#robots #restaurants #FastFood #novelties
Maybe you went into a certain line of work thinking that a machine could never replace you.
Now, they have robots at restaurants.
Ligaya Figueras, food columnist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, found one such robot at Big Bang Pizza in Brookhaven, Ga. She featured the topic in her Sept. 23, 2019, column.
One customer, age 4, was excited by the robot greeter at the pizza place.
But, if you earn a living, or make a little extra money, as a restaurant server, you may one day be replaced by a robot.
Not only is it happening at Big Bang Pizza, some restaurants cut down on server time by allowing you to order at your table by computer.
That’s a modern variation on the “order first, be seated later,” restaurants.
If you are in the restaurant industry, the news is not all bad.
Restaurant workers are getting difficult to find in some places. Some restaurants or restaurant chains that would like to open in Location X, decline to do so for lack of good help.
If you live in a community where younger people are in relatively short supply – that means high school and college students who need to earn a little part-time income or summer income – you may be deprived of certain dining options for that reason.
The Big Bang Pizza owners used the robots as a hook to stand out among the plethora of pizza joints, Figueras points out.
“Here is your food. Please take it away from my tray and when you’re done, touch my hand so I can get back to work,” the robot named Pepper tells a Big Bang customer, according to Figueras.
The pizza place still has many human employees who take orders, mix drinks from the full bar, cook the pizzas and program the robots to deliver food to the table, Figueras writes. The employees actually like working with the bots, she says.
At Big Bang, the attraction becomes a practical alternative to people. It requires no benefits, no salary, no tips – nothing a human would require. In another article by Sam Dean for the Los Angeles Times, a robot named Flippy, being used in Pasadena, Calif., had sensors to tell it when to flip a burger, or pull a basket of fries out of the boiling oil. That article was published March 9, 2020, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. By the way, the restaurant’s cost to lease Flippy: $3 per hour, Dean’s article says.
Couple the food robots with the coming of driverless vehicles, delivery services by drone etc., and you can see where some jobs are headed.
But there is good news for workers. There are programs out there that can allow you to invest a few part-time hours a week to earn a potentially substantial income that could dwarf what you are earning in your W-2 job. You just have to be open to checking them out, since they may not be for everyone. To check out one of the best, message me.
Some jobs are inevitably going away, perhaps sooner rather than later. If you can prepare ahead of time for that day – remember, you may not get a warning from your employer – you might be able to be shown the door, yet leave with a smile.
To do that, you may need an open mind, a willingness to be coached, and a willingness to do something you may have thought you would never do.
So, open up, take a look and, perhaps, see your future.
Peter
Tag Archives: robots
ROBOT TAKING YOUR JOB? DON’T TRY TO STOP IT; ADAPT
#robots #RobotsTakingJobs #automation #jobs
Experts everywhere are trying to figure out what to do when robots take over the lion’s share of jobs.
Though it is already happening, many speculate it will be more widespread in years to come.
The Houston Chronicle took on this topic in an article that was also published in the June 16, 2018, edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Some would have the federal government give everyone what they needed to live on, while the robots did all the work, the article says.
In a Roosevelt Institute paper, titled “Don’t Fear the Robots,” economist Mark Paul writes that a series of not-so-radical policies would go a long way to ensure the technological advancement would be widely enjoyed, the article says.
Paul argues for overhauling intellectual property law so that the companies that develop valuable patents and trademarks don’t have such a long monopoly on their innovations, the article says. Paul also sees more people working part-time, sharing jobs, as a way to keep unemployment low, the article says.
He also argues that that the rapid shift in needed skills and technologies would strengthen the case for more publicly funded higher education and training, the article says.
Whatever solutions are developed, our attitude should be to embrace technological innovation, rather than stymie it. After embracing the new technology, even if it personally affects us, we can then figure out what our own next steps should be to not just make a living, but to potentially prosper.
Fortunately, there are many vehicles out there that we can check out to potentially solve our problem. The good news: no robot could take those options away. We just have to be open enough to check them out, even if it means doing something you never thought you would ever do.
If you see yourself losing a job to a robot, or someone else, or if the job you are doing now is not helping you fulfill your dreams, message me if you want to check out one of the best alternative vehicles.
Our knee-jerk reaction to change is to try to stop it or stand in its way. Remember, those who stand in the way are more likely to be run over.
Technology, efficiency and innovation are all coming. We can’t stop them, so why not embrace them?
Factories will continue to hum along, just, perhaps, with many fewer people.
More work will be untouched by human hands.
Progress cannot be stopped.
We just have to figure out how we will fit into the new world.
Much like the weather, progress will be what it will be. It will take us wherever it will take us.
Standing in its way will get you body-slammed.
Don’t just stand there. Adapt.
Peter
ROBOTS, OTHER COUNTRIES KILLING U.S. JOBS?
#robots #AmericanJobs #efficiencies #CreativeDestruction
Do you believe robots, or manufacturing in other countries, are killing American jobs?
A recent article in The Guardian carries the headline, “Robots will destroy our jobs – and we’re not ready for it.”
Economist Joseph Schumpeter describes technological change as “creative destruction.” Actually, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the U.S. labor force in 1950 was 62 million. By 2000 it was 79 million and it’s projected to reach 192 million by 2050.
These bits of information come from an article by Walter E. Williams of Creators Syndicate. It was published Feb. 21, 2018, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Though the ‘creative destruction’ process works hardships on some people who lose their jobs and are forced to take lower-paying jobs, any attempt to impede the process would make us all worse off,” Williams writes.
It’s tough to understand the value of technological progress if you’ve been shown the curb from your job. Many people have lost relatively good-paying jobs, and been forced to take lower-paying jobs, if they were lucky enough to find a new job at all. The recession of 2008 has taken a toll on many.
The Williams article tells of the 62 million in the work force in 1950. Back then, progress was definitely slower. People could count on the jobs they had to be around for as long as they wanted to work. Some of those jobs were hard, either on the body, mind or both.
Back then, many workers were represented by unions, which helped impede some process innovations and efficiencies to keep more people working.
Today, fewer workers have that kind of representation, and the number keeps decreasing. Workers are essentially on their own to plan their careers.
As a result, in many cases, careers come to a premature end, and workers are left figuring out what to do next.
But just as technology has been, by and large, a good thing for the U.S. and the world, having workers determine their own destinies can also be a good thing, if you want to look at it differently.
It’s been said in several different ways that hardship creates opportunity. Though the opportunity may be difficult to see if circumstances have dealt you a difficult blow, they are out there for those willing to look for them.
If you have lost what appears to be a good job, and are not yet ready to retire, there are many ways out there to make money other than through a traditional W-2 job. To check out one of the best, message me. You might even see a great way to help your friends overcome difficult circumstances.
The U.S. has moved over the centuries from a primarily agricultural economy, to a primarily manufacturing economy, and is continuing to move into a more technologically based economy. You, as perhaps a temporarily displaced worker, can’t do anything to fight that. In fact, no governmental entity can do anything to fight that. If we try to impede innovation here, someone else somewhere will innovate, leaving the U.S. in the dust.
So the next time you try to blame robots, cheaper overseas labor or other advances on your circumstances, remember that you can’t stop those things. You can only look for ways to help yourself to a better life.
That may require a change of mind-set, or departing your comfort zone, but ANYONE can do it. If you don’t find a solution immediately, keep looking. You just might meet the person who will show you how YOU can change your life for the better.
Peter