How many min. wage worker hours - $30,000 ??

[RWebb]

Flippy has been introduced - it is a robotic arm that... flips burgers

$30k and it doesn't get covid or sue for workman's comp.

no PARFing ok?

but robotics is coming for a LOT of jobs

[MRM]

Depending on local and state variations, employer share of payroll taxes, insurance, benefits, etc., that’s roughly the cost of one year’s FTE minimum wage worker. You can reduce the overhead by hiring a couple of part time minimum wage workers because part timers don’t get the same mandatory benefits, but it’s still about a wash at about one year. So the investment would have about a one year break even payback point.

[RWebb]

Indeed.

There are still other jobs they can do, but chalk up another reduction in human tasking.

I suspect that greeting, and being nice to customers will be the last remaining holdout.

[cabmandone]

Spongebob would kick its ass!

On a serious note, no surprise as minimum wage creeps up. Flippy doesn't need workers comp, health insurance, paid holidays, overtime, etc. The fast food industry has been working towards full automation for several years.

[Alan A]

2000 hours at 15 an hour.
Blame the clowns that said doubling minimum wage was a good idea.
Same idea as all the touchscreens for ordering in urban McDonald’s

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by Alan A

2000 hours at 15 an hour.
Blame the clowns that said doubling minimum wage was a good idea.
Same idea as all the touchscreens for ordering in urban McDonald’s

I was in a restaurant quite a while back. They had these tablet looking things on the table. The waitress explained how we could order and pay using the device. I chuckled a bit when she left and told my friends at the table that I didn't think she realized she's training her replacement.

[berettafan]

Well as min wage rises the cost benefit on machines improves for the machine.

[RWebb]

Yes it does.

As to raising min. wage, it was not raised for decades so did not keep up with inflation. And a higher min. wage just speeds up what would already happen anyway.

[john70t]

When I worked at TacoSmell in the 80's we washed soaked boiled and hand blended the beans. The meat arrived refrigerated in a block and we added spices and mixed while cooking in a vat. That was in the days of 20 taco packs. We were good. A lot of customers had some great dinners.

Now, I'm under belief everything arrives packaged in boil bags because employees are not trustworthy enough to do their simple jobs. When I sit there in a fast food line for ten minutes, pay $10 for a simple meal, no ketchup even, get an attitude, order is cold and wrong, I think back to earlier days. I hesitate to even stop anymore these days. Much of this originates from higher up I suspect. No QC.

Japan has had burger vending machines for a while https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/vending-machine-burgers#:~:text=There%20are%20vending%20machines%2 0for%20books%2C%20jeans%2C%20and,its%20patrons%20o rder%20burgers%20through%20a%20vending%20machine,

But nothing replaces fresh.

[RWebb]

oh yeh ... speaking of "robot arms"...

[john70t]

Ex-Machina movie is worth watching a few times but not relevant at this stage in time.

I've gotten robo calls that sounded human. But only for a second.

[stealthn]

Same, but this one was amazing, the only way I knew she wasn’t real were the answers she gave we’re only slightly off.

As for that robot, how long will until it rises up and only serves beyond meat burgers?

[LWJ]

A million years ago, I worked for a big aluminum company. Our best hiring office was the jail halfway house. We paid about min wage and had 700+++ employees.

We got bought by a European outfit. In Europe, they paid 23ish per hour and had lifetime employment. Summary: they looked for every reason NOT to hire in Europe.

It was a huge culture shock for the new guys when they saw our super large workforce. What took us 700+++ took less than 50 in Europe.

It's the future for sure.

[wilnj]

Originally Posted by Alan A

2000 hours at 15 an hour.
Blame the clowns that said doubling minimum wage was a good idea.
Same idea as all the touchscreens for ordering in urban McDonald’s

Yep, makes you wonder if someone was making a point in establishing their price point.

The biggest upside (downside?) is the robot doesn’t know what the time is. So work the robot, 4,000 hours, you’re paying $7.50/hour, work it 16 hours a day, 365/year, you’re paying $5.14/hour...

[GH85Carrera]

And for the next 10 years the robot just needs some routine maintenance and will operate at little cost past that purchase price.

[javadog]

I bet that robot makes an absolutely average tasting burger. That's what I want when I eat out.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I’m happier and happier every day with my decision to be vegetarian and go out of my way to avoid mass-produced and processed foods like the plague. It’s probably the single best thing I’ve done for myself health-wise in my life. If it comes out of a box or bucket or drum, I don’t want it. If it’s an “animal product” I don’t want it. If it comes off a Sysco truck I don’t want it. If it’s recognizable as something that grows on a farm, good. If it has all ingredients that my 2nd grade daughter can pronounce, good. Pretty simple.

As far as automation, learn to do something that requires skill that can’t be replicated by mechanization - design, art, engineering, medicine, critical analysis... or for those that prefer - skilled trades, machinery repair, one-on-one customer service, etc. There are things out there that do - and likely always will - require human effort and can’t be done by machines. This is all a question of the choices people make. If someone’s “career” is flipping burgers or punching cash register buttons and those things get replaced by automation I’m not terribly sympathetic - go get some skills and try again.

[Starless]

In the year 5555
Your arms hangin' limp at your sides
Your legs got nothin' to do
Some machine's doin' that for you.

A bit sooner than Zager and Evens thought.

[NY65912]

https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/01/watch-this-humanoid-robot-install-drywall/

[wilnj]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

And for the next 10 years the robot just needs some routine maintenance and will operate at little cost past that purchase price.

If this is the same outfit i heard discussed on the radio, manufacturer is charging a monthly subscription price. They’re intent is to go 100% that way in the future.