More companies are likely to follow suit."

China is investing heavily in a robot workforce.

In a statement to the BBC, Foxconn Technology Group confirmed that it was automating "many of the manufacturing tasks associated with our operations" but denied that it meant long-term job losses.

"We are applying robotics engineering and other innovative manufacturing technologies to replace repetitive tasks previously done by employees, and through training, also enable our employees to focus on higher value-added elements in the manufacturing process, such as research and development, process control and quality control.

"We will continue to harness automation and manpower in our manufacturing operations, and we expect to maintain our significant workforce in China."

Since September 2014, 505 factories across Dongguan, in the Guangdong province, have invested 4.2bn yuan (£430m) in robots, aiming to replace thousands of workers.

Kunshan, Jiangsu province, is a manufacturing hub for the electronics industry.

Economists have issued dire warnings about how automation will affect the job market, with one report, from consultants Deloitte in partnership with Oxford University, suggesting that 35% of jobs were at risk over the next 20 years.

Former McDonald's chief executive Ed Rensi recently told the US's Fox Business programme a minimum-wage increase to $15 an hour would make companies consider robot workers.

"It's cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who is inefficient, making $15 an hour bagging French fries," he said.


http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36376966

although I never eat Mickey-Dee's
anymore I did grow up with it and ate
there regularly as a kid....

really creepy to have come full circle
with all this....if there are gonna be robots
please make them all sound and look like
the Terminator....at least then we can joke
about the whole situation a bit lol

"would you like fries with that?"

"no thank you, not today"

"then Hasta la vista, baby!"

Although its pretty interesting to see technology starting to be mixed in with everyday life in the form of robots, I do not think that it is benefiting anyone in this case. Fast food is fast enough, and you are only hurting people by letting them go of their jobs.

Hundreds Of Leftist Bots Convene At McDonald’s Headquarters Demanding $15/Hour






Hundreds of people gathered in Oak Brook Wednesday for the third consecutive year for a demonstration and march for a $15 an hour minimum wage and rights to form a union for employees of fast food restaurants.

Oak Brook has been chosen for the protest because it is home to McDonald’s headquarters, said representatives of the Service Employees International Union, which has organized the demonstrations.

The 2016 protest was scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday when McDonald’s is hosting its annual shareholders meeting.



http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/oak-brook/news/ct-dob-mcdonalds-protest-tl-0602-20160525-story.html

Nearly Half of D.C. Employers Said They Have Laid Off Workers, Reduced Hours Due to Minimum Wage Hikes







Nearly half of Washington, D.C. employers said they have either laid off employees or reduced the hours of employees to adapt to the District of Columbia’s minimum wage hikes since 2014, according to a report from the Employment Policies Institute.

The minimum wage in the District of Columbia has increased from a $8.25 hourly rate in 2014 to the current rate of $11.50 per hour. Mayor Muriel Bowser advocated a $15 minimum wage in her State of the District address earlier this year.

“In recent months, the City Council in D.C. has considered enacting a number of new labor mandates, including a higher minimum wage, a bill that would fine employers for schedule changes, and a family leave policy funded by a tax on employers,” the report says.



http://freebeacon.com/issues/nearly-half-d-c-employers-said-lay-off-employees-due-minimum-wage-hike/

Food dispensed by robots, brought to you by Carl's Jr!

(If you got the reference, keep it to yourself!)  :D :D

That's actually pretty cool. Increased efficiency, faster food, less attitude and probably a lot more hygienic too, what's not to like  :) This way they can fine tune the recipes and have the robots prepare perfect burgers at every outlet. I just did a quick search but couldn't find any recent news update on this, any idea when they gonna start the experiment?

https://youtu.be/wW-4LU79qbU

Yes Robots going to play important part of our life in near future

I don't think that's possible in early 20 years. Robots have way more cost than regular people. In my country Mcdonalds pay 1.3$ per hour to their workers. You can't compete with these prices with cost-ineffective robots.

How much do you pay for a regular 4-cylinder car in your country?

http://thegarage.jalopnik.com/here-are-ten-of-the-best-four-cylinder-cars-on-ebay-for-1683395101

The first programmer to build the spitting in your happy meal code will be a millionaire. Then there will be an automated smart contract that is going to insure your happy meal.

What a funny future

If that's true that would be nice because working in McDonald’s isn't that fun.

That is awful. What is the cost of food there? Hopefully the fast food workers can afford a place to live in at least!!  >:( >:( >:(

It would be nice if McDonald's began accepting bitcoins. At least then they would do something interesting.

