Amazon is reportedly training humanoid robots to deliver packages

No they fucking aren't. That shit would be so much more expensive than a person. Liars, and not even particularly good ones.

Let's count the problems:

Up front cost
Maintenance cost
Varied problems like different types of stairs, tripping hazards, etc.
People attacking or stealing robots and their packages.
Safety issues with 100+ pound metal robots falling on pets and children

Any others?

Yo why tf can't they just fucking pay people a reasonable wage AND give them sane working conditions? This is insane. Capitalism does not favor anyone except the rich. It's time to tear down this wall of mediocrity and face the facts. No sense of government intervention will fix this. It must all be rewritten entirely.

Study the weak points, make true your aim. The inevitable human-robot war draws nearer.

If I get one of those, I'm definitely killing it and stealing its copper. Amazon can pay for the repairs.

Didn't they just have two or three drone crashes within minutes of takeoff recently, not sure I really trust Amazon with this stuff.

This makes me wonder what the benefit of bipeds are for this over something like iBot's multi wheel design. I get it makes sense for rubble or debris, but for halls and stairs multi wheel seems better and more refined.

Edited for autocorrect.

Amazon announced using drones in 2014. In pop culture, drone delivery is like an assumed common practice. Yet fucking nobody gets their packages delivered by drone. It's been over a decade.

These robots are vaporware. Amazon will get a stock bump and that's the whole point.

Companies like Amazon would do anything. Except paying living wages

Wanna bet its 7000 Indian workers again?

Anything to avoid one of the richest people in the world paying his employees a livable wage.

Bro that is so gonna get HitchBot'ed

a photo was tweeted, showing that the robot had been stripped "beyond repair" and decapitated in Philadelphia. The robot was located by some people following its progress on its website. The head was never found.

Also, like... if you wanna replace human workers, fine, just give us the UBI.

Otherwise, riots would be justified.

I imagine they will scale back robot design and just throw from the truck.

Amazon 1 year after launch: Unfortunately, the space needed for robots in the van means that the van has to return to base 5 times more often to reload with the actual packages and the extra weight of robots more than doubles the weight of the van being lugged around in the form of heavy robots. So that's why we are having to charge more for delivery and why it is taking longer for you to get your packages. But at least we can pay fewer salaries.

I can't wait to throw a Faraday blanket over one of these and jtag some open source firmware on it. What do you mean steal? I didn't steal anything, I just repurposed some garbage left on my front step!

I'd be terrified if that thing showed up at my door.

Amazon still can't even figure out how to reliably get human drivers door passcodes into an apartment building, and then into its mail/package locker room.

The map system it uses for telling drivers how to get around a city to make deliveries is also garbage, can't account for traffic, punishes people for using faster side routes to get to the same place, tells you to park in areas that either have no parking at all, or where parking there would majorly disrupt traffic, or assumes available street parking will always exist in places and times it almost never does.

I once did an Amazon delivery gig where they booked me in for the time slot, I get to the FC, after waiting an hour they tell half of us: 'oops we booked too many drivers, so today you all get $200 for showing up and doing nothing, go home now'

???

They'll be vandalised almost immediately.

Amazons “genius” packing bots will throw a tiny fragile thing with a medium size heavy thing in a box 16x too big along with a shred of packing material.

Can’t wait to have that same “genius” applied to the actual delivery itself.

Seriously, I make maybe 5 or 6 Amazon purchases per year. I would say at least 50% of those disappoint in some way: the item was misleadingly listed, or it was damaged in shipping, or it doesn’t arrive when the promised. I really don’t find it convenient at all.

everyone knows its just going to be indians in a data center in india controlling the bots.

Not in Philly they won't lol

They can depreciate these assets over their useful life, because unlike your soggy flesh sack, these are capital expenses, not operating expenses.

... For now. I'm sure there are libertarians that think you should be able to sell yourself as the depreciable asset you are.

If i see a humanoid robot delivering a package i will throw bricks at it and then pee on it, in the way a 3 year old would during a tantrum.

So, from what little research I did the robots cost from 5000$ to 500000$, as most articles point out the advanced robots cost 200000-300000$. In a lot of places around the world that's like paying a human for 8-10 years. Humans are easily "replaceable", where those robots have maintenance cost additional to the initial "investment". How is that feasible in the eyes of the big money oligarchs? I genuinely don't understand the end goal here.