My Thoughts on Technology and Jamaica: Fast Food Robot taking over by 2017 - How Drones like Amazon and PrimeAir and not Humanoid Robots will be the first Robots by 2015

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Fast Food Robot taking over by 2017 - How Drones like Amazon and PrimeAir and not Humanoid Robots will be the first Robots by 2015

Liberal Arts people, aspiring singers and Dancers moonlighting at McDonalds, Wendy’s, Burger King and other Fast Food Joint across the US of A, Robots are coming to take away your job in the Fast Food Industry by about 2017 as stated in “Robots will replace fast-food workers”, published May 22, 2014: 11:07 AM ET By James O'Toole, CNN Money. At least, in the US of A!

A recent groundbreaking study done by Dr. Carl Frey and Dr. Michael Osborne of Oxford University in 2013 that’s been flying around like a lost paper plane in a cubicles office suggests that there’s a 92% chance that Fast Food Workers jobs will be replaced by Robots as stated in
The Future of Employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?”, published Sep 2013 by Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne, Oxford University.

But it’s what the study said about other professions that are chilling. There’s a 47% chance that some industries in the US of A may gradually see their staff being replaced by Robots as sounded by the somewhat alarmist Blogger Michael Snyder in his article “THE ROBOTS ARE COMING, AND THEY ARE REPLACING WAREHOUSE WORKERS AND FAST FOOD EMPLOYEES”, published MAY 23, 2014 by MICHAEL SNYDER,  ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG.

Robots to replace Human Workers - Alarmist but possible if the job’s too dangerously simple

I say alarmist as that was already in the cards. Plus truth be told, not every job can be done by Robots, as with the current state of technology, there are many thing Robots cannot be designed to do at a cost cheaper than humans. Despite the fact that they never sleep, can work 24/7/365 so long as they have power and never complain, they do have maintenance issues and cost issues, World Domination thoughts aside. They are not Human, but neither are they perfect, as they need maintenance too.

Many jobs still require a human touch, such the gentle art of making a burrito at Chipotle as explained in “Why Fast-Food Workers Won't Be Replaced With Robots Anytime Soon”, published Apr. 4, 2014, 10:59 AM by Ashley Lutz, Business Insider. But any task that’s simple, repetitive, hazardous and involves just tracking large amounts of information accurately and moving goods from point A to point B is definitely up for Robotic Automation.

Now you can sound the alarm.

Amazon and PrimeAir – Drone Delivery is coming in 2015 after FAA Completes their Study


UPS and FedEX also have plans of their own that may eventually automate the delivery of packages and mail, eliminating the need to have human delivery altogether as pointer out in my blog article entitled “UPS and FedEx developing their Own Delivery Drones to compete with Amazon PrimeAir - Premium Rush Package Delivery Drones herald the coming of Google's Personal Androids that are Almost Human”.

Already Amazon has automated their Warehouses using state-of-the-art packing Robots as explained in my blog article entitled “Amazon's Wag.com Social Network for Pets - Quidsi in the Flight of the Navigator”. So as I said, any task that’s simple, repetitive and hazardous will be in the future a prime target for replacement by Robots.

Strictly speaking, Drones aren’t Robots. But the guidance systems being developed to fly them are basically AI (Artificial Intelligence) Systems that can think on their own and make human decisions. That would mean no need for a NOC (Network Operation Center) filled with human pilots.

Instead it would be banks of Computers or even supercomputers such as the Natural Language capable IBM Watson as explained in my blog article entitled “IBM's Watson soon to be a Watson Engagement Advisor in Call Centers - The Internship of Ask Watson 40% faster search puts Customer Service Agents in Jeopardy at The World’s End”.

Rest assured Drones are coming to the US of A by 2015. That is, as soon as the FAA (Federal Aviation Authority) study on Drones is completed as stated in my blog article entitled “FAA ok’s Drones for Hobbyist – Study to determine Commercial Drone Risk as Amazon, UPS and FedEx Drones get the Kibosh until 2015”.

At that moment, Amazon’s PrimeAir will pounce on the Goods Delivery market. And in that day, so too will UPS and FedEx, placing millions of Americans in the Private and Public Postal Service out of work.