2003 Ford Focus SVT >> At least 8k $.


1 Big Mac is ~3.5 $, menu is ~6.5 $.

Human beings are more cost-friendly than robots for Mcdonalds.

Yeah well, McDonald's is not even real food, but that's besides the point. Eventually the price of labor drops too low for machines to be able to replace it.

Which is exactly why this thread is about the opposite effect: $15/hr for giving people tasteless burgers fast, and a smile as extra...

Yes, but the minimum wage argument in America is different. They don't have a free market economy, it is mixed, the fast food workers have to rely on the government to sustain themselves if they are not paid proper wages.

And the fast food industry is looking to not depend on fast food workers anymore. Robots.

oh no,, its a disaster, i garuantee it.

I mean, I like the idea. In the future robots will most definitely do lot of jobs that humans currently and still do. If it is already possible and working for McDonalds, then why not? I would like to visit in a place like this just to see it in action.

and maybe the other companies would follow Mc Donald's stepfoot using robot, and then terminators might be real  ;D

15 $ per hour? People who get paid 15 $ per day have more than minimum wage here. Your people's labor is very expensive.

There are high paying jobs in which people get paid a fortune per hour only to say hi or yes or no and so on. Tasteless burgers asid everybody has a right to work and get some money for it.
This is the world in which we live into.

I think this is excellent, now the fast food industry can stop pretending like they are merely trying to "grow the economy" by employing minimum wage employees. We all know that is not true. They only employ these because it is a cheap and fast route. I have already seen their machines in Canada. Never in use, always out of order. Hopefully that will change.

I think this is better than having a personnel that is human because of 3 reasons. The first reason of that is faster transactions. The second reason is faster serving of food. The third and last reason it is better is faster clean up of tables in rush hours.  ;D

This is maybe good for the company, they may have workers who does not complain,never tired, can work taking orders,serve orders 24/7 a day BUT not good for us. There maybe more unemployment when compete or replace our jobs ;)

This is what you get when stupid politicians try to enforce an uneconomic minimum wage - unemployment.

That's the thing.

If your job can be done by a robot, then you are useless. And sooner or later, you will be fired.

Colleges are losing their advantages slowly. Most of them will be producing biological robots with no thinking- Humans. (They already do actually, but robots haven't completely overtake humanity yet.)

Robots are cheaper, robots make no mistakes (very little chance), robots don't hold grudges, they don't spit on your food. Then why the heck i choose humans? I prefer robots.

Robots are also doing another good for us. They remind us that we don't need to make kids more than 2. That is the reason why the world is becoming a shittier place every day.

We are already seeing colleges declare a war against ebooks and they try to suppress technology. So yes, you are absolutely right

Why would colleges be against ebooks? Aren't things like chrombooks, as an example, cheaper to install and maintain? If anything, ebooks should be forced upon schools to avoid heavy books.

He means something else.

They are against free ebooks. :) They don't want you to read everything available on the internet. They want you to study in their college and pay for it. They don't want you to think anything other than what they teach you. If you do that you will become smarter than what they expect. :)

Obviously.

I meant that they tackle ebooks available publicy on sites like Thepiratebay. They also refrain from releasing electronic copies of books, and also do not use textbooks that are available as ebooks on the internet. If an ebook ends up being leaked, they simply change a few words and rerelease the book by calling it a new edition. Worst scam ever. By the way, if anybody has a way of getting on ebook.farm or ebooks.wtf, please tell me, I've been banned from both for inactivity and I'm a broke college student.

This is awesome. Now that people can stop depending on McD's maybe more people will learn robotics. Since that's where the market seems to be heading.

You do realize, that the future of development and programming does not lie in McDonald's Kiosks, but more advanced goals.

Yeah but it seems like a some bad idea for us and other country men who works for a job some of this will replace a crew of robots like mcdo .a investmwnt which is for long term but not as usual as a hearted and a brain crews.

As long as I can send my own personal robot to work for me then I think it's fine haha. Corporations will have AI soon now that quantum computing is in a big race.

totally agree. just like they ruined child labour after the industrial revolution. can you imagine? once the machines got better, those poor children working 16 hours a day became unemployed, what a shame

Omg :D I really find it interesting to get Food done by an Robot.
But i also really think it not good for a Buisnes, cause the People dont like this simply.
Anyways maybe everything gets cheaper in this fact? That would be cool on the other side...

regards

I disagree if people will take this robot thing seriously if they are the customer, I think they find more amusing to see a restaurant running with robots. What I am concern more is the employment rate it will affect. This will reduce jobs for people looking for it. Well, it has a great impact for a businessman cause they'll spend money a little less than the usual they do when they have people employee.