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INTEREST: Pepper Opens Cell Phone Store Staffed Entirely by Robots




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GVman



Joined: 14 Jul 2010
Posts: 729
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 8:32 pm Reply with quote
Well, we should probably start preparing for the Butlerian Jihad sooner rather than later...
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hikura



Joined: 21 Nov 2004
Posts: 565
PostPosted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 9:43 pm Reply with quote
Next stop skynet and terminators.lol
In all seriousness kinda interesting for sales.
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AnimeLordLuis



Joined: 27 Jan 2015
Posts: 1626
Location: The Borderlands of Pandora
PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 12:23 am Reply with quote
Humans will have become obsolete and robots will have taken all the jobs by the year 2050 unless someone puts an end to it here and now. Laughing
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Mr. Oshawott



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 6773
PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 12:49 am Reply with quote
I take it that with Pepper around, SoftBank is basically being run by the robots themselves, albeit temporarily? I wonder if this could happen in another electronics store should this experiment here prove successful?
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3462
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 12:37 pm Reply with quote
Mr. Oshawott wrote:
I take it that with Pepper around, SoftBank is basically being run by the robots themselves, albeit temporarily? I wonder if this could happen in another electronics store should this experiment here prove successful?

30 years down the lane and I expect at least half the stores outside of pure Mom-n-Pop stores will mostly have robotic sales staff...

Eateries will take a while longer so 'chefs' out there can probably feel secure for a few generations still...
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 2:49 pm Reply with quote
That'll create major economic problems, as it'd mean tougher competition in the workforce, meaning larger unemployment and far bigger underemployment. We're already seeing a problem with a disproportionate number of people in the service sector, the one sector besides arts that robots cannot easily replace.

That being said, this seems to be an experiment with what could happen and what could go wrong, and I don't think it's that serious as of yet--it's just there to test what the Pepper robots can do and how they can learn from interacting with humans. There also HAS to be at least one person in the area for maintenance, and restocking too, it seems. Possibly also to deal with customer issues that the Pepper robots are not programmed to handle, which WILL happen, if it hasn't happened already.

There's already a McDonald's somewhere many years ago that's operated completely by machine. I don't remember where or if it still exists, but it has a staff of one, for maintenance and repairs.
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TheFullmetalOne



Joined: 04 Dec 2007
Posts: 170
PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 4:00 pm Reply with quote
hikura wrote:
Next stop skynet and terminators.lol
In all seriousness kinda interesting for sales.


Time to head to Mexico and await Judgement Day. Laughing
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Kadmos1



Joined: 08 May 2014
Posts: 13581
Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP
PostPosted: Thu Mar 31, 2016 6:28 pm Reply with quote
At least with this, you don't have to worry about the employees talking back to you. However, technical questions won't work on these robots unless they were advanced androids.
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Mr. sickVisionz



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 2173
PostPosted: Fri Apr 01, 2016 12:02 pm Reply with quote
This seems like a cool but weird stop gap thing or something done only to be cute. It'd be easier and cheaper to have like a Coke Remix machine except it's Smartphone Remix and you chose your plan, chose your phone, swipe your card, and a cell phone tumbles out the bottom.
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