Jamaica and Drones – Central and Local Government Postal Service Revival

Will Robots be coming to Jamaica? In the form suggested above, mainly humanoid Robots doing human Tasks, be it in Fast Food or elsewhere? Not likely, as there’s a political imperative by the ruling PNP (People’s National Party) to keep people employed.

But when it comes to a more efficient Central and Local Government, it’s very likely. It may even first show up in the Postal Service as a means of delivering letters and packages to far flung, remote places as explained in my Geezam blog article entitled “Skycam Jamaica Aerial Photography marks possible Revival of Package Delivery in the Jamaica Postal Service”.

Combined with Solar Panels being placed on Postal Offices as is now currently being done for High Schools and Government Agencies thanks to the PetroCaribe Fund as pointed out in my blog article entitled “PCJ to install JA$62 million Solar Panels Systems - 16 Schools and 3 GOJ Institution Guniea-Pigs has Wigton III Project Venezuelan Connection”, it would make it possible to maintain and run an efficient Postal Service without having to fire Postal Workers.

Instead, only the Delivery workers would be laid off possibly re-employed as Drone Maintenance Crews as the Drones would make 30 minute Courier delivery of packages and letters to any part of the island possible, at a price of course.

Drones could be used to speed up the delivery of important, confidential documents and packages that can’t be sent over the GOJ (Government of Jamaica) planned GovNet as announced by Minister of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell back in October 2012 as per my blog article entitled “GOJ Parliamentarians upgraded to Microsoft Surface Tablets and GovNET Wide Area Network - Minister Paulwell efforts to reduce paper may accelerate Jamaican Tablet Adoption”.

There’s a strong possibility that the JCF (Jamaican Constabulary Force) aka the Jamaican Police may eventually be acquiring Drones as a solution to the rental of JDF (Jamaica Defense Force) helicopters for night-time reconnaissance of trouble hotspots in Jamaica as predicted in my blog article entitled “GOJ can develope UAV's as a means of giving the Police eyes in the sky - Inspiration for Aviators in Jamaica via G.I. Joe Retaliation”.

So Drones are a strong possibility in Jamaica in the Public Sector, as it would help to make Central and Local Government operate more efficiently and cost-effectively. Despite any perceived loss of jobs, the very same persons can be retrained to act as maintenance crews to maintain this fleet of Drones, as automation of their flight-paths isn’t immediately possible.

Jamaica and Drones - Ministry of Agriculture to use Drones to fight Praedial Larceny

But what is currently in the pipeline is the use of Drones along with a DNA Database by the Ministry of Agriculture to combat Praedial Larceny as explained in my blog article entitled “Min. of Agriculture proposes DNA Database for Cattle and Livestock – How RFID Biometric Markers can curtail Praedial Larceny and Develope Agro Processing for Export”.

This may take some time to implement. However, it’s more likely within Private Sector Companies that have large swathes of equiptment and property that needs to be protected from thieves and Praedial Larceny. Based on my sources, a few Private Sector companies in Jamaica have already begun looking into the idea of using Drones and CCTV Cameras to police their property at nights.

One such Private Sector company is the Courier Service Mailpac and their American counterpart Aeropost. They definitely have an incentive to switch to using Drones to do their deliveries more efficiently and cost-effectively within 30 min to an hour anywhere in the island as concluded in my blog article entitled “Aeropost to spend JA$150 million introducing Delivery Lockers - Drones are the Missing Variable in the Delivery Equation with advantages superior to Lockers”.

Fast Food Robot Apocalypse aborted - Drones not Robots, will be the first Robots by 2015

So Robots to take over? Not quite yet, at least not the way we think.

Instead, Automated Systems, which are effectively Robots, just not in humanoid form, will be the first vanguard of any future Robotic invasion of the Workforce. So no replacement of Fast Food Workers, despite their strident protests over work conditions and pays. Their human skills are just too expensive for current humanoid Robots to duplicate cost-effectively……for now.

Instead, it’ll be Drones and other types of Robots doing simple, repetitive and hazardous Jobs. Such jobs will be in the future a prime target for replacement by Robots. But in the immediate future, look out for Drones such as those that are a part of Amazon PrimeAir becoming a part of our fleet.


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